Bellingham is a larger medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Washington. With a population of 93,896 people and 28 associated neighborhoods, Bellingham is the 13th largest community in Washington. Housing costs in Bellingham are among some of the highest in the nation, although real estate prices here don't compare to real estate prices in the most expensive communities in Washington.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Bellingham is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Bellingham is a city of professionals, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Bellingham who work in management occupations (10.99%), office and administrative support (10.19%), and food service (8.40%). Also of interest is that Bellingham has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 12.56% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. Combining city textures and college town sensibilities, Bellingham really has a nice blend of characteristics. While not a huge city, Bellingham is big enough to offer a healthy dose of diversion, opportunity, and amenity to its residents and to the thousands of college students who descend on it every fall. Its size and diversity makes Bellingham more than just a college town, but removing the students from the equation would undeniably change Bellingham’s character and quality of life. One of the nice things about Bellingham is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities. The education level of Bellingham ranks among the highest in the nation. Of the 25-and-older adult population in Bellingham, 46.12% have at least a bachelor's degree. The typical US community has just 21.84% of its adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree. The per capita income in Bellingham in 2022 was $40,287, which is upper middle income relative to Washington and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $161,148 for a family of four. However, Bellingham contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Bellingham is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Bellingham home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Bellingham residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Bellingham include German, English, Irish, European, and Norwegian. The most common language spoken in Bellingham is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.
