Headquarters of 14 large Washington-based public companies

What this dataset measures

Built to check claims that Washington is losing its businesses or big employers. It brings together the direct measures of that claim: company filings for headquarters, federal counts of very large worksites and of all private businesses, Census counts of new business filings, and the state's layoff-notice database, with the 2025 change in the state's layoff-notice law marked.

Geography

Washington, United States

Unit of observation

Varies by table: company, year, quarter, or layoff notice

Update cadence

One-time release; may be revised as new quarterly data arrive

Curator

FactHub Research Team

Curated data tables

Headquarters of 14 large Washington-based public companies

Business address each company lists with the SEC, and its latest annual report.

Unit of observation: Company

company-hq.csv text/csv · 1.7 KB (1,709 bytes)

All 14 rows 10 columns Download the file

All 14 rows

company	cik	secName	businessCity	businessState	latestAnnualReport	latestAnnualReportFiled	accessionNumber	stillWashington	note
Microsoft	0000789019	MICROSOFT CORP	REDMOND	WA	10-K	2026-07-29	0001193125-26-323660	true	—
Amazon	0001018724	AMAZON COM INC	SEATTLE	WA	10-K	2026-02-06	0001018724-26-000004	true	—
Costco	0000909832	COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP /NEW	ISSAQUAH	WA	10-K	2026-10-07	0000909832-26-000093	true	—
Starbucks	0000829224	STARBUCKS CORP	SEATTLE	WA	10-K	2025-11-14	0000829224-25-000114	true	Opening a second corporate office in Nashville announced 2026; Seattle remains global headquarters.
T-Mobile US	0001283699	T-Mobile US, Inc.	BELLEVUE	WA	10-K	2026-02-11	0001283699-26-000010	true	—
PACCAR	0000075362	PACCAR INC	BELLEVUE	WA	10-K	2026-02-18	0001193125-26-057025	true	—
Nordstrom	0000072333	NORDSTROM INC	SEATTLE	WA	10-K	2025-03-21	0000072333-25-000039	true	Taken private in May 2025; latest annual report filed March 2025.
Alaska Air Group	0000766421	ALASKA AIR GROUP, INC.	SEATTLE	WA	10-K	2026-02-12	0000766421-26-000010	true	—
Expedia	0001324424	Expedia Group, Inc.	SEATTLE	WA	10-K	2026-02-13	0001324424-26-000008	true	—
Weyerhaeuser	0000106535	WEYERHAEUSER CO	SEATTLE	WA	10-K	2026-02-13	0001193125-26-051422	true	—
Zillow	0001617640	ZILLOW GROUP, INC.	SEATTLE	WA	10-K	2026-02-11	0001617640-26-000015	true	—
Columbia Banking System	0000887343	COLUMBIA BANKING SYSTEM, INC.	TACOMA	WA	10-K	2026-02-26	0000887343-26-000088	true	Moving most executive roles to a Scottsdale, Arizona office announced October 2026; filings list Tacoma.
Fortive	0001659166	Fortive Corp	EVERETT	WA	10-K	2026-02-25	0001659166-26-000007	true	—
F5	0001048695	F5, INC.	SEATTLE	WA	10-K	2025-11-25	0001048695-25-000157	true	—

10 field definitions

Field	Type	Meaning	Units	Value type
company	string	Company name.	—	observed
cik	string	SEC Central Index Key.	—	observed
secName	string	Registrant name on EDGAR.	—	observed
businessCity	string	City of the business address on EDGAR.	—	observed
businessState	string	State of the business address on EDGAR.	—	observed
latestAnnualReport	string	Form type of the latest annual report.	—	observed
latestAnnualReportFiled	date	Filing date of the latest annual report.	—	observed
accessionNumber	string	EDGAR accession number of that report.	—	observed
stillWashington	boolean	Whether the business address is in Washington.	—	derived
note	string	Context on partial moves or ownership changes.	—	observed

Supporting files

Source snapshots, manifests, quality reports, documentation, and other materials used to produce or review this release.

• farm-employer-names.txt Documentation · text/plain · 1 KB (1,040 bytes)

  The employer names flagged as farms or orchards in the layoff notices.

• build.js Transformation manifest · text/javascript · 11.7 KB (11,994 bytes)

  Node.js script that builds every table and saved analysis from the input files.

• official-series.json Source manifest · application/json · 5.6 KB (5,715 bytes)

  The official figures used as inputs (BLS QCEW, Census Business Formation Statistics, population, ESD workbook), with series IDs.

• sec-submissions.json Source manifest · application/json · 3.3 KB (3,400 bytes)

  The fields read from the SEC EDGAR submissions API for each company.

• analyses.json Documentation · application/json · 10.9 KB (11,209 bytes)

  Every saved-analysis result, as written by build.js.

Sources

1. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, EDGAR submissions API Business address and latest annual report (Form 10-K) for each company, from https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK##########.json

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Permitted

   Reliability: Government. Addresses are what each company reports to the SEC on its filings. The SEC has no stake in where companies locate.

2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW establishment size data First-quarter counts of private worksites with 1,000 or more employees and their March employment, 2019-2026 (same file pattern for each year)

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Permitted

   Reliability: Government. Built from unemployment-insurance tax reports that nearly all employers file each quarter. Washington's data come from the state Employment Security Department.

3. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW series ENU5300020510, ENUUS00020510, ENU5300010510, ENUUS00010510 Private-sector establishment counts and employment, Washington and U.S.

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Permitted

   Reliability: Government. Same unemployment-insurance records as the size data. Establishment counts depend on how employers' reporting units are recorded.

4. Washington Employment Security Department, WARN layoff and closure database Every layoff and closure notice in the database, June 2018 to November 2, 2026

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public record (Washington state government). Permitted

   Reliability: Government. Notices are filed by employers under the federal WARN Act and, from July 27, 2025, Washington's own notice law. ESD lists them by the date it receives them. The first 15 rows of the copy matched the live table on November 3, 2026.

5. Washington State Legislature, RCW 49.45.010 Definitions of covered employer and mass layoff in Washington's notice law (2025 c 277)

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public record (Washington state government). Permitted

   Reliability: Government. Official statute text from the Code Reviser.

6. Washington Employment Security Department Date the state notice law took effect

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public record (Washington state government). Permitted

   Reliability: Government. The agency that administers the notice law and keeps the database.

7. 29 U.S. Code 2101 (Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School) Federal WARN Act definitions of employer and mass layoff

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public domain statute text. Permitted

   Reliability: Academic. Cornell's copy of the U.S. Code text.

8. Census Bureau Business Formation Statistics via FRED, BAHBATOTALNSAWA Monthly high-propensity business applications, Washington, not seasonally adjusted

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Permitted

   Reliability: Government. Census counts applications for federal employer ID numbers and flags those likely to become employers. FRED republishes the series unchanged.

9. Census Bureau Business Formation Statistics via FRED, BAHBATOTALNSAUS Monthly high-propensity business applications, United States, not seasonally adjusted

   Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Permitted

   Reliability: Government. Same Census program as the Washington series.

10. FRED, resident population WAPOP (Census) and B230RC0A052NBEA (BEA) Annual population of Washington and the U.S. (U.S. series https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/B230RC0A052NBEA), used for per-person rates

    Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Permitted

    Reliability: Government. Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis population estimates.

11. Washington Employment Security Department, Monthly Employment Report charts workbook, September 2026 Over-the-year job change by industry, September 2025 to September 2026 (sheet 'Industry employment OTY, nsa', updated October 14, 2026)

    Retrieved November 3, 2026. Public record (Washington state government). Permitted

    Reliability: Government. ESD's monthly survey-based estimates (Current Employment Statistics), revised when benchmarked to tax records.

12. Deseret News Brian Heywood's statement on losing businesses

    Retrieved November 3, 2026. All rights reserved (quoted under fair use). Link only; short quotation

    Reliability: News report. News report by Emily Walker quoting Heywood directly.

13. Washington Policy Center Commentary claiming a business exodus, May 28, 2026

    Retrieved November 3, 2026. All rights reserved (quoted under fair use). Link only; short quotation

    Reliability: Advocacy group. Has a stake in this finding. A Washington think tank that argues for lower taxes and less regulation. The piece is by its director of small business policy.

14. InvestmentNews Fisher Investments headquarters move, March 27, 2023

    Retrieved November 3, 2026. All rights reserved. Link only

    Reliability: News report. Trade news report.

15. Southern Business & Development Avalara headquarters now Durham, June 24, 2024

    Retrieved November 3, 2026. All rights reserved. Link only

    Reliability: News report. Economic-development trade publication quoting the company.

16. KIRO 7 Payscale headquarters change, December 8, 2025

    Retrieved November 3, 2026. All rights reserved. Link only

    Reliability: News report. Local TV news report.

17. Trade & Industry Development Starbucks Nashville office, April 22, 2026

    Retrieved November 3, 2026. All rights reserved. Link only

    Reliability: News report. Economic-development trade publication reporting the Tennessee announcement.

18. KIRO 7 Columbia Bank executive office in Arizona, October 2026

    Retrieved November 3, 2026. All rights reserved. Link only

    Reliability: News report. Local TV news report summarizing the Puget Sound Business Journal.

Limitations and reproducibility

Reproducible: build.js recomputes every table and saved analysis from three input files: sec-submissions.json (SEC EDGAR submissions API), official-series.json (BLS QCEW, Census Business Formation Statistics via FRED, population, and the ESD September 2026 workbook, copied from the sources listed) and warn-notices.csv (ESD WARN database). Run node build.js. The input numbers can be re-pulled from the source URLs.

• Headquarters are checked for 14 large Washington-based public companies, chosen as the best-known large employers; it is not every company ever based in Washington. Private companies other than Nordstrom are not covered.
• The 1,000-plus worker count is of worksites (establishments), not companies. One company can run several such sites, and a company can be headquartered elsewhere. Counts are for the first quarter of each year.
• Washington's business counts in the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) fell sharply between 2022 and 2023 and swing more than the U.S. series, which points to changes in how employers' accounts are recorded. Long comparisons across 2022-23 are unreliable; the first-quarter 2026 figures are preliminary.
• Layoff notices are not comparable before and after July 27, 2025, when Washington's own notice law took effect. It covers employers with 50 or more workers and counts layoffs statewide, where the federal law covers employers with 100 or more and counts by site. Farm and orchard notices appear almost only after that date.
• Layoff notices show planned layoffs at Washington sites. They do not show relocations, actual separations, or rehiring, and seasonal farm notices recur each year.
• Farm and orchard notices are flagged by employer name (farm-employer-names.txt). Farm labor contractors and growers with generic names, such as Borton & Sons, are counted as other employers, so the farm share is a lower bound.
• New business filings (high-propensity business applications) are applications likely to become employers, not businesses actually opened.