Today we are looking at Seattle’s Land Use and how it relates to its Tax income.

Thanks to King County, we have access to geographic data about each individual parcel in the entire county, which I was able to combine with a different data set containing information about each parcel’s tax payments. A parcel is also known as a lot. One entire apartment building, for example, represents a single parcel.

The original data set categorizes each one of the 750,540 parcels in Seattle into one of 115 different sections with categories as mundane as ‘Office Building’ or ‘Bank’ to slightly more surprising land uses such as ‘Fraternity/Sorority House’ or ‘Tavern/Lounge’.

For the sake of chart legibility, I aggregated those 115 categories into 14 different groups and charted the land use of them all.

'Seattle Land Use by Category'

Now lets take a look at the Amount of Tax each individual parcel generates. Note that the scale on this chart and the following charts are logarithmic, meaning that the values increase more quickly than on a standard linear chart. Note the concentration of dark colors in various business centers around the city, including downtown. Also note that many of the largest parcels such as the Zoo near Greenlake, Magnusen park and many of the industrial parcels in SODO are high tax parcels.

In case you are wondering, the city’s highest paying parcel is the Columbia Tower in downtown Seattle, bringing in a whopping $622,098,534 in just one years worth of taxes.

'Seattle Tax Value by Parcel'

The next chart shows only single family homes, and wow there are a lot of them! 529,117 to be exact, representing a little over 70% of all land parcels in the city. Note that in the central business areas of the city there are almost no parcels designated as single family and also see that the deeper red color, signifying higher tax payments tend to be centered closer to the waterfront.

'Seattle Single Family Home Tax Values'

The final chart here is the tax value per square foot. It makes sense that a larger lot should generate more tax revenue, so now I am trying to control for that. We can still see darker colors centered towards business districts but a lot of the larger lots that in the prior chart looked like big earners are revealed to actually not bring in so much money per square foot!

'Seattle Single Family Home Tax Values'

To wrap things up, I have included a table with lots of numbers! This table has grouped the data by the 115 different distinctions made by the city and has the mean and total tax income for each category, the mean and total square footage by category the total number of parcels in each category and finally the most important column, the mean income per square foot! This final column was calculated by dividing the total tax income of the category by the total square footage of the category. Note that the table is ordered by the final column, meaning to most revenue generating per square foot categories are at the top of the table, and the least are at the bottom. Office buildings in historic zones are really money makers! Golf courses on the other hand…

Property Type Mean Tax Income per Parcel Total Tax Income of Category Mean SQFT By Category Total SQFT By Category Total Parcels In Category Mean Income Per SQFT
0 Historic Prop(Office) 5,791,619 648,661,329 12,595 1,410,666 112 460
1 Historic Prop(Eat/Drink) 3,958,618 15,834,473 13,320 53,280 4 297
2 Hotel/Motel 6,980,964 3,986,130,454 27,973 15,972,660 571 250
3 High Tech/High Flex 6,516,954 78,203,444 29,260 351,116 12 223
4 Office Building 4,477,368 25,198,625,770 20,553 115,669,520 5628 218
5 Apartment(Mixed Use) 2,575,676 12,072,191,262 11,932 55,927,248 4,687 216
6 Condominium(Office) 3,173,909 187,260,634 21,836 1,288,297 59 145
7 Apartment(Co-op) 1,298,956 181,853,821 10,890 1,524,553 140 119
8 Historic Prop(Retail) 2,090,489 98,252,990 18,516 870,232 47 113
9 Townhouse Plat 147,025 13,477,817,942 1,357 124,385,952 91,670 108
10 Skating Rink(Ice/Roller) 19,787,299 79,149,195 183,343 733,372 4 108
11 Apartment 1,082,818 19,510,212,371 11,341 204,346,797 18,018 95
12 Bowling Alley 1,201,816 14,421,788 14,799 177,584 12 81
13 Parking(Commercial Lot) 826,262 906,409,703 10,515 11,534,922 1,097 79
14 Retirement Facility 2,471,215 862,453,962 31,613 11,032,871 349 78
15 Medical/Dental Office 1,283,403 1,074,208,208 17,337 14,510,972 837 74
16 Parking(Garage) 2,165,562 606,357,293 31,952 8,946,698 280 68
17 Fraternity/Sorority House 806,516 174,207,363 11,955 2,582,360 216 67
18 Rooming House 308,949 224,297,240 4,791 3,478,520 726 64
19 Bed & Breakfast 403,340 4,840,086 6,368 76,416 12 63
20 Single Family(C/I Use) 178,786 128,547,324 3,073 2,209,683 719 58
21 Condominium(Mixed Use) 1,202,283 1,251,576,670 20,741 21,591,677 1,041 58
22 Tavern/Lounge 336,025 86,358,323 5,969 1,534,015 257 56
23 Mini Warehouse 2,826,659 497,492,071 50,332 8,858,468 176 56
24 Retail Store 548,881 2,879,980,162 9,910 52,000,324 5,247 55
25 Restaurant/Lounge 471,777 760,976,561 8,520 13,743,307 1,613 55
26 Bank 960,189 376,393,974 17,680 6,930,516 392 54
27 Grocery Store 1,909,352 458,244,451 36,746 8,818,996 240 52
28 Shopping Ctr(Community) 12,180,665 438,503,933 244,656 8,807,624 36 50
29 Shopping Ctr(Maj Retail) 8,614,588 275,666,804 173,107 5,539,428 32 50
30 Historic Prop(Misc) 679,543 17,668,130 13,661 355,195 26 50
31 Triplex 257,972 1,459,863,067 5,278 29,869,788 5,659 49
32 Retail(Line/Strip) 752,106 47,533,1202 15,391 9,727,124 632 49
33 Mini Lube 559,694 17,910,195 11,646 372,656 32 48
34 4-Plex 265,998 984,992,315 5,586 20,685,691 3,703 48
35 Historic Prop(Loft/Warehse) 692,297 5,538,377 14,716 117,728 8 47
36 Auto Showroom and Lot 1,414,459 355,029,153 30,654 7,694,168 251 46
37 Single Family(C/I Zone) 186,369 1,066,217,562 4,228 24,190,275 5,721 44
38 Utility, Private(Radio/T.V.) 1,118,563 71,588,020 25,576 1,636,864 64 44
39 Duplex 213,479 3,470,097,399 5,029 81,745,962 16,255 42
40 Conv Store with Gas 670,856 269,013,089 15,998 6,415,312 401 42
41 Car Wash 769,668 43,101,396 19,464 1,090,004 56 40
42 Vet/Animal Control Srvc 422,847 49,050,250 10,728 1,244,404 116 39
43 Shopping Ctr(Nghbrhood) 4,367,010 353,727,828 119,326 9,665,405 81 37
44 Shell Structure 314,554 44,037,585 8,803 1,232,356 140 36
45 Service Station 431,822 53,545,981 12,088 1,498,952 124 36
46 Single Family(Res Use/Zone) 224,167 117,166,872,259 6,280 3,282,378,700 522,677 36
47 Historic Prop(Residence) 309,201 16,696,837 8,750 472,480 54 35
48 Shopping Ctr(Regional) 9,041,911 36,167,645 257,194 1,028,776 4 35
49 Restaurant(Fast Food) 454,748 194,631,993 13,936 5,964,580 428 33
50 Retail(Big Box) 3,915,902 203,626,906 121,122 6,298,332 52 32
51 Daycare Center 347,781 55,992,699 10,815 1,741,143 161 32
52 Gas Station 465,880 3,727,044 14,966 119,728 8 31
53 Houseboat 520,320 132,161,305 16,758 4,256,645 254 31
54 Office Park 4,746,522 18,986,087 155,640 622,560 4 30
55 Apartment(Subsidized) 626,468 215,504,878 20,927 7,198,979 344 30
56 Club 1,073,621 184,662,864 36,321 6,247,285 172 30
57 Conv Store without Gas 309,045 38,321,621 10,484 1,300,060 124 29
58 Parking(Assoc) 334,646 757,304,581 12,445 28,162,276 2263 27
59 Warehouse 998,830 4,252,020,086 37,523 159,734,857 4,257 27
60 Industrial(Lignt) 954,604 1,030,972,013 37,690 40,705,404 1,080 25
61 Service Building 436,789 639,459,107 17,833 26,107,491 1,464 24
62 Post Office/Post Service 931,789 42,862,275 38,930 1,790,770 46 24
63 Industrial(Gen Purpose) 750,626 1,041,118,101 36,260 50,292,997 1,387 21
64 Health Club 811,855 70,631,385 43,107 3,750,344 87 19
65 Retail(Discount) 3,934,242 283,265,427 210,594 15,162,748 72 19
66 Industrial Park 3,563,503 267,262,724 194,954 14,621,549 75 18
67 Historic Prop(Rec/Entertain) 290,186 4,352,785 17,219 258,290 15 17
68 Mobile Home 117,292 3,284,172 7,189 201,304 28 16
69 Movie Theater 607,056 31,566,926 39,270 2,042,039 52 15
70 Vacant(Commercial) 259,587 804,718,286 17,211 53,354,535 3,100 15
71 Industrial(Heavy) 2,751,669 952,077,403 199,617 69,067,542 346 14
72 Nursing Home 1,248,681 78,666,900 98,527 6,207,209 63 13
73 Greenhse/Nrsry/Hort Srvc 594,043 10,692,774 49,804 896,476 18 12
74 Group Home 179,714 53,914,235 15,782 4,734,562 300 11
75 Terminal(Auto/Bus/Other) 1,289,123 139,225,246 119,798 12,938,233 108 11
76 Vacant(Industrial) 374,967 683,189,468 35,662 64,976,300 1,822 11
77 Rehabilitation Center 158,249 2,690,234 17,008 289,132 17 9
78 Condominium(Residential) 135,945 892,070,941 15,419 101,180,394 6,562 9
79 Transferable Dev Rights 238,368 953,474 28,283 113,132 4 8
80 Vacant(Multi-family) 111,072 366,092,413 13,976 46,064,519 3,296 8
81 Driving Range 2,001,712 8,006,846 311,538 1,246,152 4 6
82 Auditorium//Assembly Bldg 300,956 22,270,751 50,616 3,745,558 74 6
83 Marina 572,400 361,184,662 105,505 66,573,439 631 5
84 Church/Welfare/Relig Srvc 140,315 213,699,631 26,555 40,443,567 1,523 5
85 Art Gallery/Museum/Soc Srvc 288,552 35,491,926 54,735 6,732,435 123 5
86 Mobile Home Park 1,054,167 12,650,009 209,767 2,517,204 12 5
87 Park, Private(Amuse Ctr) 163,214 6,854,982 33,040 1,387,683 42 5
88 Historic Prop(Vacant Land) 301,130 2,107,910 61,215 428,504 7 5
89 Hospital 1,339,300 113,840,462 288,284 24,504,156 85 5
90 Terminal(Rail) 567,345 161,693,322 128,780 36,702,395 285 4
91 School(Private) 198,855 90,677,845 45,839 20,902,547 456 4
92 Sport Facility 777,929 128,358,306 187,238 30,894,277 165 4
93 Easement 42,062 3,154,627 10,964 822,332 75 4
94 Residence Hall/Dorm 153,987 21,866,173 40,406 5,737,605 142 4
95 Right of Way/Utility, Road 218,047 253,588,974 58,627 68,183,501 1,163 4
96 Governmental Service 322,776 205,931,252 118,337 75,499,224 638 3
97 Open Space Tmbr Land/Greenbelt 222,522 1,780,175 82,752 662,020 8 3
98 Utility, Public 228,672 206,719,438 89,198 80,634,904 904 3
99 Vacant(Single-family) 56,140 1,215,665,171 22,257 481,955,277 21,654 3
100 School(Public) 767,800 555,119,368 311,557 225,255,811 723 2
101 Historic Prop(Park/Billbrd) 30,358 242,866 13,388 107,108 8 2
102 Mortuary/Cemetery/Crematory 947,087 95,655,792 455,081 45,963,174 101 2
103 Terminal(Marine) 414,055 157,340,829 225,682 85,759,271 380 2
104 Air Terminal and Hangers 1,385,789 48,502,632 788,968 27,613,863 35 2
105 Golf Course 2,519,324 191,468,642 1,726,738 131,232,108 76 1
106 Terminal(Marine/Comm Fish) 799,173 80,716,454 624,959 6,3120,842 101 1
107 River/Creek/Stream 139,095 834,569 118,950 713,697 6 1
108 Park, Public(Zoo/Arbor) 375,615 502,196,909 368,967 493,308,801 1,337 1
109 Open Space(Agric-RCW 84.34) 40,260 322,082 48,330 386,640 8 1
110 Reserve/Wilderness Area 62,868 440,073 86,014 602,095 7 1
111 Open Space(Curr Use-RCW 84.34) 20,108 764,116 131,947 5,014,003 38 0
112 Water Body, Fresh 622 7,462 23,704 284,454 12 0
113 Tideland, 2nd Class 425 15,737 21,190 784,047 37 0
114 Tideland, 1st Class 843 294,256 74,776 26,096,959 349 0

Thanks for reading! All data was provided by King County, find the tax data here, and the parcel data here. All the tax data is from 2023.

Also, check out the code I used to make this post here!