Fed up with Seattle? Data shows where people are moving
According to census data, about 104,000 people move away from King County each year. That figure is based on the average number of movers from 2011 through 2015.
Many of them don’t go all that far. Snohomish County is the top recipient of King County movers, with Pierce County just slightly behind. Together, they take in about 30,000 people, most of whom, surely, are looking for more home for the dollar or cheaper digs. Another 18,000 people trade in King County for some other part of Washington.
While Seattle is known as a magnet for millennials, they’re also the biggest group to leave. Nearly half (46 percent) of those exiting King County each year are age 18 to 34.
A lot of them head to Whatcom County, where Bellingham is located. Whatcom is the state’s top destination outside the Seattle metro area, and nearly 80 percent of the King County folks who move there are millennials. Many, certainly, go there for Western Washington University. But there are also anecdotal reports of an influx of Seattleites into Bellingham, not to attend school but to escape the Puget Sound area’s high housing costs.