Research Guides
Microsoft's relocation to Bellevue in 1979 sparked a tech boom in Seattle and the surrounding areas. The company quadrupled in size over roughly 10 years, while paving the way for numerous other software companies. According to Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis, with it's abundance of major tech comapnies that are either headquartered or have major satelite offices in the area, Seattle has grown to be the second highest ranking tech city in the U.S., behind only San Francisco. Seattle tech companies have added over twenty thousand new jobs from 2015-2016, which accounted for 93% of the jobs created in the city during that time. At the same time, the tech boom has been blamed for the rising cost of living in the area and the culture of these workplaces has been criticized by activists for how they treat women and minorities in particular but also their workforce more broadly.