WA · King County · 737,015 (2020) · 18th-largest US city · Pacific time
Seattle, Washington
Seattle lies on an isthmus between Puget Sound and Lake Washington in western Washington, 100 miles south of the Canadian border. It is the largest city in the Pacific Northwest and the eighteenth-largest in the United States.
- State
- Washington
- County
- King County
- Population (2020)
- 737,015
- Rank
- 18th in the US
- Coordinates
- 47.61°N, 122.33°W
- Time zone
- Pacific
- Metro area
- about 4.0 million
- State capital
- No – Olympia
Where Seattle is
Seattle is at 47.61°N, 122.33°W in King County, of which it is the county seat. The city covers 84 square miles of land squeezed between Puget Sound on the west and the 22-mile-long Lake Washington on the east, and is cut in two by Lake Union and the Lake Washington Ship Canal. The terrain is a series of glacial ridges: downtown rises steeply from Elliott Bay, and the highest point, in West Seattle, is about 520 feet. The Cascade Range is 40 miles east and the Olympic Mountains 40 miles west across the sound. Olympia, the state capital, is 60 miles southwest; Portland is 175 miles south and Vancouver, Canada, 140 miles north.
Population and rank
The 2020 Census counted 737,015 residents, ranking Seattle 18th in the US and first in Washington by a very large margin — Spokane, in second place, has about 229,000. Seattle grew by more than 21 percent between 2010 and 2020, the fastest rate of any large city in the country in that decade. The Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue metropolitan area (King, Pierce and Snohomish counties) has about 4.0 million people, the 15th-largest metro in the US and home to more than half of all Washingtonians.
Geography
- Puget Sound — the deep glacial inlet of the Pacific on the city's west side; Elliott Bay is the harbor. The open ocean is 100 miles away via the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
- Lakes — Lake Washington (east), Lake Union (centre) and Green Lake (north); the ship canal and Ballard Locks connect the lakes to the sound.
- Mountains — Mount Rainier (14,411 ft), the highest peak in the Cascade Range, is 60 miles southeast and visible from the city on clear days.
- Rivers — the Duwamish River enters Elliott Bay through the industrial south end; the Cedar River supplies the city's water.
Nearest large cities
Portland is three hours south on Interstate 5; every other city on this list is a full day's drive or more. Distances are approximate road miles from downtown.
| City | State | Road distance (mi) | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portland | OR | 175 | S |
| Boise | ID | 500 | SE |
| Salt Lake City | UT | 840 | SE |
| Sacramento | CA | 750 | S |
| San Francisco | CA | 810 | S |
Is Seattle the state capital?
No. The capital of Washington is Olympia, a much smaller city at the southern tip of Puget Sound, 60 miles southwest; it was chosen as territorial capital in 1853 and kept the role at statehood in 1889. Seattle is the seat of King County and the largest city in the state, the region and the whole US Pacific coast north of San Francisco.
Related maps
- Washington map — the state with its 39 counties.
- Olympia — the state capital.
- US cities map.
- Cascade Range and Columbia River maps.
- Nearby: Portland, Boise, Oregon.
- Pacific Northwest · Pacific Time Zone.