Seattle is a major city on the Pacific coastline within the state of Washington. This city is located within the northern part of the state, 183 km from the Canadian Border. It is the largest city in the Pacific Northwest, a major seaport and the primary educational, economic and cultural center in the region.
Located on an isthmus between Lake Washington and Puget Sound, the city of Seattle is a maritime city bounded by both fresh water and salt water. Its name derives from Chief Sealth, a leader of the Duwamish and Suquamish native tribes. Seattle serves as the county seat of King County. The city of Seattle is the principal city of the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metropolitan statistical area, which is the largest in the northwest.
The city is influenced by a wide variety of cultures and by the Pacific Rim. The cuisine is world class. Acclaimed chefs staff Seattle's best restaurants. Numerous people are attracted to Seattle's relaxed west-coast vibe, whilst others like Seattle's vibrant entrepreneurial side. A lot of popular companies have had successful start ups in Seattle, such as Microsoft, Amazon.com, Eddie Bauer, Nintendo and Starbucks. Seattle also has the reputation as the espresso cart capital of the globe.
Aircraft manufacturer Boeing is still one of the largest companies within the Seattle area, despite the fact that its company headquarters moved to Chicago. With a large division still located in nearby Bellevue, and aircraft manufacturing plants within Renton and Everett, Boeing's importance in the area economy is incontestable.
The traditional foundation of the Seattle economy has been aerospace, shipping, the military and forest products. Lots of people are working at United States Military at its major facilities within the area: an air force base, army base, two navy bases, and a Naval shipyard. Emerging industries are Internet services, biotechnology, software and telecommunications. The Seattle area ranks 5th within the country for the per capita number of software jobs. Roughly 6,000 software related businesses hire over 65,000 individuals. Tourism is likewise a significant economic generator.
The Port of Seattle is a deep-water harbor in the middle of the Puget Sound basin. As the fifth biggest container port in the the nation (37th biggest in the world), shipping-related activities are of huge economic importance in the area, providing about 200,000 jobs for the people in the area. This includes not only the Port of Seattle itself, but likewise the Seattle Tacoma International Airport and companies supporting those facilities.