Visit Seattle released preliminary figures for 2023 at its annual meeting Wednesday, and found that the region hosted 37.8 million visitors last year, an 8.9% increase from 2022. That’s just 10% less than in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic.

Nearly 1.9 million visitors came downtown last month. Downtown averaged 85,000 daily workers, a 16% increase from February 2023. That, however, is only 57% compared to the same period in 2020, right before the pandemic.

Women across the state made $18,4000 less in average wages than men in 2022. New research from the National Partnership for Women and Families found that only Utah has a larger discrepancy, at $20,649.

In more than three decades as a journalist, I’ve never yelled “stop the press.” But I will say “hot off the press,” which leads me to the new issue of Seattle magazine. In our March/April issue, we continue on our mission to elevate and celebrate Seattle’s position as a world-class city by emphasizing one of…

More than 106,000 residents now call downtown Seattle home. Thirty-one construction projects are underway. More than 3.5 million out-of-town visitors spent time in the city’s core last summer, a post-pandemic high. Those are just a few of the numbers cited at Thursday’s annual State of Downtown summit held by the Downtown Seattle Association. While challenges…

March has long been observed as Women’s History Month, with International Women’s Day being celebrated on March 8. Here in Washington state, March is now “Women Making History Month” for the first time. National Women’s Day was first observed in the United States on Feb. 28, 1908, to honor the garment worker’s 1908 strike in…

Grace Yoo sums up the mission of the Washington Women’s Commission in five seemingly simple words: “When women thrive, Washington thrives.” Yoo, a former Starbucks executive and diplomat with the U.S. Foreign Service, took over as director of the Women’s Commission 10 months ago. Her mission: to raise its profile. It was created on a…

A study for the Pacific Whale Watch Association by Martin Associates finds that whale watching expeditions in Washington state create $119.1 million in economic value and support 1,125 jobs…

Since 1989, Hayden Homes has worked hard to build a reputation for the quality of our homes and the passionate support we give to the communities in which we live and work. The balance of building and giving is essential to who we are. It’s what connects our people, passion, and purpose. We believe in…

It’s not exactly Undercover Boss, but Jessica Jackson learns a lot when she visits Revolution Custom/Civil Builders workers at job sites. Jackson, office manager at the Issaquah-based general contractor, surprises workers with lunch once a month. She hears questions and concerns she never expected. “We are pretty shocked at what we learn,” Jackson says. “Normal,…

The fast-growing Los Angeles-based chain will open its first Seattle-area location in The Village at Totem Lake in Kirkland. Another location on South Lake Union may open as soon as this spring, followed by a third on Capitol Hill.

Dusty Highland is firmly rooted in modern times, but the fourth-generation owner of rapidly growing Smith Brothers Farms still centers his company on a time-tested business practice that dates back to colonial New England. Despite having a fancy app and a business model built around acquisitions, new products and corporate partnerships, Kent-based Smith Brothers still…