Report: Downtown Seattle lost 13,000 jobs in a year, while Bellevue’s tech hub boomed

What happened

Seattle lost 18,000 jobs between 2024 and 2025—with 70% concentrated downtown—while Bellevue added over 5,300, according to new Downtown Seattle Association data. Between 2024 and 2025, Seattle shed 18,065 total jobs, with a staggering 70% of those losses—13,000 jobs—coming directly from the city’s downtown core, according to a new report released by the Downtown Seattle Association.

Amid business claims that the JumpStart payroll tax is driving tech across the lake, Mayor Katie Wilson has moved to freeze tax rates in her new budget to give employers stability amid broader industry shifts. (GeekWire Photo / Lisa Stiffler) Seattle’s economic engine is stalling, and downtown is taking the brunt of the hit .

While Seattle proper shrank, neighboring Eastside tech hub Bellevue gained 5,375 jobs over the same timeframe, highlighting a shifting center of gravity within the Puget Sound region. A lot of that growth in Bellevue, and decline in Seattle is coming from one company: Amazon.