Nearly half of King County households don't have AC
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Nearly half of King County residents are sweating it out without air conditioning — a far higher share than the national rate.
The big picture: Seattle no longer ranks as the least air-conditioned major city in the U.S. — that title goes to San Francisco — but the Puget Sound region still has some of the lowest rates of air conditioning in the country.
By the numbers: Four Washington counties — King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish — rank among the 10 least air conditioned in the U.S., according to recent census estimates.
- That's among U.S. counties with at least 100,000 households.
- Across the four local counties, between 44.5% and 47.8% of households didn't have air conditioning in 2023, the latest year of data available.
- Nationally, just 6.9% of households didn't have air conditioning that year.
Context: Until recently, most Seattle-area households didn't have AC.
- That's changed as Pacific Northwest summers have grown warmer, with scientists linking an increase in heat waves to climate change.
- The 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave killed hundreds of people, in part because so many homes lacked air conditioning.
What's next: Tuesday could be the hottest day of the year in the Puget Sound region so far, with local temperatures expected to reach the mid- to upper 80s.
