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Reports on Growth

Seattle's Comprehensive (Comp) Plan lays out a framework for growth over 20 years. The following reports summarize Seattle's growth and change in the years since the Comp Plan was adopted in 1994.

  • Monitoring Our Progress: Seattle's Comprehensive Plan - an eight-year progress report prepared in 2003
  • Urban Village Case Studies - findings on five of the City's 38 urban villages, prepared in 2003 to analyze progress in meeting Comp Plan goals.
  • Seattle Growth Report 2000 - a six-year progress report, prepared in 2000

These reports, which are posted below, provide background material for a discussion the City will engage in during an update of the Comp Plan that state law requires by the end of 2004. The reports point out successes, but also raise questions about whether the City is taking the actions necessary to achieve the goals laid out in the Plan, and whether the Plan’s goals are still ones the City wants to pursue.

Monitoring Our Progress: Seattle's Comprehensive Plan

An eight-year progress report, “Monitoring Our Progress: Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan,” was prepared in 2003. It is the third in a series of reports that monitor changes in the Seattle urban environment since the 1994 adoption of the Comp Plan. These monitoring reports use a set of indicators based on the city’s core values of community, environmental stewardship, economic opportunity and security, and social equity to track change in Seattle. The reports also present useful information about how and where the city has grown.

The progress report is available below in PDF format--either as a complete report (WARNING: large file size) or by individual section:

Printed copies of this report are available from DPD’s Public Resource Center, located on the 20th floor of Seattle Municipal Tower at 700 Fifth Ave. 

 Urban Village Case Studies

“Urban Village Case Studies,” was prepared in 2003 and presents the 2002 findings of case studies on five of the City’s 38 urban villages. Urban villages are the locations where the Comp Plan expected to see the greatest amount of growth and change over 20 years. This report is based on discussions with community stakeholders and data from a wide range of sources. It presents portraits of how growth and change are affecting five unique urban villages: 12th Avenue, Belltown, Greenwood-Phinney Ridge, Rainier Beach, and the West Seattle Junction.

The case studies report is available below in PDF format--either as a complete report or by individual section. WARNING: Some sections have large file sizes due to data-intensive maps.

Printed copies of this report are available from DPD’s Public Resource Center, located on the 20th floor of Seattle Municipal Tower at 700 Fifth Ave.

 Seattle Growth Report 2000

"Seattle Growth Report 2000" summarizes Seattle's growth and change in the six years since the Comp Plan was adopted. Topics covered in this report include:

  • Growth in housing units
  • Growth in employment
  • Changes in housing affordability
  • Changes in traffic congestion, and
  • Locations of major new capital projects.

Some key points to come out of this report include:

  • Employment in Seattle grew by approximately 50,000 jobs between 1995 and 1998.
  • Seattle's housing supply has grown by more than 9,800 dwelling units since 1994.
  • The median sales price of single family homes and condominiums has risen between 40 percent and 50 percent and median rents have risen by as much as 40 percent in some neighborhoods. Median incomes grew by 24 percent during the same period.
  • The number of trips out of Seattle during the peak morning commute increased faster than trips into Seattle. However, trips into the City remain higher than trips out of the City. This report summarizes Seattle's growth and change in the 5 years since Seattle's Comprehensive Plan was adopted.

View Cover Page

Complete Text of Seattle Growth Report 2000 (647 KB)

Figure 1: City of Seattle Housing and Job Growth

The Seattle Growth Report 2000 is currently only available in the electronic format posted above. Much of the material in the Growth Report has been superceded by more recent reports (see Monitoring Our Progress above).

Last Updated:

November 2, 2011