Residents with advanced degrees: 10.8% of population
Residents with some college education: 64.4%
Seattle's local businesses include coffee chain Starbucks, e-commerce giant Amazon and software Goliath Microsoft. The region also houses a huge production facility for Boeing.
But the Pacific Northwest state is trying to push beyond its traditional image: "We are a lot more than coffee and airplanes and software," said Egils Milbergs, executive director at the Washington Economic Development Commission.
"We do a very good job in terms of research and development, patent development," he says. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, headquartered in Seattle, is supporting its own network of new research, especially around global health initiatives such as wiping out diseases like malaria and polio.
Washington's highly regarded research universities draw smart people -- but the mountains and lakes are what keep them.
"The quality of life out here is great," Milbergs says. "Things are a little bit more relaxed, I would say, than the East Coast -- work, family, leisure, that sort of thing."
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