washington business
a big-picture overview
Let’ s begin with a big-picture look at how the regions differ in population, income and housing prices.
South Central
Population Changes
647,060 508,095 population growth
From 2000 to 2017, Washington added 1.4 million residents. Nearly 900,000 of them, 63 percent, showed up in King County and the North I-5 corridor. King County alone now accounts for 29.5 percent of the total state population, further confirmation of the welldocumented urbanization trend.
With the balance of the North I-5 corridor included, the Puget Sound metropolitan region broadly defined is home to 60 percent of Washington residents. The population shares of the other regions range from 3.5 percent( North Central) to 9.8 percent( Southwest).
All regions in the state, however, show double-digit population growth since 2000, with the largest percentage growth, 27.4 percent, occurring in South Central Washington, which added nearly 140,000 residents. The Olympic region experienced the slowest growth rate, 15.1 percent, adding 79,000 residents.
regional income
As the chart( right) shows, King County, by a wide margin, is the wealthiest region in the state, using per capita personal income( PCPI) as the measure.( PCPI is calculated by dividing personal income from most sources— including wages, dividends, rents, and transfer payments— by the region’ s population.)
The 2018 King County PCPI of $ 77,213 is 63 percent higher than the $ 47,347 in the North I-5 corridor. But that gap cannot be explained by a recent surge in income. It’ s a long-standing divide.
In 2000, King County PCPI of $ 46,074 was 57 percent higher than second-ranking North I-5 region. King County simply grew at a healthy pace from an elevated base. King’ s 68 percent increase in average income is roughly on par with that of the other regions, a little ahead of North I-5, Olympic and Southwest, but trailing the 85 percent increase in North Central and 74 percent growth in South Central.
Notice how closely clustered average income is in the six regions outside King County. From the North I-5 high of $ 47,347 to a low of $ 41,114 in the Eastern region, the gap is just over $ 6,000. While that’ s not nothing, it also shows less variation than may have been expected.
Looked at another way, most of the state’ s regional PCPI numbers for 2016 are near where King County stood in 2000. The disparate wealth of the Seattle metro area is considerable and persistent— and remarkably concentrated.
Eastern
North Central
King County
North I-5
Southwest
Olympic
255,990 213,806
669,120 568,245
712,970 562,661
605,360 526,115
2017 2000
1,792,581
1,792,581
Per Capita Personal Income
South Central
Eastern
North Central
King County
North I-5
Southwest
$ 23,940
$ 25,347
$ 22,733
$ 29,254
$ 27,279
$ 41,555
$ 41,114
$ 42,056
$ 46,074
$ 47,347
$ 44,952
2,153,700
2,266,100
2016 2000
$ 77,213
Olympic
$ 28,044
$ 46,368
32 association of washington business