Saved analyses
Where 14 large Washington-based public companies list their headquarters
Question: Do the best-known large Washington-based public companies still list Washington headquarters?
Result: All 14 list a Washington business address: Microsoft (Redmond), Amazon, Starbucks, Nordstrom, Alaska Air Group, Expedia, Weyerhaeuser, Zillow and F5 (Seattle), Costco (Issaquah), T-Mobile US and PACCAR (Bellevue), Columbia Banking System (Tacoma) and Fortive (Everett).
Operation: Read the business address and latest annual report for each company from the SEC EDGAR submissions API.
Scope: 14 companies, checked November 3, 2026
View this analysis
- An SEC business address is what a company reports; it can lag a move of executives, as with Columbia Banking System.
Private worksites with 1,000 or more workers, indexed to 2019
Question: Has the number of very large private worksites in Washington fallen?
Result: Washington had 117 private worksites with 1,000 or more workers in early 2019 and 154 in early 2026 (index 131.6). The U.S. count rose from 6,329 to 6,762 (index 106.8).
Operation: Divide each year's first-quarter count by the 2019 count, times 100, for Washington and the U.S.
Scope: First quarter, 2019-2026, private sector, all industries
View this analysis
- Washington's count jumped from 119 to 137 between 2022 and 2023, when its overall business counts show a recording change; part of that jump may be administrative.
- Counts are worksites, not companies.
Robustness checks
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Sensitivity analysis:
Change in very large worksites by period.
Splitting the period around the 2022-23 jump: Washington's count was flat to slightly up from 2019 to 2022 (117 to 119) and rose 12.4% from 2023 to 2026 (137 to 154). It did not fall in either period.
Change in very large worksites by period
Question: Does the rise in Washington's 1,000-plus worksites hold in each period, and what happened to jobs at them in the latest year?
Result: Washington: +31.6% from 2019 to 2026, +1.7% from 2019 to 2022, +12.4% from 2023 to 2026, +0.7% from 2025 to 2026 (153 to 154). Jobs at these sites fell 0.7% from March 2025 to March 2026 (514,829 to 511,149); U.S. -0.2%.
Operation: Percent change in first-quarter counts between selected years, and in March employment at these sites from 2025 to 2026.
Scope: Washington and U.S., 2019-2026
View this analysis
- 2026 first-quarter data are preliminary.
Robustness check for:
Private worksites with 1,000 or more workers, indexed to 2019
Change in private business counts and private jobs
Question: Is Washington's count of private businesses falling, and how do private jobs compare with the U.S.?
Result: Private establishments: Washington +5.8% from 2023 to 2025 (U.S. +2.1%); -4.6% from 2019 to 2025 across a recording break (U.S. +18.9%); -0.5% from early 2025 to early 2026, preliminary (U.S. +3.6%). Private jobs: +0.09% in 2025 (U.S. +0.45%); -0.2% from March 2025 to March 2026 (U.S. +0.2%).
Operation: Percent change in QCEW private establishments and private employment over selected periods.
Scope: Washington and U.S., 2019-2026
View this analysis
- Washington's count is not comparable across 2022-23, so no single figure here settles whether the number of businesses is rising or falling.
- The March 2026 job figure is QCEW's latest month, not a current reading.
Layoff notices by year received
Question: How many workers were covered by layoff notices each year, and how many at farms and orchards?
Result: Workers in notices: 10,051 (2019), 46,824 (2020), 3,228 (2021), 5,691 (2022), 21,466 (2023), 12,195 (2024), 31,257 (2025) and 28,731 (2026 through November 2). Farms and orchards were 13,089 of 2025 and 10,821 of 2026.
Operation: Count notices and sum workers by year received; split by the farm-or-orchard flag.
Scope: Notices received 2019 to November 2, 2026
View this analysis
- Not comparable before and after July 27, 2025; see warn-law-change.
Robustness checks
Workers in layoff notices: farms and orchards versus all other employers
Question: How much of the recent rise in layoff notices is farm and orchard layoffs?
Result: Other employers: 7,538 (2019), 46,824 (2020), 3,108, 5,140, 21,335 (2023), 11,850, 18,168 (2025), 17,910 (2026 to Nov. 2). Farms and orchards: 2,513 (2019), near zero through 2024, 13,089 (2025), 10,821 (2026).
Operation: Workers by year received and group, for a stacked chart.
Scope: 2019 to November 2, 2026
View this analysis
- The 2026 bar covers January 1 to November 2.
Layoff notices in the year before and after Washington's notice law
Question: How did layoff notices change when Washington's own notice law took effect on July 27, 2025?
Result: Two years before: 78 notices, 12,503 workers. Year before: 64 notices, 11,627 workers, no farm notices. First year under the law: 148 notices, 34,356 workers, of which 19 farm notices with 13,479 workers.
Operation: Count notices and workers received in 12-month windows ending July 26 of 2024 and 2025 and starting July 27, 2025.
Scope: July 27, 2023 to July 26, 2026
View this analysis
- The law changed which layoffs need a notice; the windows cannot separate that from real changes in layoffs.
Robustness check for:
Layoff notices by year received
Largest non-farm filers, 2025 to November 2, 2026
Question: Which employers account for the most workers in non-farm layoff notices since January 2025?
Result: Amazon 5,259; Microsoft 4,084; Starbucks 2,589; Meta Platforms 1,995; Borton & Sons 1,953; Oracle 1,100; Fred Meyer 982; T-Mobile 768.
Operation: Sum workers by employer name for non-farm notices received from January 1, 2025.
Scope: Notices received January 1, 2025 to November 2, 2026
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- Name variants are merged only for simple suffixes.
New business filings per 1,000 residents, Washington and U.S.
Question: Does Washington start fewer likely-employer businesses per person than the U.S.?
Result: Washington's rate was below the U.S. rate every year: 87% of it in 2015 and 2019, 75% in 2021 and 2023, and 81% in 2025 (4.05 versus 5.00 per 1,000 residents).
Operation: Annual sum of monthly high-propensity business applications divided by population (thousands).
Scope: 2015-2025
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- Applications are intentions to start a business, not openings.
New business filings, January-September 2026 versus 2025
Question: Have new business filings in Washington fallen in 2026?
Result: Washington 26,315 versus 25,076 (+4.9%); U.S. 1,386,358 versus 1,323,566 (+4.7%).
Operation: Sum of monthly high-propensity applications, January to September, 2025 and 2026.
Scope: Washington and U.S.
View this analysis
- Recent months can be revised.
Private-sector job change, September 2025 to September 2026
Question: What is the latest over-the-year change in Washington private jobs?
Result: About +8,900 private jobs (+0.3%): total nonfarm +9,200 minus government +300.
Operation: Total nonfarm change minus government change from the ESD workbook; percent from the base implied by ESD's percentages.
Scope: Washington, September 2025 to September 2026, not seasonally adjusted
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- Survey-based estimates that will be revised when benchmarked to tax records.
- Derived; the workbook has no total-private row.
New business filings per person before and since 2020
Question: Has Washington's rate of new business filings fallen further behind the U.S.?
Result: Washington's rate was 89% of the U.S. rate in 2015-2019 (3.44 versus 3.88 per 1,000 residents) and 77% in 2020-2025 (3.97 versus 5.13).
Operation: Average yearly high-propensity business applications per 1,000 residents in each period; Washington share = Washington average / U.S. average.
Scope: 2015-2019 and 2020-2025
View this analysis
- Applications are intentions to start a business, not openings.
Business openings and closings by period
Question: Are more Washington businesses closing than opening, compared with the U.S.?
Result: Before the pandemic, Washington openings beat closings by 0.22 points a quarter (U.S. 0.35). In the four quarters to mid-2025, closings beat openings by 0.28 points (23,210 openings, 25,331 closings), while U.S. openings still beat closings by 0.21.
Operation: Average quarterly openings and closings rates in each period, and their difference (net); Washington counts summed where published.
Scope: 2014-2019, mid-2024 to mid-2025, and 2023 to mid-2025
View this analysis
- Washington closings include administrative spikes in some quarters; the 2023 to mid-2025 figure includes two of them and overstates real closures.
- Closings are published about three quarters after openings.
Washington's business opening rate compared with the U.S.
Question: Does Washington open new businesses at the U.S. rate?
Result: Washington's openings rate was 91% of the U.S. rate before the pandemic (2.76% versus 3.05% a quarter) and 88% in the latest two years (3.05% versus 3.46%).
Operation: Average quarterly openings rate in each period; Washington share = Washington average / U.S. average.
Scope: 2014-2019 excluding 2018, and the second quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2026
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- 2018 is left out because Washington shows unexplained spikes in openings that year.
Private job growth, Washington and U.S., by period
Question: Has Washington kept its faster job growth?
Result: Washington private jobs grew 14.4% from December 2014 to December 2019, against 9.0% for the U.S. From February 2020 to September 2026 they grew 4.5%, against 4.9%; from December 2022, 2.2% against 2.8%. In the latest year, preliminary, Washington grew 1.2% and the U.S. 0.5%.
Operation: Percent change in seasonally adjusted private jobs between the months shown.
Scope: December 2014 to September 2026
View this analysis
- Latest months are preliminary and are revised each year against tax records; federal tax records show Washington private jobs down 0.2% from March 2025 to March 2026.
Change in Washington's tax and business rankings
Question: Have Washington's tax and business rankings fallen?
Result: Washington fell from 33rd to 45th on the Tax Foundation's tax index (2020 to 2026). On CNBC's ranking it fell from 5th to 11th overall, from 32nd to 47th on cost of doing business, and from 35th to 40th on business friendliness (2019 to 2026).
Operation: Washington rank in the first and latest year available for each measure; places lost = latest minus first.
Scope: Tax Foundation 2020-2026 (2026 edition); CNBC 2019 and 2026
View this analysis
- Rankings are published judgments; see the dataset limitations on method changes.
company-hq.csv
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