MOVING TO SEATTLE
Moving to Seattle
Key Benefits of Living
in Seattle
• Vibrant, healthy economy
• Ideal place to raise a family
• Great outdoors activities - skiing,
boating, hiking, biking
• Strong school system
• The most literate city in the country
• There are more than 900 tech
companies of all sizes located
in Seattle
• Great people live here (for example,
did you know that Seattle has the
highest density of women who
are college graduates in the
United States?)
Seattle is a lively and cosmopolitan city beautifully set in a dramatic backdrop of water,
forests and mountains. In addition to the gorgeous scenery, Seattle is ranked as one of
the best places to live in the United States and, according to Forbes, is the number one
best city for tech jobs.
Introduction
With its vibrant economy, strong tech community, and beautiful
landscape, Seattle is currently the fastest growing city in the United
States. Why do people want to move to Seattle?
• Surrounded by several bodies of water, the Seattle area offers
many beaches, parks, waterfalls, marinas, mountain views, and
stunning scenery.
• Great cost of living! According to numbeo.com, rent prices in San
Francisco are 67 percent higher than in Seattle.
• Seattle experiences less rainfall annually than many cities on the
Eastern seaboard.
• The city’s tech employers rank 3rd highest in the nation in average
pay, higher than considerably more expensive cities like New York
and Washington, D.C.
• The mild, temperate marine climate allows year-round outdoor
recreation, including walking, cycling, hiking, skiing, snowboarding,
kayaking, rock climbing, motor boating, sailing, triathlon, running,
team sports, and swimming.
• The average unemployment rate in the US is 6.3 percent; Seattle is
at 4 percent and historically has some of the lowest unemployment
rates in the country.
• The public and private school systems are top-rated, as is the
largest educational institution, the University of Washington.
• The U.S. median for future job growth over the next 10 years is
36.1 percent. In Seattle, it’s 41.3 percent.
• Seattle has the highest percentage of residents (25+) with a college
degree or higher (51%).
• There is no state income tax.
• Seattle has the highest per capita share of technology-dependent
jobs among all the states in the country.
• Seattle was ranked “most secure place to live in the United States”
(Farmer’s Insurance, 2009).
CONTINUED
MOVING TO SEATTLE
Seattle Economy
Seattle is a flourishing metropolis, driven by a diverse and resilient
economy, strong entrepreneurial spirit, and historically vital business
sectors.
Some of the Tech Companies Located
in Seattle:
The best known: Amazon,
Microsoft, Avalara, Apptio,
Porch, PayScale, Zulily,
Zillow, Tableau, DocuSign,
Simply Measured, Chef,
Avvo, Redfin, Expedia.
Eight companies on the 2013 Fortune 500 list of the United States’
largest companies, based on total revenue, are headquartered
in Seattle: Internet retailer Amazon.com, coffee chain Starbucks,
department store Nordstrom, freight forwarder Expeditors
International of Washington, warehouse club chain Costco, software
giant Microsoft, forest products company Weyerhaeuser and truck
manufacturer Paccar.
Other major companies in the area include Nintendo of America
in Redmond, T-Mobile US in Bellevue, Expedia Inc., and Providence
Health & Services.
Tech Community
Seattle is neck in neck
with the Silicon Valley and
New York City to be voted
the top tech hub in the
US. With software giants
like Microsoft, countless
startups like Socrata and
other companies opening
headquarters in Seattle,
we are obsessed with and
surrounded by the tech scene.
Socrata is based in the heart of Pioneer Square, which is Seattle’s
version of the Silicon Valley. From recently acquired companies like
Isilon/EMC and DoubleDown Interactive, to tech giants like HTC and
Intel (which just took more than 50,000 square feet at Union Station),
Pioneer Square is booming with tech talent. Interestingly, Pioneer
Square is the oldest and most historic part of Settle, yet some of the
newest and up and coming startups like Yabbly and Symform choose
to call the neighborhood home.
Google has two offices in
Seattle. Facebook, Twitter,
Nuance, and Adobe have
offices in the city as well.
Seattle also has numerous other strong tech companies: Add3.
com, BuddyTV, Cheezburger, Classmates.com, DomainTools.com,
Drugstore.com, eNotes.com, ExtraHop Networks, F5 Networks,
Findwell, Groundspeak, Groupon, Lockerz, Moz, Onvia, Penny Arcade,
RealNetworks, Social Strata, Soundrangers, Spoon, thePlatform, Thrift
Books, Walk Score, WhitePages.com, Rhapsody, TalentWise, Big Fish
Games, GroundSpeak, Synapse, Vertafore and EMC
In addition to the small to large size companies,
GeekWire.com lists more than 780 startups in the
greater Seattle area.
Find Out More about moving
to Seattle:
http://www.geekwire.com/2012/seattle-americas-top-tech-city/
http://www.seattle.gov/economicdevelopment/indicators/jobgrowth.htm
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2014/02/seattle-techleaders-sound-off-on.html?page=all
http://www.geekwire.com/2013/pioneer-square-tech-map-techies-hanging-shingles/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-lippstone/12-reasons-to-loveseattle_b_5106188.html
http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/2012-09-26/americas-50-bestcities#slide50
http://nwescapes.king5.com/best/beach/local-excursions/northwestwashington
http://www.seattle.gov/EconomicDevelopment/thrives/Thrives01.htm
About Socrata
Socrata, the open data market leader, is the cloud software company focused exclusively on democratizing access to public sector data for
the most innovative organizations around the world, including the cities of New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Melbourne and
Eindhoven; the states of New York, Illinois and Texas; US Health and Human Services; Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; the UN and
the World Bank. Socrata’s solutions—including the recently launched Open Data Network™ which unleashes the full potential of government
data to help drive connected communities around the world – assist government leaders in improving transparency, modernizing citizen access
to information and bringing data into every decision, all with unprecedented speed and cost savings. Delivered as turnkey services, Socrata’s
technologies unlock data trapped in enterprise silos, mobilize and transform it into useful information that everyone can easily access, visualize,
share and reuse. To learn more about Socrata, visit www.socrata.com.
To learn more about Socrata, visit us online: www.socrata.com | Phone: 206 340 8008 | Twitter: @socrata