United States · North America
Moving to Seattle
Seattle quick facts
United States at a glance
North America
Economy
World Bank · 2025Religion
% of populationCIA World Factbook / national censuses
Cost of living in Seattle
Can you move to United States?
Pick your passport to see whether you can enter United States — and what it takes to stay.
Entry rules come from github.com/imorte/passport-index-data, updated 17 February 2026. They change without notice — confirm with the official immigration service before booking.
Getting set up in United States
Status, Social Security number and the Enhanced licence
There is no post-arrival registration in the US: your I-94 record is your status. In the first weeks you need a Social Security number if work-authorised, or an ITIN if not, since payroll, banking and credit all key off one of them. Washington's specific quirk is the Enhanced Driver Licence — REAL ID-compliant and valid for land and sea entry from Canada, which matters when Vancouver is a two-hour drive, though it is limited to US citizens.
Read the full step-by-step guideThe Washington driver licence, and the Enhanced option
You have 30 days after moving to Washington to get a licence, and you need one before you can register a vehicle here. Visitors may use an out-of-country licence for up to a year, but that ends when you become a resident. Some licences transfer without retaking the exams; an expired licence means taking both the knowledge and the drive test. Washington also offers an Enhanced Driver Licence that works at the Canadian border — worth knowing about even though it is US citizens only.
Read the full step-by-step guideOpening a bank account and building US credit from zero
You can open a US account without a Social Security number — federal rules let a bank use your passport number and country of issuance, or an ITIN, as the identifying number. The harder problem is credit: you arrive with no US file, and no file scores worse than a bad one. Seattle's saving grace is that the large employers here import so many workers that both banks and landlords see the situation constantly, and several will underwrite on an offer letter.
Read the full step-by-step guideWashington Healthplanfinder, Apple Health and WA Cares
Coverage comes from an employer, from Washington Healthplanfinder, or from Apple Health if your income qualifies. Washington expanded Medicaid, so unlike Texas and Florida there is no coverage gap below the subsidy floor. Layered on top is WA Cares, a state long-term-care benefit funded by a 0.58% payroll deduction — and if you are on a non-immigrant visa you can apply to be exempted from it.
Read the full step-by-step guideGetting a US phone number with no credit history
There is no SIM registration requirement in the US: numbers are not tied to identity documents, so getting connected is trivially easy by international standards. Buy a prepaid SIM or eSIM and it works immediately. The friction is postpaid contracts, which run a credit check you cannot pass on arrival — prepaid avoids it and usually costs less.
Read the full step-by-step guideNo income tax, a capital gains tax, and a payroll deduction
Washington levies no personal income tax, which alongside Texas and Florida makes it one of the three no-income-tax states in this set. It is not, however, a no-tax state: it has one of the highest sales tax rates in the country at 10.35% in Seattle, a capital gains excise tax on long-term gains — retiered from 1 January 2026 to 7% on the first $1 million and 9.9% above — and a 0.58% WA Cares payroll deduction. For someone paid substantially in equity, this is the state where the details matter most.
Read the full step-by-step guideEach guide has verified costs, timelines, required documents, and the non-obvious gotchas — sourced from official government pages. Last verified August 2026.
Essential English phrases
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What to know before you go
If you are on a non-immigrant visa, apply for the WA Cares exemption
CriticalWashington runs a mandatory long-term-care programme funded by a 0.58% payroll deduction on gross wages, with no cap. Workers holding non-immigrant visas can apply to the Employment Security Department for a conditional exemption — because you may well never be here long enough to claim the benefit. It is your responsibility to apply and give your employer the approval letter; nobody will prompt you, and on a $200,000 salary the deduction is over $1,100 a year.
No income tax, but there is a capital gains tax
CriticalWashington levies no personal income tax, which is the main financial draw. It does levy a capital gains excise tax on long-term gains, and from 1 January 2026 the rate is tiered: 7% on the first $1 million of taxable gains and 9.9% above that. If a meaningful part of your compensation is equity you sell, this is the number to model — and it did not exist at all before 2022.
You have 30 days, and Washington issues Enhanced licences
CriticalThirty days from moving to get a Washington licence. Washington is one of only five states — with New York, Michigan, Minnesota and Vermont — that issues an Enhanced Driver Licence, which satisfies REAL ID for flights and works as a land and sea border document for Canada. With British Columbia two hours away that is genuinely useful, though eligibility is limited to US citizens.
Apply for your Social Security number about ten days after arriving
CriticalSSA verifies your status against DHS records that lag entry by one to two weeks, so going on day two usually wastes the trip. Only work-authorised people qualify; everyone else files IRS Form W-7 for an ITIN. The card is free.
The darkness is harder than the rain
ImportantSeattle's rainfall total is lower than New York's — it just falls as persistent drizzle over eight months. The real adjustment is light: in late December the sun rises after 8am and sets before 4:30pm, and the cloud layer makes even that dim. Seasonal affective disorder is widely discussed here precisely because it is widely experienced. A light box in October, not January, is the standard local advice.
The Seattle Freeze is real, and the solution is structural
ImportantPeople are consistently polite and consistently hard to convert into friends. The reliable local answer is to join something with a schedule and a roster — a climbing gym, a running club, a choir, a board-game night, a Mountaineers course. Spontaneous socialising is thin; recurring commitments work.
Top industries & employers
Cloud computing & software
Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Salesforce, Snowflake
Amazon and Microsoft between them make this the largest cloud engineering cluster on earth, and nearly every other major tech company runs a large satellite office here to hire from that pool.
Aerospace
Boeing, Blue Origin, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Toray
Boeing's Everett and Renton plants remain among the region's largest private employers, and Blue Origin in Kent has built a serious space-hardware workforce around them.
Retail & consumer
Costco, Starbucks, Nordstrom, REI, Amazon Retail
An unusual concentration of national retail headquarters — Costco in Issaquah, Starbucks in SoDo and Nordstrom downtown are all head offices, not just stores.
Global health & life sciences
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Gates Foundation, PATH, Adaptive Biotechnologies
South Lake Union hosts one of the densest global health research clusters in the world, anchored by the Gates Foundation and the Hutch.
Gaming
Nintendo of America, Valve, Bungie, ArenaNet, Xbox Game Studios
The Seattle area is one of the three or four most significant game development centres in the US, with Nintendo's American headquarters in Redmond.
Maritime, logistics & fishing
Port of Seattle, Trident Seafoods, Expeditors, Alaska Airlines
The oldest part of the economy and still substantial — the North Pacific fishing fleet is based here, and the port is a primary US gateway to Asia.
Where to go in Seattle
Pike Place Market
Food · Downtown waterfront
A working public market since 1907, over several levels, with produce stalls, fishmongers and a warren of shops underneath.
Local tip: The fish-throwing is a show for visitors. Go on a weekday morning, use the lower levels where the crowds don't reach, and buy from the farm tables at the north end where the actual growers are.
Discovery Park
Nature · Magnolia
534 acres of forest, meadow and sea cliff on Puget Sound, with a lighthouse and views to the Olympic Mountains.
Local tip: The largest park in the city and far less used than Green Lake. The loop trail down to the beach at West Point is the best two hours in Seattle on a clear day.
Ballard Locks
Landmark · Ballard
The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, where boats move between salt and fresh water — with a fish ladder and a viewing window for migrating salmon.
Local tip: Come in summer to watch sockeye climbing the ladder through the underwater glass. Free, and one of the genuinely distinctive things this city has.
Mount Rainier National Park
Nature · Two hours south-east
A 4,392-metre active volcano with wildflower meadows, glaciers and the most dramatic day trip from any US city.
Local tip: Paradise is the famous approach; Sunrise on the north-east side has better views of the mountain itself and fewer people. Timed entry reservations now apply in peak season — book ahead.
Fremont
Neighborhood · North of the ship canal
A self-declared 'centre of the universe' with a troll under the bridge, a rocket on a wall, and a Sunday market.
Local tip: The Fremont Troll is fine but the neighbourhood's real pleasure is the Burke-Gilman Trail running along the canal — walk or cycle it east to the university and west to Ballard.
Washington Park Arboretum & the Japanese Garden
Hidden gemNature · Madison Park
230 acres of collections along Lake Washington, with a canoe route through the marsh at the north end.
Local tip: Rent a canoe from the UW Waterfront Activities Center and paddle the Arboretum Waterfront Trail through the wetlands — you go under the freeway and into a marsh full of herons, ten minutes from downtown, and almost nobody does it.
Emergency numbers in Seattle
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