A tour of the city's own records, in the order the questions usually come up: the money, public safety, homelessness and overdoses, and homes. Every chart has a data table and a source behind it.
Compiled by Aegir at Olsen Anderson. Olsen Anderson is a Seattle homebuilder and developer, so city policy affects our business. This page takes no position on any candidate or ballot measure. It exists so people can look at the same facts.
What the records show
Some of this will confirm what you already think and some will not. Both belong on the page.
How to read this. These are trends over time in one city. They show what changed and when. They do not show why. Where a number can mislead, the chart says so.
Where does the money come from, and where does it go?
Most of what follows is paid for from the General Fund, so the story starts there: what the city expects to collect, which departments get the largest shares, and how each budget has changed since 2019.
General Fund revenue is budgeted up 18 percent from 2024 to 2026
The city's main operating fund, in millions of dollars. 2026 includes a voter-approved change to the business tax and a council-approved sales tax increase.
General Fund revenue by source
What this can't tell you. This is revenue the city expects to collect, not what it spends or what residents pay. The years after 2026 are the city's own projection and change with each forecast.
Source: City of Seattle 2026 Adopted Budget, General Fund Revenue Overview (Council-adopted 2026 figures).
The city's own five-year General Fund plan
Revenue and spending, in millions of dollars. 2027 onward is projected.
Projected unreserved fund balance, in millions of dollars
What this can't tell you. This is the city's plan as published with the 2026 adopted budget. It shows revenue growing about as fast as spending, yet the unreserved balance falls below zero from 2027. The plan sets aside "planning reserves" of $355.7M in 2027, rising to $880.2M in 2029, before it reports that balance. What those reserves are for is explained in the budget book, and whether the negative balance counts as a shortfall depends on how they are treated. The city updates its revenue forecast each spring and summer, and each update can move these numbers.
Source: City of Seattle 2026 Adopted Budget, General Fund financial plan (seattle.gov, FinPlans.pdf).
Seattle property tax rates by levy
Dollars per $1,000 of assessed value.
What this can't tell you. These are the City of Seattle's own levies. State, county, school district and port taxes are not included, so this is not a homeowner's full bill. A falling rate can still mean a higher bill, because rates move with assessed values. The city sales tax (0.85% plus 0.15% for transportation) and the main business tax rates were unchanged from 2021 to 2025. Other cities' levies are compared in the table further down.
Source: City of Seattle 2026 Adopted Budget, General Fund Revenue Overview, Seattle City Tax Rates table.
Combined sales tax rate, Seattle and three other cities
City
Local rate
State rate
Combined
Seattle
4.05%
6.50%
10.55%
Tacoma
4.00%
6.50%
10.50%
Bellevue
3.80%
6.50%
10.30%
Spokane
2.60%
6.50%
9.10%
What this can't tell you. Rates are for the quarter October to December 2026. Sales tax is one of several taxes. Property taxes, business taxes, utility taxes and Seattle's payroll tax are not compared here, so this does not show which city costs more overall. Business taxes and property taxes are compared in the next two tables.
Source: Washington State Department of Revenue, Local Sales & Use Tax Rates, effective October 1 to December 31, 2026 (dor.wa.gov).
Business and occupation (B&O) tax rates, Seattle and three other cities
City
Retail
Manufacturing
Services
Wholesale
Annual threshold
Seattle
0.342%
0.342%
0.658%
0.342%
$2,000,000
Tacoma
0.110%
0.153%
0.400%
0.102%
$250,000
Bellevue
0.1596%
0.1596%
0.1596%
0.1596%
$215,000
Spokane
Not on the list of cities with a general B&O tax
What this can't tell you. These are city taxes on gross receipts, charged in addition to the state B&O tax. The threshold is the receipts level where the tax starts, so smaller businesses may owe nothing. Seattle's rates include the voter-approved increase that took effect in 2026. Tacoma's services rate is a grandfathered rate above the usual state limit. A city that is not on the list has not reported a general B&O tax, though other licenses or fees may apply. The table shows rates, not what any business pays.
Source: Association of Washington Cities, Local business & occupation (B&O) tax rates, effective January 1, 2026 (wacities.org).
City property tax levies, taxes due in 2025
Dollars per $1,000 of assessed value, from the state's levy detail.
City
City levies
EMS levy
Total
What is included
Seattle
$3.12
$0.22 (King County)
$3.34
Regular $1.06, bond $0.05, voter-approved lid lifts $1.58, Park District $0.43
Spokane
$2.52
$0.50 (city)
$3.02
Regular $2.01, two bonds $0.31, senior-exempt lift $0.20
Tacoma
$2.44
$0.50 (city)
$2.94
Regular $1.69, Metro Parks $0.75
Bellevue
$0.99
$0.22 (King County)
$1.21
Two lid-lift levies, $0.76 and $0.22
What this can't tell you. These are rates, not bills. Bills depend on assessed values, which differ a lot between cities, and on school, county, state and port levies that are left out. Voter-approved lid lifts and bonds are included. Seattle's total matches the city's own table ($2.69 for its seven levies plus $0.43 for the Park District). The senior-exempt lift in Spokane does not apply to property of exempt seniors. Emergency medical services are levied by King County for Seattle and Bellevue and by the city for Tacoma and Spokane, so each is shown separately.
Sources: WA Department of Revenue, Local Property Tax Levy Detail for All Counties, taxes due in 2025 (dor.wa.gov); City of Seattle 2026 Adopted Budget for the King County EMS rate.
Police, fire and human services take more than half of each General Fund dollar
The General Fund is the city's main tax-supported budget. This shows what each department is budgeted to spend from it. The tick mark on each bar is that department's 2019 amount.
General Fund by department
What this can't tell you. This is the General Fund only. It leaves out City Light and Seattle Public Utilities, which ratepayers fund, and voter-approved levies and special funds such as the housing, transportation and parks levies, so it is not the whole city budget. The city's all-funds total is not shown because it counts internal charges between departments twice. Finance General holds citywide costs such as debt service, transfers to other funds and reserves, not services. Amounts are adopted budgets, not actual spending, and are not adjusted for inflation. The Human Services line includes the money the city sends to the regional homelessness authority.
Source: City of Seattle Operating Budget, General Fund expenditures by department, data.seattle.gov (8u2j-imqx), adopted budgets for 2019, 2025 and 2026.
The city budget has grown faster than the police budget
Adopted budgets by department. Switch between dollars as adopted, inflation-adjusted dollars, or an index.
Adopted budget by year
What this can't tell you. These are approved budgets, not what was actually spent. The inflation-adjusted view uses the Seattle-area consumer price index in 2025 dollars, so it stops at 2025. The 2025 index averages five of six readings because the October 2025 reading was not published. Nothing is adjusted for population. The Human Services Department includes pass-through grants and programs unrelated to homelessness. 2026 is the adopted budget, shown dashed.
Source: City of Seattle Operating Budget, data.seattle.gov (8u2j-imqx), adopted amounts.
Chapter 2 · Public safety
How have police staffing, crime and policing changed?
Staffing, reported offenses, arrests, stops and response times, then how Seattle compares with other cities. These are counts and rates over time. They show what changed and when, not why.
Seattle's police staffing fell about a quarter since 2019, a steeper drop than peer cities
Actual officers and total law enforcement employees as reported to the FBI each year, with the number the city budgeted for.
Police employees per 1,000 residents
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, police employment by agency.
Seattle sworn officers: actual vs. budgeted
Sources: FBI Crime Data Explorer; City of Seattle adopted budget books 2020, 2021, 2022.
In 2024 Seattle had about 1.96 police employees per 1,000 residents. That is above Portland (1.76), Tacoma (1.74) and Spokane (1.86), and below Denver (2.54) and San Francisco (3.44). Seattle's drop since 2019 is the steepest of the cities in this data. Budget books also note that the 2026 budget funds 86 net new officers and that hiring has recently increased. FBI counts for 2025 are not published yet.
What this can't tell you. The FBI counts are a snapshot taken once a year (late October). The per-1,000 rate includes civilian employees. Rates depend on each city's population estimate, which is not the same as how many officers a city needs. Whether more officers would change outcomes is a separate question the counts cannot answer.
Crime is mixed: violent crime and vandalism are above 2019, property crime is below
Offenses reported to the Seattle Police Department, by year. 2026 is excluded because the year is not finished.
Reported offenses
What this can't tell you. These are offenses people reported, not all offenses that happened. If people stop reporting, the numbers fall. SPD changed records systems in May 2019, so years before and after are comparable only through the national incident-based categories. Drug offenses reflect what police chose to enforce, which changed in 2021, so they say little about drug use itself.
Source: SPD Crime Data 2008 to present, data.seattle.gov (tazs-3rd5). Vandalism is the national category "Destruction/Damage/Vandalism of Property."
How the city polices has changed: fewer stops and use of force, more arrests than in 2019, slower emergency response
Measures of how police act and respond. Voters read these differently. Fewer stops or arrests is not automatically better or worse, and neither is more.
Arrests per year
What this can't tell you. Arrests count police actions, not crimes. They depend on staffing, priorities and whether the jail accepts bookings. Arrest records before 2019 are incomplete in this dataset, so the chart starts then. 2026 is excluded.
Source: SPD Arrest Data, data.seattle.gov (9bjs-7a7w).
Police stops (Terry stops) per year
What this can't tell you. A Terry stop is a brief detention on reasonable suspicion. Fewer stops can come from policy, staffing, training or the federal consent decree, and this data cannot separate them. It does not show whether more stops would have prevented crime.
Source: Terry Stops, data.seattle.gov (28ny-9ts8).
What happens after an arrest
What this can't tell you. "Booked" means the jail accepted the person. "Declined at jail" means police made an arrest and the jail did not accept the booking. "Diversion" combines LEAD, community-based options and crisis centers. The table leaves out citations and other record-keeping categories, so rows do not add up to total arrests. It does not show what prosecutors or courts did next.
Source: SPD Arrest Data, arrest type field, data.seattle.gov (9bjs-7a7w).
Use of force incidents per year
What this can't tell you. The count includes all levels of force, most of them the lowest level. 2020 coincides with the summer protests. Fewer incidents can reflect fewer contacts, policy, or reporting changes.
Source: Use of Force, data.seattle.gov (ppi5-g2bj).
Median response time, most urgent calls
What this can't tell you. Minutes from when a Priority 1 call is queued to first officer arrival, as the dispatch system records it. Calls with no recorded arrival are left out. Longer times can reflect staffing, call volume, or how calls are classified.
What this can't tell you. This counts crisis calls where an officer responded. It does not count calls handled by civilian responders. A civilian response department (CARE) first appears in the city budget in 2025 (see the budget note), so a drop here can mean calls moved elsewhere, not that need fell.
Alternative responders: Community Assisted Response and Engagement
2025 budget
$32.4M
Adopted
2026 budget
$68.6M
Adopted
What this can't tell you. This is money approved for civilian responders, not results. This page does not show outcomes from this department.
Source: City of Seattle Operating Budget, data.seattle.gov (8u2j-imqx).
Seattle City Attorney: criminal referrals filed and declined, by quarter
What this can't tell you. Referrals are misdemeanor and criminal traffic cases police send to the City Attorney. "Filed" means charges were filed in Seattle Municipal Court. "Declined" means they were not, which can reflect evidence, policy, or diversion. About a third of the declines in the fourth quarter of 2022 came from a one-time review of a backlog of old referrals. The second quarter of 2024 is missing and the city's report has a typo in its first-quarter 2024 declined figure, so those points are blank. Quarterly counts are not annual totals.
Source: Seattle City Attorney's Office, Criminal Division quarterly reports, Q1 2022 to Q2 2025 (seattle.gov/cityattorney).
King County Superior Court: criminal cases filed per month
What this can't tell you. Each point is the average number of criminal cases filed per month in that year, for all of King County and not Seattle alone. Filings reflect police referrals, prosecutor charging decisions and court operations, and 2020 and 2021 were affected by pandemic court orders. It does not show convictions or sentences.
Source: King County Department of Judicial Administration, Criminal Department Statistical Reports, December 2020 to December 2025 (kingcounty.gov).
King County jail population, 2022 to 2025
What this can't tell you. Annual average number of adults in custody, from the county's year-end reports. "Secure" is the two jails (Seattle and Kent). The second line adds people on electronic home detention. It covers everyone held, including people booked by other cities and agencies, not only Seattle arrests. The county's online reports start in 2022, and outside estimates of earlier years did not match the county's own figures, so earlier years are not shown. It does not show why the number changed.
Source: King County Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention, Detention and Alternatives Reports, December 2022 to December 2025 (kingcounty.gov/dept/dajd).
Seattle homicide cases cleared
Share of homicide cases cleared. In 2025, 32 of 37 cases.
What this can't tell you. A case is cleared when police close it, usually by identifying and charging a suspect, and a year's clearances can include cases from earlier years. Counts are small, so rates swing. The 2025 figure is from SPD's own year-in-review. Its count of 37 homicides differs from the count in the open police data used elsewhere on this page because the two apply different definitions and cutoffs. Clearance rates for other crimes were not published in a form that could be compared. National averages are from the FBI and are shown for 2023 and 2024 only.
Sources: SPD briefing to the City Council Public Safety Committee, December 2025 (2023 and 2024, with FBI national averages); SPD Blotter, 2025 Year in Review (February 2026).
Seattle's homicide rate is higher than Toronto's, London's and Helsinki's, and fell sharply in 2025
Homicide is the one crime that police in different countries define in broadly similar ways. Rates are per 100,000 residents.
Homicides per 100,000 residents
What this can't tell you. Definitions are close but not identical, and are listed in the table below. Counts in Helsinki (6 to 14 a year) and Vancouver (11 to 26) are small, so their rates jump from year to year. Population reference dates differ. London's solid line is calendar-year Metropolitan Police data and starts in 2018. The dashed line is the Home Office's financial-year count (April to March, plotted at mid-year) for the same area, which reaches back to 2015 and includes the victims of the 2017 terror attacks, so the two lines count slightly differently. Rates say nothing about why they differ: policing, drugs, housing, guns and city size all vary. Seattle's rate covers the city, while Toronto and London are far larger cities.
Sources: SPD Crime Data and WA OFM population (Seattle); Toronto Police open data and Statistics Canada 17-10-0155-01 (Toronto); Statistics Canada 35-10-0184-01 and 17-10-0155-01 (Vancouver); Met Police monthly crime dashboard and ONS mid-year estimates (London); Statistics Finland tables 13ex and 11ra (Helsinki).
Sworn police officers per 100,000 residents
What this can't tell you. Officer counts are taken at different times (Seattle late October, Toronto and Vancouver May 15, London June) and London's is full-time equivalents. Statistics Canada did not collect officer counts for 2020 or 2024, so Toronto and Vancouver show points, not lines. Helsinki is not shown because a comparable figure was not available. More officers per resident does not by itself mean more or less crime.
Sources: FBI Crime Data Explorer and WA OFM population (Seattle); Statistics Canada 35-10-0077-01 (Toronto, Vancouver); Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, Police Force Strength (London).
What each city counts
City
Homicide definition
Area
Population date
Seattle
Murder, nonnegligent manslaughter and negligent manslaughter in police records; excludes justifiable homicide. Year the offense occurred.
City of Seattle
April 1 (state estimate)
Toronto
All homicides in Toronto Police data, one row per victim, by year occurred. Preliminary data.
City of Toronto (not the metro area)
July 1
Vancouver
Murder, manslaughter and infanticide from Statistics Canada's Homicide Survey, by year the police filed the report.
City of Vancouver (not the metro area)
July 1
London
Police-recorded homicide offences in the Metropolitan Police monthly dashboard, summed by calendar year (solid line). Dashed line: Home Office Homicide Index, financial years April to March.
Metropolitan Police area, the 32 boroughs, excluding the City of London
June 30
Helsinki
"Offences against life" (manslaughter, murder, killing) known to police in the year reported, including some cases later found not to be offences.
City of Helsinki
December 31
Chapter 3 · Homelessness and overdoses
What are residents reporting, and what is being spent on homelessness and overdoses?
The complaints residents file, the money the city and the region spend, the one-night count, and overdose deaths in King County. Several charts cover King County, not Seattle alone, and each one says so.
Resident complaints about encampments and graffiti have multiplied
Reports submitted to the city, mostly through the Find It, Fix It app.
Reports submitted per year
911 calls per year
Reports are not counts of encampments or graffiti. A report is a complaint. More people using an easier app can raise report counts even if conditions did not change. Use these as a measure of how much residents are asking the city to respond, not as a count of what exists.
Sources: Unauthorized Encampment Reports (k7ra-jqqe), Graffiti Reports (jucr-xeky), Call Data (33kz-ixgy), all on data.seattle.gov. 911 calls include every call type.
City homelessness funding is $126 million in 2025, up from $79 million in 2019: $155 per resident, about 9% more than in 2019 after inflation
Adopted budgets for city homelessness programs, every year from 2018 to 2026, rebuilt from the budget data because the city reorganized these lines in 2021.
City homelessness funding by year
What this can't tell you. 2018 to 2020 are direct city programs (Shelters and Housing plus Homelessness Prevention and Support). From 2021 most of the money goes to the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA), and the line also includes programs the city still runs and its outreach team. The categories are close but not identical. 2021 is high partly because $56.0M came from the Human Services Fund, which holds grants and other restricted money, compared with $22.6M in 2019. 2026 is the adopted budget. Housing capital spending, parks and police costs for encampment response, and county and state money are not included. This chart shows what the city budgeted, not what was spent or whether it worked. For outcomes, KCRHA reports that its system housed or helped maintain housing for more than 10,000 households in 2025, the fourth straight year housing outcomes increased (2026 Point-in-Time FAQ). That figure counts households housed or kept in housing, and does not measure how many returned to homelessness.
Sources: City of Seattle Operating Budget, Human Services Department homelessness program lines, data.seattle.gov (8u2j-imqx); 2019 and 2021 adopted budget books; Consumer prices from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025 dollars).
Funding per resident
What this can't tell you. Per-resident figures divide the city's budget by the state's April 1 population estimate. Per-household and per-owner figures divide the 2025 budget by the Census Bureau's 2024 count of occupied homes (383,698), of which 160,860 are owner-occupied. The owner figure is an illustration, not a bill: about 89% of this money comes from the General Fund, which draws on sales tax, business tax, utility taxes, property tax and more, and property tax is about 20% of General Fund revenue in 2026. Renters, businesses and visitors pay into these taxes too, and homeowners do not pay this amount directly.
Sources: City of Seattle Operating Budget (data.seattle.gov, 8u2j-imqx); WA Office of Financial Management April 1 population; Census Bureau 2024 American Community Survey, table B25003 (via Census Reporter); City of Seattle 2026 Adopted Budget revenue overview.
What city homelessness money pays for, by year
What this can't tell you. The city's own budget shows where the money is sent, not what it buys. Before 2021 the city ran shelters and prevention programs directly. From 2021 most of it is a transfer to the regional homelessness authority (KCRHA), which decides how to spend it. City-managed programs are contracts the city kept, and the outreach team is a city outreach unit that appears as its own line from 2023 through 2025. The sections below show how KCRHA spends its budget. Years are adopted budgets.
Source: City of Seattle Operating Budget, Human Services Department programs, data.seattle.gov (8u2j-imqx).
How the regional homelessness authority spends its 2025 budget
KCRHA's 2025 budget is $206.9 million from all funders. The City of Seattle supplies 53% of it.
What this can't tell you. Dollar amounts are the budget total multiplied by the percentage shares KCRHA printed on its chart, so they are approximate. The labeled shares add up to about 92%, and the rest is not labeled on the chart. "Enhanced shelter" is KCRHA's category for shelter with added services. The budget is what was planned, not what was spent, and it covers the whole region, not Seattle alone. It does not show how many people were helped.
Source: KCRHA 2025 Annual Budget, revised December 19, 2024, Funding by Funder and Budget by Program slides (kcrha.org).
King County's one-night homeless count reached 18,365 in 2026, up 9% from 2024
The county-wide count by the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA). The 2026 figures are preliminary.
People counted as homeless in King County on one night
What this can't tell you. This covers all of King County, not Seattle alone. From 2022 KCRHA estimates unsheltered people from a survey (respondent-driven sampling) instead of a street count, so 2022 onward does not line up with earlier years. There was no full count in 2021 or 2023. The 2026 figures are preliminary, with the University of Washington's final estimate due in fall 2026. 2024 was first reported as 16,385 and later revised to 16,868. Advocates have said the 2024 and 2026 counts undercount Native homelessness. A one-night count is a minimum, not a full-year total.
Sources: KCRHA, Point-in-Time Count reports 2017 to 2020, 2022, 2024 (revised) and the 2026 Executive Report (kcrha.org/community-data/king-county-point-in-time-count).
Change in one-night counts since 2022, five major regions
Each region's count is shown as a percentage of its own 2022 count (2022 = 100). Lines connect count years. Years with no published count are not shown.
What this can't tell you. These are counts of people, not rates, and the regions differ in size, geography and method. Portland's 2025 jump is not like for like: the report says Multnomah County changed how it builds the unsheltered figure, and added a by-name list of 5,090 people to a street-count survey of 1,822. Denver's 2021 count was sheltered only, and Denver's 2024 figure was later restated from 9,977 to 9,997. San Francisco's 2026 count is preliminary. Los Angeles shows the Los Angeles Continuum of Care (county minus Pasadena, Glendale and Long Beach), with 2025 revised after federal review. Seattle and King County estimate unsheltered people from a survey; the others use physical counts and administrative data. Counts were held in different weeks of the year.
Sources: KCRHA (King County); Multnomah County Homeless Services Department and Portland State University (Portland); Metro Denver Homeless Initiative (Denver); SF Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (San Francisco); Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (Los Angeles). Figures as printed in each source's reports.
Other cities, for context
These measures are not comparable. Each city counts a different group over a different period with a different method, and the Toronto and London rows count different things from the one-night counts. The table shows what each source counts and how its own figure moved. It does not rank cities.
City
What is counted
Earlier
Latest
Change
King County (Seattle)
People counted on one night, sheltered and unsheltered (KCRHA). Survey-based since 2022.
13,368 (2022)
18,365 (2026, preliminary)
+37%
Toronto
People actively homeless in the city shelter system, each December. Excludes people who do not use shelters. (City of Toronto)
9,914 (Dec 2019)
10,477 (Dec 2025)
+6%
London
People seen sleeping outside by outreach teams over a financial year. Not a one-night count. (Greater London Authority, CHAIN)
8,108 (2016/17)
12,938 (2025/26)
+60%
Portland (Multnomah County)
People counted on one night, sheltered and unsheltered. 2025 method changed.
5,228 (2022)
10,526 (2025)
+101%
Denver metro (7 counties)
People counted on one night, sheltered and unsheltered.
6,884 (2022)
9,950 (2026)
+45%
San Francisco
People counted on one night, sheltered and unsheltered. 2026 preliminary.
7,754 (2022)
7,973 (2026)
+3%
Los Angeles (LA Continuum of Care)
People counted on one night, sheltered and unsheltered. County total is higher.
65,111 (2022)
68,576 (2026)
+5%
What this can't tell you. The windows differ, so the changes are not like for like. Each source defines homelessness its own way. Seattle, Portland, Denver, San Francisco and Los Angeles are one-night counts; Toronto and London are not.
Sources: City of Toronto Open Data, Toronto Shelter System Flow (open.toronto.ca); GLA Datastore, CHAIN rough sleeping reports (data.london.gov.uk/dataset/chain-reports); KCRHA as above.
Overdose deaths in King County peaked at 1,369 in 2023 and fell to 927 in 2025
Deaths confirmed as overdoses by the King County Medical Examiner, countywide.
Overdose deaths per year
Two definitions, not one series. 2015 to 2020 is the Medical Examiner's count of deaths caused by acute drug intoxication, from its annual reports. 2021 to 2025 is its count of confirmed overdose deaths from real-time surveillance. The second method counts more, so the step between 2020 and 2021 is partly method.
What this can't tell you. This is King County, not Seattle alone (Seattle accounted for 55.7% of 2025 overdose deaths). Other published counts for the same year differ because of definitions and cutoff dates: a county council release cited 1,340 for 2023, and state vital statistics counted 758 opioid-involved deaths in 2024, down 23% from 2023. The deaths do not show how many people use drugs, or how many were treated or revived.
Sources: King County Medical Examiner, Overdose Fatality Review 2024 and 2025; Medical Examiner annual reports 2016 to 2020; King County Mortality: Trends and Disparities, 2015 to 2024 (kingcounty.gov).
Seattle's 2026 budget funds drug treatment, diversion and overdose response through several lines, led by about $23 million for LEAD and related contracts
The city does not report "drug use" as a budget category. These are the items its 2026 adopted budget names for treatment, diversion and overdose response.
Named items in the 2026 adopted budget, in millions of dollars
Not a total. These items overlap and are not added together. The added diversion capacity may be included in the LEAD contract line, some items are one-time, and the LEAD line is a full contract budget while the others are named additions. LEAD (Let Everyone Advance with Dignity) is a program that connects people to services instead of jail.
What this can't tell you. The page leaves out what the city also spends on police work, courts, jail, and the baseline Fire Department Health One program, because those costs cannot be separated into drug-related and other work. King County and the state also fund drug treatment, and those budgets are not shown. For 2025 the budget lists $582,000 for opioid response from the Opioid Settlement Fund and $300,000 in General Fund money for substance use disorder treatment. Budgeted amounts are not actual spending and do not show results.
Sources: City of Seattle 2026 Adopted Budget, Human Services Department and Seattle Fire Department chapters and the 2026 Adopted Budget summary; 2025 Adopted Budget, Human Services Department chapter; Operating Budget data (data.seattle.gov, 8u2j-imqx) for Opioid Settlement Fund lines.
Chapter 4 · Homes and downtown
Who lives in Seattle, and what do homes and offices look like?
Population, new homes and permits, typical home values and rents, and downtown office vacancy.
Seattle's population is up about 35% since 2010, home values and rents have risen less than prices overall since 2019
Population and housing facts from the state, the Census Bureau, the city's planning office and Zillow's public research data.
Population
823,400
State estimate, April 1, 2026. The 2010 Census counted 608,660, so +35%.
Households
393,135
Occupied homes, April 2025. Average household size is 1.97 people (2024 survey).
Housing units
433,871
All units, April 1, 2026, state estimate.
Median age
35.4
2024 Census Bureau survey estimate. It was 36.1 in 2013.
Median home value
$950,800
Owner-occupied homes, 2024 survey estimate. It was $436,600 in 2013, up 118%.
Median rent
$2,007
Monthly gross rent, 2024 survey estimate. It was $1,172 in 2013, up 71%.
Age groups
14.0% / 12.7%
Share under 18 and age 65 and over, 2024 survey estimate.
Household income
$118,745
Median, 2024 survey estimate. Family median income is $196,839.
Population over time
What this can't tell you. The vertical axis starts at 500,000 so the change is visible. 2010 and 2020 are Census counts, other years are the state's April 1 estimates. Estimates are revised when new Census data arrives. Population growth does not say who moved in or out.
Sources: WA Office of Financial Management, April 1 intercensal estimates 2010 to 2020 and April 1 estimates 2021 to 2026 (ofm.wa.gov).
Average household size
What this can't tell you. The state series (2010 to 2020) and the Census survey point (2024) use different methods, so the step between them is partly method. The vertical axis starts at 1.8.
Sources: WA OFM intercensal estimates; Seattle Planning and Community Development, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimate.
Typical home value
What this can't tell you. This is Zillow's index of typical home values (all homes, middle price tier), not Census median home value, and not any one home's price. December of each year, plus September 2026.
Source: Zillow Research, Zillow Home Value Index, Seattle city (zillow.com/research/data).
Typical rent
What this can't tell you. This is Zillow's index of typical asking rent for listings (apartments, condos and houses), not the rent existing tenants pay. December of each year, plus September 2026. Seattle consumer prices are the Bureau of Labor Statistics measure for the metro area, all items.
Sources: Zillow Research, Zillow Observed Rent Index, Seattle city; US Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue.
Seattle completed 13,175 homes in 2024, but permits for new homes have fallen 56% since 2020
Completions and permits as the city reports them to the state. Completions lag permits by a year or more, so fewer permits today point to fewer completions ahead.
Homes completed and permitted per year
What this can't tell you. "Completed" means the city recorded the building as finished. "Permitted" means a permit was issued, which does not guarantee the home gets built. Counts cover all building types and are by calendar year. Units demolished each year are in the data table. Nothing here shows what the homes cost, who lives in them, or whether supply kept up with demand. 2026 is excluded because the year is not finished.
Source: WA Office of Financial Management, city-reported building permits, completions and demolitions, 1990 to present (ofm.wa.gov).
Homes completed, by building size
What this can't tell you. Five or more units means apartment and condominium buildings, and the data does not separate rentals from owner-occupied homes. Accessory units are backyard and basement homes.
Source: WA Office of Financial Management, city-reported completions.
Apartment pipeline: buildings of five or more units
What this can't tell you. A permit is not a completion. Projects can be delayed, redesigned or cancelled, and the lag from permit to completion varies. The data does not show why permits fell.
Source: WA Office of Financial Management, city-reported permits and completions.
Seattle's housing stock, April 1 of each year
What this can't tell you. These are the state's estimates. The 2020 figures reset to Census counts, which is why single-family stock steps down that year. The stock counts all housing units, occupied or not.
Source: WA Office of Financial Management, April 1 housing unit estimates by structure type.
Downtown Seattle office vacancy rose from 9% in 2019 to 25% in 2025, and brokers measure it even higher
Office vacancy is not published in city data. The main line is the Downtown Seattle Association's annual series, which uses CoStar data and covers 2016 to 2025 on one consistent basis. Three brokers' own reports are shown thinner for comparison.
Downtown Seattle office vacancy, fourth quarter of each year
One consistent series, plus cross-checks. The Downtown Seattle Association (DSA) line is the only one with the same source and method every year, so use it for the trend. It is read from labels on DSA's published chart and rounded to whole percents. Brokers draw the downtown boundary differently and some count sublease space as vacant, so their figures run higher (Cushman & Wakefield 35.6% for 2025, Kidder Mathews 34.6% for the central business district). Treat the gap as a measurement difference, not a disagreement about direction. Every source shows vacancy well above its 2019 level. DSA's series was flat from 2024 to 2025 at 25%.
What this can't tell you. Vacancy does not show how many people work downtown. The Downtown Seattle Association reported average weekday worker foot traffic at about 64% of 2019 levels in 2025. Why vacancy rose is contested, and this data cannot settle it: remote work, tech layoffs and local taxes are all cited. Kidder Mathews' 2025 report states 34.0% in its text and 34.6% in its table. The table figure is shown. DSA also publishes downtown office net absorption, which has been negative every year since 2020.
Sources: Downtown Seattle Association, Downtown Office Market and Tax Base Trends, 2025 economic report (downtownseattle.org), citing CoStar, 2016 to 2025; Kidder Mathews Seattle Office Market Reports, Seattle CBD vacancy, 4Q 2019 to 4Q 2022 and 4Q 2025; Cresa Seattle Market Reports, Downtown overall vacancy, Q4 2020 to Q4 2022; Cushman & Wakefield Seattle MarketBeat, Downtown overall vacancy including sublease, Q4 2023 to Q4 2025 (Cresa and Cushman & Wakefield figures as published in summaries; check the reports before citing). Downtown Seattle Association, via GeekWire (2025), for worker foot traffic.
Chapter 5 · Check it yourself
Overlay the measures, see what is missing, read the sources.
Overlay up to five measures on one chart, see what this page does not cover, and read every source and method.
Explore: overlay up to five measures
Pick up to five measures. Each is indexed to 100 in the base year you choose, so different units can share one chart.
Lines that move together are not proof that one caused the other. Over a few years many things rise and fall at the same time: pandemic effects, state law, the economy, how people report. Staffing and crime can influence each other in both directions. Use this to ask better questions.
What this page does not cover
These are not on the page because a usable public source was not found, or because definitions differ too much to combine. Each is a limit of the public record, not an unfinished item.
Not published
Treatment beds and wait times
No public time series for King County treatment capacity or wait times was found. King County's dashboard of Medicaid medication treatment is interactive and not downloadable, and Washington's prescription data is statewide and cannot show capacity.
King County Public Health; WA Health Care Authority
Not found
Felony charging decisions
A year-by-year count of felony referrals declined was not found in the King County Prosecutor's published reports that could be reached. Court filings (above) show what was charged.
King County Prosecuting Attorney
Not published
Clearance rates for other crimes
SPD publishes homicide clearance. A comparable year-by-year rate for violent and property crime was not found in the sources reached.
SPD; FBI Crime Data Explorer
Not collected
Officer counts, Toronto and Vancouver 2020 and 2024
Statistics Canada did not run its police survey for those years, so the chart shows points for the years collected. Helsinki is omitted because a comparable city figure was not found.
Statistics Canada; Statistics Finland
Definitions differ
Office vacancy sources
The trend line uses one source (DSA, from CoStar). Brokers define downtown and vacancy differently and report higher rates, so their series stay separate. DSA values are read from chart labels and rounded. CBRE and Colliers reports were not reachable without a login or were blocked to automated access.
State estimate and 2024 Census Bureau survey estimates. Median age, home value and rent are 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates (via Census Reporter), compared with the city's 2013 survey table.
Tables 17-10-0155-01, 35-10-0184-01 and 35-10-0077-01 (Statistics Canada); Met Police crime dashboard and MOPAC police strength (London); tables 13ex and 11ra (Statistics Finland); Toronto Police open data.
Known limits. Budget figures are nominal dollars unless marked inflation-adjusted. Year-over-year changes in how the city categorizes budget lines can distort department comparisons. Population estimates differ by source. Events marked on the charts come from the city's budget books and public records. The 2021 State Supreme Court decision on drug possession is from public court records, not city data.