Local News

It’s a familiar story in Seattle: Well-paid young professionals move into the neighborhood, property values and rents spike, and suddenly everything goes upscale. As the character of our neighborhoods transform — and just last week we learned that Capitol Hill’s beloved art-house cinema Harvard Exit is closing, sold off to a developer — the topic of…

Can you imagine a Seattle without Thai food? It may seem unthinkable today, but it wasn’t until 1981 that a Seattle Times food writer was able to announce: “Seattle finally has an authentic Thai restaurant.” Even if it took us a while to discover Thai cuisine, we’ve certainly made up for lost time. In fact, new survey data from…

It may feel like boom times in Seattle, but at least one group is being left out: the city’s black residents. While Seattle’s median household income soared to an all-time high of $70,200 last year, wages for blacks nose-dived to $25,700 — a 13.5 percent drop from 2012. Among the 50 largest U.S. cities, Seattle…

  I know what you’re thinking: “How could Seattle get any whiter?” Sarcasm aside, you do have a point. Seattle is very white for a large U.S. city — whiter even than Salt Lake City, believe it or not. (Tuck that fact away. It might win you some bar bets). And yet, not only could Seattle get whiter. According to new Census Bureau data, it…

When was the last time you moved? If you live in Seattle, chances are it wasn’t too long ago. According to the most recent census data, nearly half of us — 46 percent, to be exact — moved into our current home in 2010 or later. Even in New York City — famous for its constant flux —…

It seems like an inevitable topic of conversations these days: When did Seattle become a city for rich people? We all know about the skyrocketing housing costs that are pricing some folks out of Seattle. But you’ve probably also noticed how all those new apartment buildings — the ones where studios rent for $1,600 — fill up with tenants…

We’ve got some good news, and some bad news. First the good news: Guys in Seattle are making bank. Data released last week by the Census Bureau show that the median earnings for Seattle men who work full-time increased by $7,000 between 2012 and 2013 — a 12 percent jump in just one year. That ranks as the heftiest rise in pay for men in any major U.S. city. And…

Seattle apartment-dwellers: You thought your rent was high — well, you’re right. Data released Thursday by the Census Bureau rank Seattle — for the first time — among the 10 most-expensive cities for renters. To achieve that dubious honor, we had to claw our way past Oakland and Long Beach, Calif., on the list of high-priced places to live. So how’d we do…

We all know Seattle is a boom town. As FYI Guy alerted you a few months back, Seattle has become the fastest-growing major U.S. city, based on our analysis of recent population data from the U.S. Census Bureau. You may be surprised to learn there’s been ebb along with that flow. Data released Tuesday by the moving…

If you could walk to work, would you? Compared with sitting in rush-hour traffic — which many of you endured Wednesday afternoon — a leisurely stroll to the office might sound pretty nice. And yet, not a lot of us do it. Just look at the statistics: For every 35 American workers, just one commutes by…