Bellevue is home to some of the world's largest technology companies. Before and after the 2008 recession, its downtown area has been undergoing rapid change with many high-rise projects being constructed.Downtown Bellevue is currently the second-largest city center in Washington state, with 1,300 businesses, 45,000 employees, and 10,200 residents.[9] In a 2018 estimate, the city's median household income was among the top five cities in the state of Washington.[10]In 2008, Bellevue was number one inCNNMoney's list of the best places to live and launch a business,[11] and in 2010 was again ranked as the fourth-best place to live in America.[12] In 2014, Bellevue was ranked as the second-best place to live byUSA Today.[13]
More than 145 companies have been located in Bellevue; companies currently headquartered there includePACCAR Inc,T-Mobile US, andValve. The technology companyAmazon was founded in Bellevue byJeff Bezos.
TheDuwamish, whose main settlements were located in present-day Renton and Seattle, maintained a small outpost settlement called Satskal (SAH-tsah-kahl) along theMercer Slough, south of present-day downtown Bellevue.[14] It was from this village that an attack on the settlers of Elliott Bay was staged. The Duwamish also had a village near Factoria called 'pah-pah-DEEL'.[15]
Bellevue was first settled by European Americans in 1869 by William Meydenbauer and Aaron Mercer, who claimed homestead tracts several miles apart. Both moved away within a few years, and permanent residents did not arrive until 1879. By 1882, a community, consisting mostly of logging homesteaders, had established itself.[14] Once the land had been logged, it was gradually cleared, largely by Japanese immigrant labor in the early 20th century, to support small-scale farming on leased land plots.[16]
By the early part of the 20th century, Bellevue had acquired a reputation as a weekend getaway destination for Seattle residents, who would arrive by ferry at Meydenbauer Bay and spend the day at nearby Wildwood Park.[17] After the ferry landing was moved toMedina, however, tourism to Bellevue waned. To counter this decline, the Bellevue Strawberry Festival was conceived of in 1925, and by the 1930s it had grown to attract as many as 15,000 visitors. At the time, Bellevue was still a small town with around 2,000 residents.[18]
Prior to the opening of theLake Washington Floating Bridge in 1940, Bellevue was mostly rural farmland area with little development. Although it was small, developers were pushing to change that; in the 1920s,James S. Ditty predicted that it would become a city with a population of 200,000.[19] He envisioned plans that included the bridging of Lake Washington and an area filled with golf courses and airports.[20] His map with these visions was published in 1928.[20] Once the Murrow Memorial Bridge opened, access from Seattle improved, and the area began to evolve into abedroom community.[8]
In 1942, the Bellevue Strawberry Festival was cancelled. The primary reason was that some 90 percent of the agricultural workforce in the area was of Japanese ancestry, and all of these farmers and their families had been forciblyinterned in camps following the start of World War II.[21] The fair would not be revived for another 45 years. Following the expulsion of the ethnic Japanese farming community, a large quantity of farmland became available for development.[22] This made way for the initial development of the Bellevue downtown area.
Bellevue seen from Meydenbauer Bay in 1902
Bellevue incorporated as a third-class city on the March 31, 1953.[23] Following the 1963 opening of a second bridge across the lake, theEvergreen Point Floating Bridge, the city began to grow more rapidly. TheCrossroads community was annexed in 1964.[24]Lake Hills was annexed in 1969.[25] By the 1970 census, Bellevue had become the fourth most populous city in the state of Washington, behind only Seattle,Spokane, andTacoma.[26]
Bellevue remains one of the largest cities in the state, with several high-rise structures in its core and a burgeoning business community. The city experienced a building boom during the mid-2000s, with the building of developments such asLincoln Square and the Bravern.[8]
Bellevue Square is located in downtown Bellevue and is now one of the largestshopping centers in the region. Opened in 1946,[8] the mall has undergone several significant phases of expansion since the 1980s.[citation needed]
The city's plans include the Bel-Red Corridor Project, a large-scale planning effort to encourage the redevelopment of 900 acres (3.6 km2) in the largeBel-Red section of the city bordering the adjacent city ofRedmond.[27] The plan is similar to the redevelopment of the downtown core withsuperblocks ofmixed-use projects from private developers.[citation needed] These include theSpring District, a mixed-use residential and commercial neighborhood which was developed on 36 acres (15 ha) of industrial land around a future light rail station.[28] The2 Line ofLink light rail was opened fromSouth Bellevue station toRedmond Technology station in April 2024, extension to Downtown Redmond opened in May 2025. The 2 Line is scheduled to be extended to Seattle in early 2026 over Lake Washington to join the 1 Line at Chinatown/ International District to Lynnwood City Center.[29]
Bellevue lies betweenLake Washington to the west and the smallerLake Sammamish to the east. Much of Bellevue is drained by theKelsey Creek watershed, whose source is located in theLarsen Lake andPhantom Lakegreen belt and whose outlet is near whereInterstate 90 meets Lake Washington's eastern shore. The city is bisected byInterstate 405 running north–south, and the southern portion is crossed from west to east by Interstate 90. TheState Route 520 freeway roughly delineates the upper reaches of Bellevue.
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 37.505 square miles (97.14 km2), of which 33.468 square miles (86.68 km2) is land and 4.037 square miles (10.46 km2) is water.[2]
The city's name is derived from aFrench term for "beautiful view". Under favorable weather conditions, scenic vistas of theOlympic Mountains andCascade Mountains can be viewed from hilltops (and strategically positioned high-rise buildings) within the incorporated city.
South of I-90, the city continues upCougar Mountain, at the top of which is an unincorporated King County location called Hilltop. To the west of Cougar Mountain, Bellevue includes theCoal Creek, Somerset, andFactoria neighborhoods.
Bellevue is bordered by the cities ofKirkland to the north andRedmond to the northeast along theOverlake andCrossroads neighborhoods. Across the shortEast Channel Bridge, I-90 connects Bellevue toMercer Island to the southwest.Issaquah is to the east, down I-90 at the south end of Lake Sammamish. The city is bordered to the west by many affluent suburbs such asMedina,Clyde Hill,Hunts Point andYarrow Point. The south end of Bellevue is bordered by the relatively recently incorporated city ofNewcastle, and the city ofRenton.
Like much of the Puget Sound lowland, Bellevue has a mildoceanic climate (Cfb). It also has frequent rain showers from October to May, with precipitation levels typically being over 2 inches (51 mm).[31] On average, the hottest month is July, while January is the coldest.[31] Bellevue gets an average of 32.02 inches (813 mm) of rain per year, based on data from 1981 to 2013. However, the city published an analysis of rainfall stating that 2016 saw an unusually high 47.14 inches (1,197 mm) of rainfall, and that rainfall in 2014–2016 was trending unusually high.[32] The wet season of 2017, defined as the period from October through April, saw a similar rainfall of 47.26 inches (1,200 mm).[33]
Bellevue is an economic hub of the Seattle region's Eastside and home to the headquarters of various sizes, including the U.S. operations for many international firms. Since 2005, the city has become a hub for software engineering and other technology development centers. These includePACCAR Inc,T-Mobile US,Eddie Bauer,SAP Concur, andSymetra. Bellevue hosts a number of satellite offices for large technology companies such aseBay,Meta,ByteDance,Oracle,Salesforce,Google, andMicrosoft; Microsoft was at one point headquartered in Bellevue but has since moved to the neighboring community ofRedmond, Washington. Celebrated video game companiesValve,Bungie,Sucker Punch Productions, andThe Pokémon Company International are also based here.
In 2019, Amazon[36] and Facebook[37] announced plans to open large engineering centers in Bellevue with plans to add several thousand employees.[38] In 2018, Google also opened a major engineering facility in downtown Bellevue.[39] As of 2020[update], there are several high-rise office buildings in Downtown Bellevue that are under construction or in active planning and design phases, includingBellevue 600, part of a major Amazon campus.[40][41] Several high-rise residential buildings are also planned in downtown, spurred in part by future light rail service, on former retail and low-rise commercial lots.[42][43] As of 2024[update], Amazon has 12,000 employees in Bellevue and has reduced its workforce in Seattle.[44]
By the late 2010s, Microsoft had become the largest employer in Bellevue, where it had several offices to supplement itsheadquarters campus in Redmond. The company's workforce in the city peaked at 9,300 in 2021 and later declined as it consolidated offices at its headquarters and vacated its leased offices pace in Downtown Bellevue and Eastgate.[45] Other technology companies, including ByteDance and The Pokémon Company International, have since expanded their office leases in Downtown Bellevue.[46] From 2021 to 2025, approximately 3.9 million square feet (360,000 m2) of office space was added in Bellevue to accommodate the growing demand that had shifted from Seattle. One of the major factors is theSeattle head tax, which charges employers based on their number of employees.[47]
The city has numerous thriving commercial districts, with four major shopping centers:Bellevue Square in the downtown area,Factoria Mall to the south,Crossroads Mall to the east, and the Overlake Shopping District in the north.
As of 2018, one in three Bellevue residents was born outside the United States, most likely due to the prevalence of multinational technology companies in the city. Around 23% of Bellevue's well-educated workforce are in engineering or science-related industries. About half of its residents identify as a person of color or ethnic minority.
According to a 2018 estimate, the median income for a household in the city was $113,698.[10] In a 2020 survey ofCenters for Disease Control data, Bellevue was ranked first among small U.S. cities with the highest percentage of physically active adults, with 86 percent reporting that they exercise.[50]
In 2006, Bellevue was rated one of the 25 safest cities in America,[51] based on the per-capita incidence of violent crime.
Bellevue, Washington – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
As of the2020 census, there were 151,854 people, 60,953 households, and 39,419 families residing in the city.[55] Thepopulation density was 4,538.2 inhabitants per square mile (1,752.2/km2). There were 64,688 housing units. The racial makeup of the city was 44.7%White, 2.6%African American, 0.4%Native American, 40.6%Asian, 0.2%Pacific Islander, 3.4% from some other races and 8.1% from two or more races.Hispanic or Latino residents of any race were 7.3% of the population.[citation needed] 20.0% of residents were under the age of 18, 4.9% were under 5 years of age, and 14.6% were 65 and older.[citation needed]
As of the2010 census, there were 122,363 people, 50,355 households, and 32,145 families residing in the city. Thepopulation density was 3,827.7 inhabitants per square mile (1,477.9/km2). There were 55,551 housing units at an average density of 1,737.6 per square mile (670.9/km2). Theracial makeup of the city was 62.6% White, 2.2% African American, 0.4% Native American, 27.6% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 3.1% from other races, and 3.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race were 7.0% of the population.
There were 50,355 households, of which 30.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.9% weremarried couples living together, 7.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 36.2% were non-families. 28.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 2.97.
The median age in the city was 38.5 years. 21.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.6% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 30.8% were from 25 to 44; 26.5% were from 45 to 64; and 13.9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 50.1% male and 49.9% female.
Bellevue is the site of the annual Bellevue Arts and Crafts Fair (originally Pacific Northwest Arts and Crafts Fair), held since 1947 during the last weekend in July.
The biennial Bellevue Sculpture Exhibition draws thousands of visitors to theDowntown Park to view up to 46 three-dimensional artworks from artists around the country.
In celebration of its strawberry farming history, Bellevue holds an annual Strawberry Festival on the fourth weekend in June at Crossroads Park.[56] The festival initially began in 1925, and continued to 1942 when many Bellevue's strawberry farmers were incarcerated as part of theJapanese Internment. In 1987 the festival was resumed as a one evening event, and in 2003 it was expanded back to a multi-day festival.[57]
Bellevue is host to the Northwest Ukrainian International Festival, founded in 2017 and one of the largest Ukrainian culture festivals in the United States.[58] Since theRussian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, theGrand Kyiv Ballet has been based at the International Ballet Academy in Bellevue.[59]
TheBellevue Arts Museum first opened in 1975, then moved to Bellevue Square in 1983. In 2001, the museum moved into its own building, designed bySteven Holl. The museum subsequently ran into financial difficulties and was closed to the public in 2003. After a lengthy fundraising campaign, a remodel, and a new mission to become a national center for the fine art of craft and design, the museum reopened on June 18, 2005, with an exhibition of teapots.[60] The Bellevue Arts Museum closed in September 2024 due to a lack of funding following the COVID-19 pandemic, which cancelled many of its events.[61] It went intoreceivership and is planned to be either sold or merged with another organization.[62]
TheRosalie Whyel Museum of Doll Art, now closed, contained one of the largest doll collections in the world – more than a thousand dolls – displayed on two floors of a Victorian-style building,[63] which is now the site of theKidsQuest Children's Museum.
Near Interstate 405 isMeydenbauer Center, a convention center that brings corporate meetings and charity events to the downtown area. Meydenbauer also includes a 410-seat theater which attracts operas, ballets, and orchestral performances.[64]
The city government has planned to build aperforming arts center, tentatively named theTateuchi Center (named for philanthropistIna Tateuchi), since the 1980s.[65] It would include a 2,000-seat concert hall, offices, and creative spaces at a site inDowntown Bellevue. The $200 million project is partially funded with private donations and grants from the city and county governments.[66]
Since the 2010s, Bellevue has become a hub forChinese cuisine, especiallyregional cuisines, with the opening of restaurants in downtown and the eastern neighborhoods of the city.T&T Supermarket, a Canadian chain that focuses on Chinese grocery goods, opened their first U.S. location in Factoria in 2024.[67]
Since the 1970s, the city has taken an active role in ensuring that its commercial development does not overwhelm its natural land and water resources.[68] Today, the Bellevue Parks and Community Services Department manages more than 2,500 acres (10 km2) of parks and open spaces, including the Downtown Park and theBellevue Botanical Garden, as well as several playgrounds, beach parks, and trails. More than 5,500 Bellevue residents participate in volunteer activities through this department annually.[69]
Bellevue was home to theAmerican Basketball Association team, the Bellevue Blackhawks. The Blackhawks in 2005, despite being ranked 13th in the league, made it to the championship game in front of 15,000 fans inLittle Rock, Arkansas.[70] The team has been inactive since 2006.[71]
Bellevue has acouncil-manager form of government with seven non-partisan council members elected at large for staggered four-year terms.[74] The City Council selects a Mayor from among its members (not by popular vote), who serves as council chair for two years but has no veto power. As of 2024[update], the mayor is Lynne Robinson and the deputy mayor is Mo Malakoutian.[75] The mayor administrates council meetings, helps set the issues on the council's meeting agendas, and serves as the city's most visible spokesperson. Operational authority is held by thecity manager, who administers the city's day-to-day activities. The city manager is also elected by the seven members of the council instead of by popular vote.
Bellevue lies onInterstate 405, the mainbypass route for north–south traffic east of Seattle, between its junctions with east–west freewaysInterstate 90 andState Route 520. The freeways are connected to Seattle viafloating bridges over Lake Washington.[80] Downtown Bellevue haswide streets with few mid-block connections and an incomplete sidewalk network; it has been labeled as "pedestrian unfriendly" and hostile to cycling.[81][82] The city government adopted plans to improve pedestrian and bicycle connections in 2009 and built the first downtownbicycle lane (including some protected sections) in 2018.[83][84] The city had 42,000 on-streetparking spaces in a 2013 inventory; plans to introduce fees for on-street parking spaces in some neighborhoods were announced in 2025.[85]
The2 Line of Sound Transit'sLink light rail system is planned to run from Seattle through Mercer Island and Bellevue before ending in Redmond. The $3.7 billion project was approved by voters in 2008 as part of the Sound Transit 2 ballot measure.[89] It began construction in 2016 and was scheduled to begin service in 2023, but was later delayed to 2024 due to construction issues.[90] The first section, fromSouth Bellevue station toRedmond Technology station in Overlake, opened on April 27, 2024.[91]
The Bellevue City Council lobbied Sound Transit, the regional transit authority, to construct its light rail line underground through Bellevue's rapidly growing downtown.[92] The city government promised to devote between $104 million and $150 million toward a potential tunnel in the form of cash, services, free access to rights-of-way and one-time tax revenues that result from the East Link project. In November 2011, the city council signed an agreement with Sound Transit.[93] Tunnel construction started in early 2016 while the remainder of downtown Bellevue construction began in mid-2017.[94]
Bellevue was also served by arailroad, aBurlington Northern branch line known as theWoodinville Subdivision, which included the historicWilburton Trestle. The line is now disused, though part of the track bed at Wilburton Station will be reused by Sound Transit's light-rail construction.[95] Construction ofEastrail, arail trail on the abandoned Woodinville Subdivisionright of way through Bellevue, is planned to be completed in 2023. Some sections of the railroad in Bellevue were demolished in 2008 to make way for the expansion of I-405 and will require the construction of additional structures to supplement the existing right of way.[96]
The city once had an operating airfield namedBellevue Airfield, which shut down in 1983.
^Danny Westneat (December 14, 2006)."Is Bellevue a "new Brooklyn?"".The Seattle Times.Archived from the original on February 11, 2007. RetrievedFebruary 28, 2007.
^Kent, Alexander; Allen, Ashley C.; Hess, Alexander E. M.; Serenbetz, Robert; Frohlich, Thomas (September 18, 2014)."America's 50 best cities to live in".USA Today. RetrievedSeptember 20, 2014.
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