Trees, lakes, and modern towers dominate the bird’s eye view of Bellevue, WA, (pop. 144,000) a thriving city perfectly situated between Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish.
Over the past decade, Bellevue has successfully attracted many of the tech titans that put King County on the map in the late ‘90s, including employees for Microsoft, headquartered in adjacent Redmond, and Expedia, its wholly-owned travel software company. Even Amazon, the pervasive, unstoppable corporate force, is moving 2,000 new workers into Bellevue. Record commercial building permits, in-migration from other parts of Washington and galloping real estate prices have firmly established Bellevue’s reputation as King County’s second largest city.
Easy access to two freshwater lakes, over a hundred county parks and a burgeoning retail shopping scene make Bellevue one of America’s most sought-after places to live—featured in Forbes, Business Week, and Money magazine. Highly regarded schools, health care providers, and professional services also add to the quality of life. The new, improved Bellevue has incorporated urban planning ideas from the world’s great cities in order to provide both density, walkability, and, looking to the future, a regional transit hub.