New population data show Seattle has a shrinking share of the region's population. That's unless you consider the metropolitan region as a single big city facing the same regional challenges. Think of Seattle as a city with 22-mile-long Lake Washington running through its middle.
According to state figures released today, Seattle city grew 1.8 percent during the last year to 586,200, while King County overall grew 1.4 percent to 1,861,300. This story dives into reasons behind the trend.
Now the city of Seattle is less than one-third (31.4 percent) of the county's population -- and a smaller share (14.7 percent) if you consider the metropolitan population of roughly 4 million. The city was more than 78 percent of the county total in 1930 and 46 percent in 1970.
You could argue this trend means the city of Seattle should be starved of infrastructure dollars in favor of suburban roads and other projects. But people are drawn to a broadly defined "Seattle" rather than the suburbs, just as they're drawn to "Vancouver" instead of Richmond or Surrey (which are booming).
Projects simply need to serve a wider area than ever. It's clear that the area needs a variety of solutions, matching development with transportation. the Seattle area needs a system of rail along existing and future high-density corridors and a network of bus and carpool lanes connecting other areas. Incentives should promote the most efficient use of that regional infrastructure.