Quote of the Day
I think the claims that millionaires are going to leave our state are, like, super overblown. And if — the ones that leave, like, bye.
Katie Wilson
Seattle Mayor
May 1, 2026
That comment and laugh, combined with the applause and cheers from the crowd is going to increase the number of wealthy people leaving the state by a significant margin. Barb and I are far short of a million dollar/year income, and it pisses me off.
It is also interesting that she goes on to say that Seattle has the ability to create an even more “progressive tax” than Washington state and King County. And that it’s not good for the Seattle business environment to have a higher cost of doing business that neighboring Bellevue (where we live) and she encourages Bellevue to increase taxes to match Seattle. She appears oblivious Bellevue is a much nicer town than Seattle. Here is a comparison by Copilot:
Crime Rates
Bellevue consistently reports much lower crime than Seattle across all major categories.
- Violent Crime: Seattle 32.3 vs. Bellevue 9.6 (index; lower is safer).
- Property Crime: Seattle 76.9 vs. Bellevue 45.6.
- Crime Index (Numbeo): Bellevue 28.31 vs. Seattle 55.36.
- Safety Walking at Night: Bellevue “High” (65.91) vs. Seattle “Low” (38.44).
Takeaway: Bellevue’s crime levels are less than half of Seattle’s in most categories, making it one of the safest cities in the region.
School Quality
Bellevue is widely regarded as having one of the best public school systems in Washington, while Seattle’s school quality varies heavily by neighborhood.
- Bellevue School District is ranked #1 in Washington.
- Seattle’s school quality is variable, with strong pockets but inconsistent performance across the city.
Takeaway: If school quality is a priority, Bellevue is the clear winner.
Other Quality‑of‑Life Measures
Cost of Living & Housing
- Bellevue is 10–20% more expensive for rent and has a median home price around $1.3M–$1.6M, compared to Seattle’s $850K–$900K.
- Bellevue homes tend to be newer, with larger lots and more modern construction. Seattle offers more historic homes and diverse neighborhoods.
Stability & Growth
- Bellevue’s housing market is more stable and predictable, with stronger appreciation since COVID.
- Seattle’s market shows higher volatility but strong recovery cycles.
And queried about companies which have left Seattle for Bellevue:
multiple major companies have been shifting workers and office space from Seattle to Bellevue, driven by concerns about safety, taxes, and business climate, while Bellevue’s cleaner environment, stronger schools, and rapid office development have made it increasingly attractive.
Why Businesses Are Moving: Key Drivers
1. Safety, Cleanliness, and Worker Experience
A recurring theme in reporting is that downtown Seattle’s rising crime and disorder have pushed companies to look east.
- The Wall Street Journal highlighted that companies are choosing Bellevue because of its cleaner streets, lower crime, and better schools.
- Executives explicitly cite safety as a deciding factor: “Clean and safe is everything and Seattle is not that.”
This aligns with the broader trend of companies wanting environments where employees feel secure returning to the office.
2. Tax and Regulatory Environment
Seattle’s business climate has become more contentious:
- Amazon began shifting thousands of jobs to Bellevue after Seattle attempted a $275-per-employee head tax in 2018.
- Analysts describe Seattle’s environment as “hostile to business”, citing high taxation, B&O tax burdens, and new service taxes.
Bellevue, by contrast, is perceived as more predictable and business‑friendly.
3. Office Space and Development Boom
Bellevue has been aggressively building modern office space:
- Since 2021, Bellevue added ~3.9M sq. ft. of office space vs. Seattle’s ~2.6M sq. ft.
- Vacancy in Seattle’s top-tier office space is near 34.6%, signaling a struggling downtown.
- Bellevue’s office rents have surpassed Seattle’s ($64/sq ft vs. $51), showing companies are willing to pay more for the Bellevue environment.
This is a strong market signal: demand is shifting east.
Which Companies Are Moving or Expanding in Bellevue?
Amazon
- Grew from “almost nothing” to 14,000 employees in Bellevue, with plans for 25,000.
- Shift accelerated after political clashes with Seattle’s City Council.
Snowflake
- Moved 700+ employees into a new 326,000 sq. ft. Bellevue office instead of relocating to downtown Seattle.
TikTok, OpenAI, Robinhood
- All have taken significant Bellevue office space in recent years.
Other Tech Firms
- Multiple reports describe a broader “tech exodus” from Seattle to Bellevue, driven by quality‑of‑life and business‑climate concerns.
Summary Table: Business Environment Comparison
Factor Bellevue Seattle Crime & Safety Lower crime; cleaner streets Higher crime; downtown safety concerns Business Climate Predictable, business‑friendly Higher taxes; regulatory friction Office Development Rapid growth; modern buildings Slower growth; high vacancy Corporate Migration Amazon, TikTok, OpenAI expanding Losing square footage and headcount Schools & Talent Appeal Highly rated schools attract families More variable school quality Bottom Line
Bellevue has become the preferred hub for Big Tech expansion, while Seattle faces headwinds from safety issues, taxation, and downtown decline. Companies aren’t abandoning Seattle entirely, but the center of gravity has clearly shifted east.
Her solution to retain business is for Bellevue to become more like Seattle rather than Seattle to become more like the successful Bellevue. Since Wilson is an admitted socialist, this should not be a surprise. To socialists, near equality of poverty and misery is more desirable than a range of prosperity and happiness.
Had to go into the office in Seattle this week.
They didn’t manage to clean the bloody handprints off the exterior doors until lunchtime.
So now the upper crust of Seattle will move out to Bellevue or some other place and screw that place up by voting in the communists again?
And about taxation, the communists know something that our forefathers told us, but we forgot.
Consumers pay all taxes.
Every rich person in the whole world makes products that people buy. And taxes are just part of the cost of production.
If you’re a doctor in the 50% tax bracket, and he wants to make a $1,000.00 dollars on an operation. You just charge $2,000.00 dollars. And since most all doctors are going to be in the same bracket. Competition is almost non-existent.
That’s why our forefathers would only allow things like sales taxes. Taxes that were paid equally by all.
Something else elected communists know is that they got put in power by brainwashed idiots. So making life miserable to force those brainwashed idiots out is just spreading communism.
It ain’t like they’re going to start acting different when they get somewhere else. They will screw that place up, then move again if they can.
“No need to worry about starting open war. Open war is already upon you.”
Except it’s just not true.
https://time.com/7377597/tax-the-rich-millionaires-wont-flee/
Yes, you will be able to anecdotally come up with examples of people leaving, but it’s not going to happen at any significant statistical level. One of the benefits of making $1 million/yr is you don’t have to care if your taxes go up 2%. Or even 10%. “Oh no, instead of a million to spend this year I only have $950,000. Whatever will I do?”
Washington has one of the most regressive tax systems in the entire country, putting the highest burden on those least able to handle it. The idea that people making $1M /yr are being victimized makes for great rage bait, but it is, as the orange man likes to say, “fake news.”
I guess that “not true” explains why CA is losing population while TX and FL are gaining?
Washington has no state income tax, but sales tax is high. This,explains why lots of people live in Vancouver and shop in Portland. Oregon has no sales tax but above average income taxes. Oregon is also slightly less Communist, as long as BM114 and its toxic offspring fail
Shorter John: “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”
Every day a person stays in the state of Washington is a day that they support the spread of communism in the US. Sorry – but that’s just the way it is. Stay if you wish, but open your eyes to what you are choosing to support.
There is no way that the threshold stays at 1M. There is already a bill for 150k. Get out before there’s an exit tax. Revenue will fall short because the rich will exit ot evade so the commies will double down. ⁰
I realize that this ought to be clear, but I’m just not seeing it said directly: Seattle’s mayor is saying that Bellevue’s better status is ruining Seattle’s business environment… and her solution is not to improve Seattle, but to make Bellevue worse.
Is the solution supposed to be Seattle somehow sabotaging Bellevue? That the folks running Bellevue should intentionally make their city worse for the benefit of Seattle? Or is it just the suggestion that the issue, while reparable, is only fixable by people not her?
Socialism is premised on the belief that wealth is a zero-sum game, and it follows that “success” is as well.
Being a zero-sum game, wealth and success are not created; they are preexisting and finite, so one person or company doing well means they succeed at the expense of others. There is no “rising tide lifts all boats”; if your boat is rising, it’s because it’s pulling water from everyone else and making them sink.
Therefore, according to socialism (and the socialist Mayor of Seattle), Bellevue is not doing well because they’re creating and maintaining desirable conditions; Bellevue is doing well because they’re stealing businesses and workers (and the attendant tax revenues) from Seattle. IOW, Bellevue is only succeeding by making Seattle fail.
Ergo, the solution isn’t to make Seattle better by creating and maintaining likewise desirable conditions; it’s to knock Bellevue down a few pegs to prevent the theft and steal people (and tax revenues) back.
Socialism cannot create anything; it can only seize or destroy what someone else has.
Well said.
That’s one option. Another is that socialism is premised on the idea that human predators exist, and that left unchecked they’ll enslave the population and take all the output of the economy for themselves. Therefore if you believe everyone should be free to follow their desires, not just those the slave owners have in mind for them, checks have to be put in place to control the predator population.
The problem, of course, is that predators exist in all populations, including those who support socialism. At which point you get Seattle and its crop of woke predators.
I don’t have an answer to the predator problem, but I know that hand-wavy references to the evils of either socialism or capitalism are just lazy. It’s a complicated problem, and neither system has worked out all the kinks.
“Another is that socialism is premised on the idea that human predators exist, and that left unchecked they’ll enslave the population and take all the output of the economy for themselves.”
Yes… that’s exactly how “socialism” works.
Every. Dang. Time.
There is no “solution” to the “predator” problem you’re talking about. Capitalism is the least bad option yet found because it gets the “predators” to mostly work AGAINST each other instead of WITH each other.
Of course, the longer ANY government system is in place, the more people find ways to subvert it, so unless you just go fruit-basket-turnover with your entire governmental system every few decades (which obviously has its own HUGE problems and provides opportunities for horrible shenanigans), the “predators” are going to find ways to game the system.
A fair point, but socialism also assumes that humans are universally “good” and will actively work against their own self-interests if it benefits the community/nation. Capitalism, on the other hand, assumes that humans are inherently self-serving and only willingly enter into transactions they believe will further their own interests.
History shows one — and only one — of those assumptions is correct.
Predators will always exist in any society. One possible solution is to design an economy that (as Deoxy says) keeps them working against each other rather than with each other (and against everyone else), and pair it with a government in which the people being governed retain final authority to keep predators out of power when possible, and remove any who make it in.
The obvious flaw in this solution is that it requires an educated, aware, and informed populace. And that flaw is being actively exploited in our nation by predators who manage to gain power by leveraging a support base which is kept UNeducated, UNaware, and UNinformed. (And ironically, by speaking to that support base’s various self-interests, rather than the community’s well-being.)
Spot on.
And knowing exactly what she is doing. She’s just pointing her commie mob toward the next target.
Bellevue is just semi-fresh meat for her maggots.
The only thing stupider than a socialist politician are the morons who vote for them…
“Equality of Poverty and Misery is More Desirable than a Range of Prosperity and Happiness”
*cough*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okHGCz6xxiw
*cough*
As Sarah’s sister said to David, in “Every Time We Say Goodbye”, after David, played by Tom Hanks, proudly said that his father, a Protestant Pastor, was a socialist, “So, we can all be poor together?”
Nice!