Seattle, King County, Washington

Seattle is a seaport city on the United States’ West Coast. It serves as the county seat of King County, Washington. It is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America, with a 2020 population of 737,015. The Seattle metropolitan area has a population of 4.02 million people, ranking it 15th in the United States.

Seattle is located on an isthmus between Puget Sound (a Pacific Ocean inlet) and Lake Washington. It is the most northern major city in the United States, roughly 160 kilometers south of the Canadian border. As of 2021, Seattle is the fourth-largest container-handling port in North America.

For many years, Seattle has been a regional center for the performing arts. The Seattle Symphony Orchestra, which has been around for a century, has received numerous prizes and mostly performs at Benaroya Hall. The Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet both perform at McCaw Hall, with the Opera being particularly well-known for its renditions of Richard Wagner’s works, and the PNB School ranked as one of the top three ballet training schools in the United States. The Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras (SYSO) is the country’s largest symphonic youth organization. The Seattle Chamber Music Society organizes acclaimed summer and winter chamber music festivals in the city.