2025 at a Glance
In 2025, downtown Seattle’s story was defined by strong local engagement, major events and measurable shifts in public safety.
Visitors Continue to Make Downtown a Destination
The number of local visitors (those living within 10 miles of downtown) continued to rise — both in total number and frequency — with increased activity along the Pike/Pine corridor, the waterfront and around major conventions and community events. Large-scale concerts, sports and festivals drove many of the busiest days of the year, generating significant foot traffic near the stadiums and throughout surrounding neighborhoods.
Unique Local Downtown Visitors
Source: Placer.ai
- The total number of unique local visitors continued to increase slightly, rising to 1.28 million in 2025.
- Increasing the number of local visitors coming downtown is a key focus for the Downtown Seattle Association as locals help support street-level vibrancy and support key downtown sectors such as arts & culture, retail and dining.
Local Visitor Foot Traffic
Source: Placer.ai
- While increasing the number of local visitors is important, increasing the frequency of downtown visits by locals is a critical metric for downtown’s economic health and vibrancy.
- Data indicate locals are continuing to increase the frequency of visits.
- In 2025, local visitor foot traffic increased nearly 3% compared to 2024, and was 92% of the local visitor foot traffic seen in 2019.
In 2025, locals made more than 8.3 million visits, an 11% increase over 2024, and nearly three-quarters of the local visitor foot traffic seen in 2019.
- As the main retail corridor downtown, bookended with Pike Place Market and the Seattle Convention Center Summit building, the vibrancy of the Pike/Pine corridor is a key indicator for downtown vitality.
- In particular, locals were drawn to conventions like Sakura-Con and Emerald City Comic Con at the Convention Center, and celebrating the city’s Pride parade, as well as attending the No Kings protest in October.
Pike Pine Local Visitor Foot Traffic
Source: Placer.ai
Top 5 Days in 2025 for Locals in Pike/Pine Corridor
Source: Placer.ai
Note: These counts do not represent total event attendance, but are meant to highlight some of the events in the area that likely contributed to increased foot traffic into the Pike/Pine corridor.
- A major draw — not only for tourists but for locals as well — is the new waterfront. As the waterfront project nears completion, data indicate it continues attracting local visitors in significant numbers.
- In 2025, local visitor foot traffic to the waterfront increased 11% year-over year, reaching 97% of the foot traffic seen in 2019.
- On July 26, the waterfront saw its busiest day of foot traffic since at least 2019 with the return of the Alaska Airlines Seafair Torchlight Parade, and nearly 100,000 parade attendees.
Waterfront Local Visitor Foot Traffic
Source: Placer.ai
Crime Trends Downtown and Police Hiring
Crime trends in the downtown core continued to improve over the past year. In 2025, the downtown core saw the fewest incidents of violent crime since 2017. At the same time, incidents of violent crime increased in other parts of downtown, including Belltown and the Chinatown-International District. These mixed results show the need for sustained, coordinated action to build lasting safety improvements for downtown and across Seattle. Also in 2025, the Seattle Police Department hired 165 new officers, the highest number since at least 2019.
Downtown Violent Crime Incidents
Source: Seattle Police Department Crime Dashboard, 2026.
- In 2025, the number of violent crime incidents downtown was flat compared to 2024.
- However, this represents a 14% decline from the pandemic peak of nearly 1,600 incidents in 2021.
Violent Crime Incidents in Downtown Core
SPD Beats M1-3
SPD Beats M1-3
Source: Seattle Police Department Crime Dashboard, 2026.
- While overall the total incidents were similar to 2024, an area that saw significant improvement was the downtown core.
- In 2025, the downtown core, excluding 2020, experienced the lowest number of violent crime incidents since at least 2017.
The number of violent crime incidents declined 14% from 2024 and 33% from the post-pandemic peak of 412 in 2021.
Violent Crime Incidents in Belltown & Chinatown-Int'l District
SPD Beats D1 (Belltown) & K3 (Chinatown-Int'l District)
SPD Beats D1 (Belltown) & K3 (Chinatown-Int'l District)
Source: Seattle Police Department Crime Dashboard, 2026
- While public safety in the downtown core improved in 2025, other areas of downtown continue to face challenges.
- In 2025, Belltown saw the highest number of violent crime incidents since at least 2020, increasing 24% compared to 2024.
- While the number of violent incidents in Chinatown-ID fell slightly in 2025 relative to 2024, it continues to be much too high, again topping 300 incidents.
- These two SPD police beats (K3 and D1) in 2025 had more than a third (35%) of downtown’s total violent crime incidents.
- SPD hired 165 new officers in 2025 — the highest number of new officers hired annually since at least 2019.
- The number of new officers hired in 2025 was nearly double the number hired in 2024 and was a net increase of 103 officers added to the force.
- Since 2020 SPD has had 758 officers separate from the department, while hiring 500 officers for a net loss of 258 SPD officers over this period.
SPD Officers Hired and Separated
Source: Seattle Police Department, 2026
Average Daily Count of Total and Deployable SPD Officers
Source: Seattle Police Department, 2026
- The number of deployable SPD officers continued to grow, reaching an average daily count of 974 officers in 2025.
- The 2025 increase in deployable SPD officers represented a nearly 3% increase from 2024, and the first year both total officers and deployable officer counts increased year over year since before the pandemic.
Courtesy of Seafair Seattle
Downtown Is Where Locals Celebrate
Downtown Seattle continues to be the region’s premier destination to gather and celebrate, drawing locals and visitors to sold-out concerts, professional sporting events and signature festivals throughout the year. In 2025, the Alaska Airlines Seafair Torchlight Parade returned to downtown and was hosted on the new Waterfront to record crowds, and just last month hundreds of thousands lined Fourth Ave to celebrate the Seahawks winning the Super Bowl. These events and celebrations drive foot traffic, support local business and reinforce downtown’s role as the civic heart of the city.
2025’s Top 10 Busiest Days Downtown
Big events continue to draw people downtown, from major concerts and professional sports teams to festivals.
Bite of Seattle, Alaska Airlines Seafair Torchlight Parade on waterfront and a Morgan Wallen concert at Lumen Field
The Weeknd concert at Lumen Field
Bite of Seattle at Seattle Center and Morgan Wallen concert at Lumen Field
Northwest Folklife Festival at Seattle Center
Seattle Worldcon 2025 at the Convention Center, Seattle Tattoo Expo at Seattle Center, Kali Uchis at Climate Pledge Arena and DSA/MID’s Downtown Summer Sounds concert
Lady Gaga concert at Climate Pledge, Mariners at T-Mobile Park and DSS concert
Kendrick Lamar and SZA concert at Lumen Field, Seattle Chinese Culture & Arts Festival at Seattle Center, Mariners at T-Mobile Park
DSS kickoff concert, My Chemical Romance concert at T-Mobile Park and Pioneer Square First Thursday Art Walk
AMA Supercross Championship at Lumen Field, Mariners’ Opening Day at T-Mobile Park
The start of Seafair Weekend Festival and a Mariners homestand
Downtown Stadium Foot Traffic
2019–2025
2019–2025
Source: Placer.ai
- Between April and October, T-Mobile Park saw a 17% increase in foot traffic as the Seattle Mariners made a deep playoff run.
- Lumen Field foot traffic increased 17% in 2025 compared to the year prior due in part to hosting several major stadium tours as well as FIFA Club World Cup games, plus Sounders, Reign and Seahawks games.
- In 2025, Climate Pledge Arena (home to the Seattle Storm, Seattle Kraken and Seattle Torrent) set a new record with more than 2.7 million visitors.
Stadium Area Local Visitor Foot Traffic
Source: Placer.ai
- Lumen Field and T-Mobile Park generated significant foot traffic in the surrounding downtown neighborhoods of Pioneer Square and Chinatown-ID.
- In 2025, visitor foot traffic in the area around the stadiums increased more than 7% as the stadiums hosted major concerts, FIFA Club World Cup matches and Mariners, Seahawks, Sounders and Reign games.
Downtown Office Market and Tax Base Trends
Downtown Seattle’s office market continues to adjust to post-pandemic shifts in workplace demand. Vacancy rates remain elevated, particularly in the central business district, while net absorption has been negative since 2020, signaling a continued slower, multi-year recovery as employers reassess space needs.
Downtown Seattle Office Vacancy Rate
Source: CoStar
- According to data from CoStar, downtown Seattle office vacancy remained at a post-pandemic peak of 25%, although the rate of increase slowed to be nearly flat year-over-year.
- The central business district (CBD) was experiencing the highest office vacancy rate downtown with a rate of more than 32%.
- In 2025, the office vacancy rate in the downtown CBD (32%) remained nearly double the previous high point during the Great Recession in 2009 (16.7%).
- Between 2010 and 2019, downtown Seattle experienced a positive net absorption rate for office space for 10 straight years, with a net gain of more than 21 million square feet of office space leased over this time period.
- Since 2020, downtown office space has had a net absorption rate of around negative 9.5 million square feet.
- However, there are some positive signs as 2025 experienced the smallest loss in net absorption of downtown Seattle office space since 2020, although recovery will take years as changes in office space needs and job market weakening weigh on the office space market.
Downtown Office Net Absorption
Square feet
Square feet
Note: According to CoStar, the net absorption rate is defined as the measure, for existing buildings, of the total square feet occupied less the total space vacated over a given period of time. Lease renewals are not factored into net absorption. Source: CoStar.
Total Taxable Value of 20 Highest Valued Properties Downtown
Source: King County Assessor, 2026
- According to the King County Assessor, in 2021, the 20 downtown Seattle buildings with the highest taxable value had a combined taxable value of more than $10.7 billion.
- By 2026, these properties’ combined taxable value had declined 53% to a total value of around $5.1 billion.
- Property tax assessments generated from these 20 properties experienced a similar drop, declining from more than $100 million annually in 2021 to around an estimated $50 million in 2026.
Credit: Port of Seattle
Downtown Seattle Sees Mixed Tourism Signals
Travel patterns show a mixed picture for downtown Seattle. While cross-border vehicle traffic from Canada has declined year-over-year, international passenger volumes at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport continue to grow at a slower pace, and cruise activity is projected to reach record levels, including an estimated 330 ship calls made by 15 different cruise lines in 2026.
Number of Travelers Crossing into Washington State
Blaine, WA US-Canada Border Crossing
Blaine, WA US-Canada Border Crossing
Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection border crossing data, 2026
- Starting in February 2025 and every month following experienced a year-over-year decline in travelers entering Washington State from Canada at the Blaine, WA border crossing.
- In 2025, there were nearly 1.9 million fewer travelers entering Washington from Canada at Blaine than 2024, a 25% decline.
Total International Passengers at Sea-Tac Airport
Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, 2026
- In 2025, Sea-Tac International Airport welcomed more than 7.1 million international passengers, an 8% increase over 2024.
- While still positive, this was a slower increase than previous years which had seen gains of 14% in 2024 and 32% in 2023.
The Port of Seattle estimates nearly 2.1 million cruise passengers will pass through Seattle in 2026, a new record. Seattle will also welcome MSC Cruises and Virgin Voyages for the first time as the number of Alaska cruises continues to grow.
Cruise Passengers
Source: Port of Seattle, 2026