Seattle is the largest city in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located in the U.S. state of Washington between Puget Sound and Lake Washington, nearly 108 miles (174 km) south of the United States-Canadian border in King County, of which it is the county seat.
Seattle was founded in the 1850s and named after Chief Seattle, or Sealth. In 2004, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population at 571,480. As of 2005, the city had an estimated population of 573,000 and a metropolitan population of around 3.8 million. Seattle is the hub for the Greater Puget Sound region. Its official nickname is the "Emerald City" (because of the lush evergreen trees in the surrounding area), and it is also referred to as the "Rainy City", the "Gateway to Alaska", "Queen City", "The City of Goodwill", and "Jet City" (the last due to the heavy influence of Boeing). Seattle is known as the birthplace of grunge music, and it has a reputation for heavy coffee consumption because of the many coffee companies that were founded there, including Starbucks and Tully's Coffee. Seattle was also the site of the 1999 meeting of the World Trade Organization and anti-globalization demonstrations. Seattle residents are known as Seattleites. Researchers at Central Connecticut State University ranked Seattle the most literate city in America for 2005.
Based on per capita income, one of the more reliable measures of affluence, Seattle ranks 36th of 522 ranked areas in the state of Washington.
Seattle is located between Puget Sound and Lake Washington. West beyond the Sound, Seattle faces the Olympic Mountains; across Lake Washington beyond the Eastside suburbs are the Issaquah Alps and the Cascade Range.
The city itself is hilly, though not uniformly so. Some of the hilliest areas are quite near the center, and Downtown rises rather dramatically away from the water. The geography of Downtown and its immediate environs has been significantly altered by regrading projects, a seawall, and the construction of an artificial island, Harbor Island, at the mouth of the city's industrial Duwamish Waterway.
The rivers, forests, lakes, and fields were once rich enough to support one of the world's few sedentary hunter-gatherer societies. Today, a ship canal passes through the city, incorporating Lake Union near the heart of the city and several other natural bodies of water, and connecting Puget Sound to Lake Washington. Opportunities for sailing, skiing, bicycling, camping, and hiking are close by and accessible almost all of the year.
An active geological fault, the Seattle Fault, runs under the city. Although neither the Seattle Fault nor the Cascadia Subduction Zone has caused an earthquake since the city's founding, the city has been hit by four major earthquakes: December 14, 1872 (magnitude 7.3); April 13, 1949 (7.1); April 29, 1965 (6.5); and the Nisqually Earthquake of February 28, 2001 (6.8). The Cascadia subduction zone poses the even greater threat of a 9.0 or greater earthquake capable of seriously damaging the city and collapsing many buildings, particularly in the downtown area.
Seattle is located at 47°37'35"N, 122°19'59"W (47.626353, 122.333144).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 369.2 km2 (142.5 mi2), 217.2 km2 (83.9 mi2) of which is land and 152.0 km2 (58.7 mi2) water. The total area is 41.16% water.
See also: Seattle neighborhoods, List of Seattle parks, Bodies of water of Seattle, Seven hills of Seattle
As of the U.S. Census of 2000, Seattle had a population of 563,374 and in all the Greater Puget Sound metropolitan area is home to almost 3.8 million people. The population today is approximately 73.40% Caucasian, one of the highest percentages of Caucasians for a major American city. The city also has one of the nation's highest percentages of multiracial ancestry: 4.70% claim ancestry from two or more races. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 13.71% of Seattleites are Asian Americans, 8.44% are African Americans, 1.10% are Native Americans, 0.50% are Pacific Islanders, and 6.84% are from other non-Caucasian backgrounds. Seattle's robust economy and multi-cultural backgrounds has attracted immigrants from all over the world.
The median income for a household in the city is $45,736, and the median income for a family is $62,195. Males have a median income of $40,929 versus $35,134 for females. The per capita income for the city is $30,306. 11.8% of the population and 6.9% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 13.8% are under the age of 18 and 10.2% are 65 or older.
Seattle has seen a major increase in legal and illegal immigration in recent decades. The foreign-born population increased 40% between the 1990 and 2000 censuses. Although the 2000 census shows only 5.28% of the population as Hispanic or Latino of any race, Hispanics are believed to be the most rapidly growing ethnic group in Washington, with an estimated increase of 10% just in the years 2000 to 2002.
It is estimated that 1.25% of the population is homeless, and that up to 14% of Seattle's homeless are children and young adults. Many people in Seattle are involved with social causes; among the larger local groups nonprofits dealing with poverty and related issues are the Fremont Public Association , the Asian Counselling and Referral Service , and the Seattle Indian Center . In September 2005, King County adopted a "Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness", one of whose near-term results is a shift of funding from homeless shelter beds to permanent housing.
In 2005, Men's Fitness magazine named Seattle the fittest city in the U.S.
Five companies on the 2004 Fortune 500 list of the United States' largest companies, based on total revenue, are currently headquartered in Seattle: financial services company Washington Mutual (#103), insurance company Safeco Corporation (#267), department store Nordstrom (#286), Internet retailer Amazon.com, (#342) and coffee chain Starbucks (#425).
Many Seattle residents work for companies based outside of Seattle proper. Airplane manufacturer Boeing (#21) was the largest company based in Seattle before its 2001 move to Chicago. Because several production facilities remain in the region, Boeing is still a major Seattle employer.
Other Fortune 500 companies popularly associated with Seattle are based in nearby Puget Sound cities. Warehouse club chain Costco Wholesale Corp. (#29), the largest company in Washington, is based in Issaquah. Microsoft (#46) is based in Redmond as is the American division of Nintendo, Nintendo of America. So was the cellular telephone pioneer McCaw Cellular, which in 1994 became AT&T Wireless (#120), before being absorbed in 2004 into Cingular. Weyerhaeuser, the forest products company (#95), is based in Federal Way. And Bellevue is home to truck manufacturer PACCAR (#250) and international mobile telephony giant T-Mobile's U.S. subsidiary T-Mobile USA.
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has announced a desire to spark a new economic boom driven by the biotechnology industry. Major redevelopment of the South Lake Union neighborhood is underway in an effort to attract new and established biotech companies to the region, joining current biotech companies such as Corixa, Immunex (now part of Amgen), and ZymoGenetics. The effort has public support and some financial backing from Paul Allen (his contribution has resulted in some calling the neighborhood "Allentown").
See List of companies based in Seattle for a more detailed compilation.
In 2005 Forbes magazine ranked Seattle as the most overpriced city in the US based on median home prices and median incomes.
Source:
Seattle-USA.com
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