Seattle is a very large coastal city (ie. on the ocean or tidally-influenced rivers) located in the state of Washington. With a population of 563,375 people and 144 constituent neighborhoods, Seattle is the largest community in Washington.

Seattle is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 86.70% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Seattle is a city of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Seattle who work in office and administrative support jobs (14.08%), management occupations (11.32%), and sales jobs (10.37%).

Also of interest is that Seattle has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

Of important note, Seattle is also a city of artists. Seattle has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Seattle's character.

In addition, Seattle also has a very large population of students, making it a major college town. As is often the case, having so many students around has a strong influence on the local culture. In fact, Seattle is one of only a few big cities that are also major college towns, making it one of the nation's prominent intellectual centers. In addition, the presence of thousands of college students gives Seattle a sophisticated style, and provides lots of diversions and entertainment for students. Being a big "college town" not only means that Seattle has a burgeoning arts, music, and nightclub scene, but the innovation sector of the local economy receives a great boost from both the intellectual output of the faculty and the thousands of enthusiastic students who graduate every spring.

Not only is Seattle a city with many college students, but it also retains many recent graduates who are looking to start new careers, creating a very large population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile. That's because Seattle is full of single people in their 20s and 30s and who have undergraduate or graduate degrees and are starting careers in professional occupations. This makes Seattle a great place for young, educated career starters looking to find many people like themselves, with good opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun. In fact, Seattle is one of the top larger cities in America for educated single professionals to flock.

In addition to being popular with young singles, Seattle is also home to many people who can be described as "urban sophisticates," which are people who are not only wealthy and employed in professional occupations, but highly educated to boot. Urban sophisticates have urbane tastes - whether they reside in a big or small city, a suburb, or a little town. Urban sophisticates support bookstores, quality clothing stores, enjoy luxury travel, and in big cities, they are truly the patrons of the arts, attending and supporting institutions such as opera, symphony, ballet, and theatre.

The city is also nautical, which means that parts of Seattle are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and tidal rivers. Quite often, nautical areas such as these attract visitors and locals who come to enjoy the scenery and various waterfront activities.

Seattle Information and Demographics

Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Seattle, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Seattle is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 47.20% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 14.96%.

The per capita income in Seattle in 2000 was $30,306, which is wealthy relative to Washington and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $121,224 for a family of four.

Seattle is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Seattle home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Seattle is White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Seattle include German, Irish, English, Norwegian, Italian, Swedish, and Scottish.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Seattle's cultural character, accounting for 16.85% of the city's population.

The most common language spoken in Seattle is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.