Seattle is a large coastal city in the state of Washington. Over 592,000 people reside within Seattle’s city limits with a total of over 4 million living within the entire Seattle Metropolitan area. Known as the “Queen City” or the “Emerald City”, Seattle was first settled over 4,000 years ago but it wasn’t until the mid-1800s when European settlement began. Seattle is known well for their quality of living standards and is one of the most educated cities in the United States. In 2005 and 2006, Seattle was ranked as the most literate city in the United States by a study conducted by Central Connecticut State University. Seattle was also named as the most educated city in America in 2003 because over 51% of its residents held a bachelors degree or higher from a university.
Seattle’s economy has been through several periods of economic ups and downs over the years. Today, Seattle is home to Boeing’s Renton narrow-body plant which constructs Boeing 737 aircraft and is also home to Boeing’s Everett wide-body plant which assembles Boeing’s 747,767, 777, and 787 aircraft. Besides the aerospace industry, Seattle also has a very strong technology center within the city. Home to companies such as Microsoft, Amazon.com, RealNetworks, T-Mobile USA, and AT&T Mobility, Seattle saw a very large increase in its population during the “dot-com” era and also saw the price of real estate skyrocket during this period. There are also many different coffee companies located in Seattle with Starbucks, Seattle’s Best Coffee, and Tully’s as the leaders in the coffee market.
Tourist attractions in Seattle attract millions of visitors each year. Seattle holds the 24-day Seattle Film Festival, the Northwest Folklife Festival, Hempfest, and many other festivals each year which are attended by over 100,000 people. Seattle is also home to numerous art and history museums with many of those exhibits being free to the public. One of Seattle’s most famous landmarks, the Space Needle, was built in 1963 and during that year over 20,000 people a day ascended to the top of the Space Needle.
Seattle is also home to several professional sports teams. The Seattle Seahawks are Seattle’s NFL team that was established in 1976. They have yet to win a championship game but have been in the NFL’s playoffs many times. The Seattle Mariners are Seattle’s Major League Baseball team. Established a year after the Seahawks in 1977, the Mariners have also not yet won a World Series. Seattle is also home to the Seattle Thunderbirds, a major-junior hockey team, the Seattle Sounders, a major league soccer team, and the Seattle Storm, a WNBA professional basketball team.
