Exec's home | News | Site map | E-mail
	October 22, 2002 King County reports show contrast between short-term and long-term trends in region King County Executive Ron Sims today released the 2002 Annual Growth Report and the 2002 Benchmark Report. When taken together, they paint a complex picture of the region's growth, and its impacts on transportation, the economy, the environment, and housing. "These reports contain a mix of good news and bad news. We have weathered earthquakes, the loss of Boeing headquarters and thousands of jobs and the impact of September 11, but there is still much positive news about King County and the Puget Sound region," said Sims. "All the indicators point to the fact that King County remains economically strong despite the severe shocks. While unemployment has risen, King County continues to have more than half the wages paid in the state, compared to less than a third of the population," said Sims. The King County Annual Growth Report provides population, economic and housing information about King County. First published in 1983, the report provides statistical data on each of the County's cities, the unincorporated areas, annexations, land area, growth capacity and housing. Concise one-page profiles for each of the County's cities and for the unincorporated areas are included. It is a fact book that helps track and forecast growth, and is used by both public and private sector decision makers. The Benchmark Report tracks the countywide, 20-year growth management plan and policies. In its sixth year, the report includes 45 indicators, which monitor progress towards achieving our goals in the areas of economic development, the environment, affordable housing, land use and transportation. The findings in this report offer information to help elected officials and citizens evaluate our progress, implement better programs, and develop an encompassing vision for the region's future. Some highlights include: The Economy: Scraping along the bottom, 2002 King County's economic growth began to cool early in 2001. Since January 2001, we have lost 97,000 jobs (Seattle - Everett metro area). Yet some job creation and residential construction continue. There has been some slowdown in the upper-end housing market, but mid-range home prices are holding steady. Unemployment rate has doubled to more than six percent. The loss of jobs in 2001 was greater than in any single year since the early 1970s. Many people feel worse off, or are on edge about their future. There are still many workers in King County whose jobs do not pay a "family wage". The cost of living in King County is such that a family of three supported by a worker making even three times the minimum wage, about $40,000 per year, would struggle to make ends meet. Where the jobs are/aren't Despite the severe job loss in 2001, King County gained nearly 207,000 net jobs during the 1990 - 2001 period. Job creation was approximately 22 percent for the decade, or an average of 2 percent per year. Business Services, which includes Computer Software and Service, lost 12,100 jobs in 2001. However, this sector gained a net of 66,500 jobs since 1990, or nearly a third of the total employment increase for the decade. The heaviest losses in manufacturing, including aerospace, occurred during the first half of the 1990s. A significant loss in aerospace employment is expected in 2002 and 2003. Retail and all other service sectors continued to post considerable gains in employment. The greatest growth in the export industries has been in business / computer and professional services. Business Services now comprises 20 percent of export industry jobs, compared to 9 percent in 1980. Legal, engineering, health care, and financial services now constitute about 32 percent of export jobs. 2000 Census shows rapid growth during the decade Results from the 2000 Census show that King County gained 230,000 persons or 15 percent from 1990 to 2000. The Countywide growth was faster than we had estimated, yet at a somewhat slower rate than during the 1980s, which saw a 19 percent increase. King County ranks 12th in population among the nation's 3,100 counties. Dot map in back of AGR shows location of population in 2000, mostly in the urban western third of King County. King County is growing more diverse Persons of color now make up more than one quarter of the King County population. Since 1990, the Latino population has doubled in nearly every King County community, and the Asian population grew by nearly 70 percent. Most of the 1990 to 2000 increase in minority population was outside Seattle, but Seattle remains among the most diverse cities in King County. The Census' multi-race category makes it difficult to measure trends. Immigrants are a larger proportion of the population than in 1990 The population of Southwest King County cities increased during the decade despite only moderate levels of new housing construction. Household sizes in South King County increased, after decades of decrease, due in part to the effect of large families of immigrants in some communities. Census and school district data show increasing numbers of students speaking English as a second language - up to 70 different languages. More than 63,000 persons reported to the Census that English is their second language. High school graduation rate shows a troubling trend Although there have been yearly fluctuations, there appears to be a distinct downward trend in 12th grade graduation rates from 84.4 percent in 1989 to 80.9 percent in 2001. It reached a low point of 78.8 percent in 1997. This measure does not include dropouts in earlier grades. Although the aggregated King County graduation rate rose slightly between 1997 and 2001, only 6 out of 19 school districts actually reported a higher graduation rate. In the other 13 districts, the graduation rate was lower in 2001 than in 1997. A recent Manhattan Institute Study estimated that one-third of all Washington State public school students fail to graduate. The Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction estimated that about 20 percent fail to graduate. King County is one of the most highly educated areas of the country, yet its youth seem to be dropping out of high school at higher than usual rates. The education and career training of young people is an opportunity to ensure an educated and skilled workforce in the future, and a means to lessen some of the current disparities of income. National census data emphasize that county is faring well as of 2000 King County's median household income grew 47 percent to $53,157 over the decade. Household incomes grew about 2 percent faster than inflation during the decade. So, in real dollars, after accounting for inflation, most King County households were better off in 2000 than they were in 1990. King County's median household income was the highest in Washington. By 2002, median household income in King County is estimated to have grown to about $65,000. High tech salaries continue to fuel the Puget Sound economy, and many other workers have also seen real wage increases. Microsoft gained employees in 2001, even as other high tech firms were laying off employees. Throughout the 1990s, average wages have risen faster than inflation, but not for all workers. Some people feel they are falling behind. In contrast to the 1990s, average wages just barely kept pace with inflation during the 1980s. We are richer AND poorer than ten years ago. The number of persons considered "in poverty" was up 21 percent to 142,500 persons below the federal poverty threshold. That is 8.4 percent of the population, up from 8.0 percent in 1990. Housing growth continues to focus in urban areas In 2001, the level of new residential building permits decreased 19 percent to just under 12,000 new residential units, still above the historical average of the 1990s. Subdivision activity was also healthy with 4,768 new lots created. Most of the residential growth was in cities: 66 percent of new single-family houses, 94 percent of new apartments and condo units, and 61 percent of subdivision lots. Urban centers are beginning to flourish Since 1996, about 15,700 net new residential units have been built in designated urban centers. This represents about 21 percent of all new units permitted during these six years. Between 1995 and 2000, employment in urban centers increased by nearly 70,000 jobs, accommodating 33 percent of the new jobs created since 1995. King County's goal is that 25 percent of new residential units permitted will be in urban centers, and 50 percent of its new jobs will be located in urban centers. Overall, King County is achieving its 20-Year household growth targets After eight years (1993 to 2000, 40 percent of the 20-year planning period), King County communities have built about 38 percent of the housing unit target. But with stable household sizes, King County has accommodated more than half the projected 20-year population growth, in the eight-year period. By the end of 2002, King County expects to have completed 50 percent of its targeted number of housing units, putting us exactly on target. Urban King County has sufficient land capacity A study of land supply prepared under the Growth Management Act found that Urban-designated areas of King County contain 26,900 net acres of residential land vacant or potentially able to be redeveloped. More than 84 percent of this land is zoned for single-family use. The study found that the developable land has capacity for more than 263,000 new housing units. Nearly two-thirds of this capacity is in land zoned for multifamily or mixed uses. Slow, but steady improvement seen in most environmental measures The usual measure for air quality is slowly improving, but awareness has grown of the health risks of air toxins. Cancer is the greatest health risk from many of these toxins, but respiratory and heart disease may also be aggravated by some of the same pollutants. Diesel exhaust is the most significant source of air toxins, King County is supporting a number of initiatives to reduce diesel emissions. Per capita measures of energy usage and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) are increasing more slowly, or even beginning to decline. Nevertheless, total energy consumption continues to rise with population growth. The increases in total VMT, and in gasoline and diesel consumption are particularly worrisome because they are major contributors to air pollution. The indicator for water consumption has shown a significant positive trend towards less consumption over the past decade. We have gone from using 122 gallons of water per person daily in 1990, to just 93 gallons per person daily in 2001. Citizens seem to be responding to the need to conserve water. Monitoring of surface and groundwater quality show slight improvements, but stream degradation remains a concern, with 57 percent of our streams moderately degraded, and six percent seriously degraded. Water quality of our large lakes is generally good, and is improving slowly. Marine water quality is quite good and holding steady. The quantity of groundwater in King County aquifers appears to be fairly constant. No significant reductions in groundwater levels have been noted since monitoring began in the early 1990s. King County residents now recycle about six times as much waste as they did in 1977. In 2001, citizens recycled nearly 50 percent of all residential curbside waste. Workforce housing is still in short supply Creating sufficient housing affordable to the King County workforce continues to be one of the County's most difficult challenges. There is an adequate supply of rental housing for those above 40 percent of median income, but below that level there are insufficient affordable units to meet the demand. Rental vacancy rates are up, indicating that the supply of rental housing is easing, and that rents are likely to stabilize. However, the vacancy rates remain below the normal market level, around 5 percent, which existed prior to 1996. Buying a first home remains extremely difficult for those under 120 percent of median household income, making less than $74,000 in 2001. The median price for a single family home or condominium was $244,000 in 2001. 21 percent of households earn below 50 percent of median income, around $30,000 in 2001, but only about 14 percent of King County's housing stock, rental or ownership, is affordable to that group. Only 10 out of King County's 40 jurisdictions have sufficient housing for those earning under 50 percent of median household income. Fourteen cities have sufficient housing for those under 80 percent of median income, eleven of them in the South County. Transportation picture has a few bright spots Transportation remains among the greatest regional challenges, but there are some positive trends. The measures of traffic congestion on two key highways show improvement, although volume still exceeds capacity during peak periods on I-5. Commercial traffic has grown faster on these two highways (I-5 and SR 18) than private vehicles, but over 90 percent of traffic is still cars. Although the percent of commuters traveling to work by single occupancy vehicle has fallen slightly, S.O.V.'s still represent 69 percent of all commute trips. Sound Transit Express buses and Sounder trains have carried 3.3 million passengers in two years of operation. 2001 ridership was up 42 percent from the previous year. There has been a slight decline in Metro ridership, but much of this seems attributable to falling employment in 2001. Commute times have lengthened over the decade from an average of 24.3 minutes to 26.5 minutes. Our region is ranked about 15th for length of commute time, among major metropolitan areas. King County has completed two major Transit-Oriented Developments at Overlake on the Eastside, and in Renton. Plans for other urban-center / transit-oriented developments are moving forward. Metro service expansion in high density suburban areas, additional Sounder trains, and the implementation of the Sound Transit light rail project, all offer more opportunities to limit single-occupancy vehicle trips, and thus to improve both traffic flow and air quality. Projected highway improvements, if approved, will also contribute to improved traffic flow for both commercial and private vehicles. Related Information: The 2002 Annual Growth Report is available online, at http://www.metrokc.gov/budget/agr/agr02/. The 2002 Benchmark Report is available online, http://www.metrokc.gov/budget/benchmrk/bench02/. Updated: October 22, 2002 Executive's home Executive's news Executive's site map | E-mail the Executive King County | Executive | News | Services | Comments | Search Links to external sites do not constitute endorsements by King County. By visiting this and other King County web pages, you expressly agree to be bound by terms and conditions of the site. The details.