Seattle's urban core regains momentum
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Downtown Seattle saw 152,000 daily workers in June — the highest since March 2020. Photo: Courtesy of the Downtown Seattle Association
After years of sluggish recovery from the pandemic, downtown Seattle is regaining its rhythm with foot traffic, apartment leases and hotel stays nearing or topping pre-pandemic levels, according to new data.
Why it matters: The vitality of the city's urban core is a crucial barometer of Seattle's overall recovery with ripple effects on transit use, small businesses, public safety and the city's tax base.
Driving the news: The Downtown Seattle Association (DSA) released its July Downtown Revitalization Dashboard last week, highlighting data from June on worker and visitor foot traffic, housing, tourism and population.
What they did: The business advocacy group's dashboard draws on anonymized cellphone location data from Placer.ai, hotel reports from STR via Visit Seattle, and real-time apartment occupancy data from CoStar to track worker presence, visitor activity and housing trends.
- The association also revised its methodology for measuring worker foot traffic to align that data with the 12-neighborhood footprint already used for visitor metrics.
By the numbers: Downtown averaged 152,000 daily weekday workers, or 66% of June 2019 levels, the highest rate since early 2020, per the dashboard.
- 383,000 hotel rooms were sold — matching June 2019 demand.
- Downtown's residential population hit a record 109,845 people, around 80% higher than in 2010.
- That growth is reflected in housing demand: Nearly 60,000 apartment units are now occupied, up 22% since 2019.
What they're saying: "The energy feels familiar, like what summers in downtown Seattle are supposed to feel like," DSA President and CEO Jon Scholes tells Axios.
Yes but: Not every measure is back to normal, with visitor numbers still trailing pre-pandemic levels and a 35% drop in cross-border travel from Canada in May, per the DSA report.
What we're watching: A packed calendar of major summer events — including the upcoming Bite of Seattle, Seafair Torchlight Parade and Morgan Wallen concert — could further boost downtown traffic and tourism, especially as cruise season peaks.