The 5 biggest private employers in Seattle

Jobs are one of the biggest influencing factors when people make a move. Suburb to city moves are common when the right job comes up, and with a global workforce for many major Seattle employers, there are always people moving into Seattle to work at one of its largest employers. Employees courted away from other large cities, or those looking for a cheaper city to live in are also typically apartment hunting. So, who are the largest private employers in Seattle?

Boeing – 69,830 Employees in Seattle

According to Boeing’s own employment data page, they have just under 70K employees in Washington State as of January 1st, 2019. With three primary campuses in the greater Seattle area, the majority of those employees are working in and around Seattle, WA.

Offering a high pay scale and exceptional benefits makes Boeing a behemoth, even with the frequent ups and downs the aerospace industry seems to go through. Though current employee numbers more closely match 2005’s than the company's last hiring boom in 2012, it’s still a reliable source of NW job growth.

Microsoft – 47,000 Employees in Seattle

As one of the area's largest and oldest mega-employers, Microsoft started the tech boom that changed Seattle for better or worse. The company is currently overhauling its gigantic 500-acre campus in Redmond, which accounts for most of its workforce. The new campus will support 47,000 employees with room for 8,000 more.

Before the new campus is completed in 2023, Microsoft has already started working on its new Toronto campus as well. When construction is complete, their Canadian workforce is expected to increase by 20x its current level, and Seattle employees may be pulled away to work at the new building.

Amazon – 40,000 Employees in Seattle

While the Seattle Times cites 40,000 Amazon employees as of the end of 2017, this number is set to change fairly soon. Amazon recently rallied hard against a new business tax and is planning on moving its entire logistics team to a new campus in Bellevue WA by the end of 2025.

Though this may negatively impact the number of Amazon employees in Seattle, the company continues to grow and hire year over year. Amazon’s employee pool swelled to 541,900 people at the end of 2017 from 306,800 just a year before. With growth like that, even a major employee shift to another city may not make an impact in overall Seattle numbers.

University of Washington – 26,100 Employees in Seattle

Universities typically rank as one of the area’s largest employers wherever they are. This is even true for a city as large as Seattle, and according to LinkedIn, there are currently 26,100 people listed as UW employees. Universities offer diverse job opportunities because educators are just a small piece of the puzzle.

Campuses operate like small towns. They have housing facilities, kitchens, stores, libraries, and require continual maintenance and groundskeeping to keep running. Entire employment branches are dedicated to operations, sales, and promotions. Universities create jobs and propel growth outside of their campus as graduates are often hired locally after their education is finished.

Providence Health and Services – 16,828 Employees in Seattle

Hospitals are major employers in every city they are in. The larger their presence in a single area, the greater those figures become. With 5 hospital campuses in the Seattle area, and 117 primary and specialty care locations across Puget Sound, Swedish Medical Group is a major local employer.

According to Swedish’s own figures, they employed 12,961 people locally as of 2018. Because hospitals work with other healthcare professionals, they also list 3,867 ancillary physicians and healthcare workers. Having first established themselves by area nuns in 1856, Providence is also one of Seattle’s oldest continual local employers as well.