Seattle, Washington
| Seattle, Washington | |
| General information | |
Mayor of Seattle
Bruce Harrell | |
| Last mayoral election: | 2021 |
| Next mayoral election: | 2025 |
| Last city council election: | 2024 |
| Next city council election: | 2025 |
| City council seats: | 9 |
| City website | |
| Composition data (2019) | |
| Population: | 724,305 |
| Race: | White 67.3% African American 7.3% Asian 15.4% Native American 0.5% Pacific Islander 0.3% Two or more 6.9% |
| Ethnicity: | Hispanic 6.7% |
| Median household income: | $92,263 |
| High school graduation rate: | 94.8% |
| College graduation rate: | 64.0% |
| Related Seattle offices | |
| Washington Congressional Delegation Washington State Legislature Washington state executive offices | |
Seattle is a city in King County, Washington. The city's population was 737,015 as of 2020, according to the United States Census Bureau.
Click on the links below to learn more about the city's...
- Mayor
- City council
- Other elected officials
- Elections
- Census information
- Budget
- Contact information
- Ballot measures
- County government
City government
- See also: Mayor-council government
The city of Seattle uses a strong mayor and city council system. In this form of municipal government, the city council serves as the city's primary legislative body and the mayor serves as the city's chief executive.[1]
Mayor
The mayor serves as the city's chief executive and is responsible for proposing a budget, signing legislation into law, appointing departmental directors, and overseeing the city's day-to-day operations.[1] The current Mayor of Seattle is Bruce Harrell (nonpartisan). Harrell assumed office in 2022.
City council
The Seattle City Council is the city's primary legislative body. It is responsible for adopting the city budget, approving mayoral appointees, levying taxes, and making or amending city laws, policies, and ordinances. Seattle's city council has nine members.[1]
Seven city council members are elected by district, while two are elected at large.
The widget below automatically displays information about city council meetings. The topic list contains a sampling of keywords that Voterheads, a local government monitoring service, found in each meeting agenda. Click the meeting link to see more info and the full agenda:
Other elected officials
Mayoral partisanship
Seattle has a Democratic mayor. As of April 2025, 65 mayors in the largest 100 cities by population are affiliated with the Democratic Party, 25 are affiliated with the Republican Party, one is affiliated with the Libertarian Party, two are independents, four identify as nonpartisan or unaffiliated, and three mayors' affiliations are unknown. Click here for a list of the 100 largest cities' mayors and their partisan affiliations.
Mayoral elections are officially nonpartisan in most of the nation's largest cities. However, many officeholders are affiliated with political parties. Ballotpedia uses one or more of the following sources to identify each officeholder's partisan affiliation: (1) direct communication from the officeholder, (2) current or previous candidacy for partisan office, or (3) identification of partisan affiliation by multiple media outlets.
Elections
2025
The city of Seattle, Washington, is holding general elections for mayor, city attorney, and city council on November 4, 2025. A primary is scheduled for August 5, 2025. The filing deadline for this election is May 9, 2025.
2024
The city of Seattle, Washington, held a special election for city council on November 5, 2024. A primary was scheduled for August 6, 2024. The filing deadline for this election was May 10, 2024.
2023
The city of Seattle, Washington, held general elections for city council on November 7, 2023. A primary was scheduled for August 1, 2023. The filing deadline for this election was May 19, 2023.
2022
The city of Seattle, Washington, held general elections for municipal court judges on November 8, 2022. A primary was scheduled for August 2, 2022. The filing deadline for this election was May 20, 2022.
2021
The city of Seattle, Washington, held general elections for mayor, city council, and city attorney on November 2, 2021. A primary was scheduled for August 3, 2021. The filing deadline for this election was May 14, 2021.
2019
2018
Seattle held general elections for municipal court judicial seats on November 6, 2018. A primary election took place on August 7, 2018. The top two vote recipients in the primary advanced to the general election. The filing deadline for this election was May 18, 2018.
2017
Seattle held general elections for mayor, city attorney, and two at-large seats on the city council on November 7, 2017. A primary election took place on August 1, 2017. The top two vote recipients after the final count of the primary vote advanced to the general election. The filing deadline for this election was May 19, 2017.
2015
The city of Seattle, Washington, held elections for city council on November 3, 2015. A primary took place on August 4, 2015. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was May 15, 2015. All nine council seats were up for election.[2][3]
From 1910 to 2013, all nine council members were elected at large. In 2013, Seattle voters approved Proposed Charter Amendment No. 19. This amendment created seven new districts within the city responsible for electing seven council members. Two council members are still elected at large.[4]
The transition from at-large voting to district-based voting took place in conjunction with the November 2015 elections. The seven district members were still elected to four-year terms. Initially, the two at-large members were elected to two-year terms; but after 2017, four-year terms were to become the norm.
Census information
The table below shows demographic information about the city.
| Demographic Data for Seattle | |
|---|---|
| Seattle | |
| Population | 737,015 |
| Land area (sq mi) | 83 |
| Race and ethnicity** | |
| White | 61.8% |
| Black/African American | 6.6% |
| Asian | 17.2% |
| Native American | 0.6% |
| Pacific Islander | 1.3% |
| Two or more | 10.5% |
| Hispanic/Latino | 8.2% |
| Education | |
| High school graduation rate | 95.7% |
| College graduation rate | 67.5% |
| Income | |
| Median household income | $121,984 |
| Persons below poverty level | 9.9% |
| Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2018-2023). | |
| **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here. | |
Budget
The city's budget process operates by fiscal calendar years running from January 1 to December 31.[5] According to the Seattle city clerk's website, "the City budget is proposed by the Mayor (Executive), checked for compliance by the City Attorney, and amended and passed by the City Council (Legislative) before returning it to the Mayor for his or her approval and signature."[6]
Fiscally standardized cities data
The fiscally standardized cities (FiSC) data below was compiled by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy to make municipal budgets comparable across cities in the United States.[7]
| “ |
FiSCs are constructed by adding revenues and expenditures of each central city municipal government to a portion of the revenues and expenditures of overlying governments, including counties, independent school districts, and special districts. The allocations to FiSCs are estimates of the revenues collected from and services provided to central city residents and businesses by these overlying independent governments. Thus FiSCs provides a full picture of revenues raised from city residents and businesses and spending on their behalf, whether done by the city government or a separate overlying government.[8] |
” |
| —Lincoln Institute of Land Policy[9] | ||
The tables below show estimated finances within city limits. As such, the revenue and expenses listed may differ from the actual city budget.
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Historical total revenue and expenditure
To see the historical total revenue or expenditures as a rounded amount in this city, hover over the bars.[7]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Municode, "The Charter of the City of Seattle," accessed September 1, 2021
- ↑ City of Seattle, "Law, Rules and Information for Filers," accessed September 19, 2014
- ↑ City of Seattle, "Seattle City Council Districts," accessed December 31, 2014
- ↑ City of Seattle, "Exploring the Patterns of People in Seattle and King County," accessed October 24, 2019
- ↑ MRSC, "Budgeting in Washington State," accessed August 28, 2023
- ↑ City of Seattle, "Office of the City Clerk," accessed August 28, 2023
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, "Fiscally Standardized Cities database," accessed August 28, 2023
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, "Fiscally Standardized Cities," accessed August 28, 2023
- ↑ Q13 Fox, "George Floyd protesters take to downtown Seattle streets; 7 arrested," May 29, 2020
- ↑ My Ballard, "Seattle mayor extends curfew Monday night in wake of protests," May 30, 2020
- ↑ South Seattle Emerald, "GOV. JAY INSLEE SENDS UP TO 200 WASHINGTON NATIONAL GUARD TO SEATTLE," May 30, 2020
- ↑ Route Fifty, "At Crossroads for Dockless Bikeshare, Seattle Chooses to Go Big," August 1, 2018
- ↑ The Seattle Times, "City Council approves new bike-share rules, prompting Ofo to leave Seattle," July 30, 2018
- ↑ The Hill, "Seattle reverses course on business tax after Amazon pressure," June 12, 2018
- ↑ Fox Business, "Seattle repeals ‘head tax’ after backlash from Amazon, Starbucks," June 12, 2018
- ↑ Geekwire, "Seattle’s socialist councilmember wants to tax Amazon and other big companies to fund housing: Is that a good idea?" March 28, 2018
- ↑ Geekwire, "Amazon responds to tax vote: Seattle’s ‘hostile approach and rhetoric … forces us to question our growth here'," May 14, 2018
- ↑ New York Times, "Amazon Pauses Huge Development Plans in Seattle Over Tax Plan," May 2, 2018
- ↑ Seattle Chamber of Commerce, "Economic Implications of Taxing Employment," accessed June 12, 2018
- ↑ KUOW, "Off with the head tax: Seattle councilmembers back off controversial plan," June 11, 2018
- ↑ Movement Advancement Project, "Local Employment Non-Discrimination Ordinances," accessed July 7, 2015
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