Redmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located east of Seattle. The population was 73,256 at the 2020 census. The city has a large technology industry in addition to being a bedroom community for Seattle, which lies across Lake Washington on State Route 520.
Redmond is best known as the home of Microsoft and Nintendo of America. With an annual bike race on city streets and the state's only velodrome, Redmond is also known as the "Bicycle Capital of the Northwest".
History Native Americans have lived in the Redmond area for about 10,000 years, based on artifacts discovered at the Redmond Town Center archaeological site and Marymoor Prehistoric Indian Site. The first European settlers arrived in the 1870s. Luke McRedmond, having moved there with his wife and children, filed a Homestead Act claim for land next to the Sammamish Slough on September 9, 1870, and the following year Warren Perrigo took up land adjacent to him. The rivers and streams had so many salmon that the settlement was initially named Salmonberg. More settlers came, and with the establishment of the first post office in 1881, the name of the community was changed to Melrose. The new name was derived from the Perrigos' successful inn, Melrose House, which upset McRedmond. After becoming postmaster, he successfully petitioned to have the name changed to Redmond in 1883.
The abundant forests and fish of Redmond provided jobs for loggers and fishermen, and with those jobs came demand for goods and services, bringing in merchants. The logging industry expanded significantly in 1889 when the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway built a station in the center of town. The first plat for Redmond was filed on May 11, 1891, encompassing much of the area now known as downtown. After reaching the necessary population of 300, Redmond was incorporated on December 31, 1912.
Redmond experienced an economic downturn in the 1920s. Prohibition forced saloons to close, cutting off a large portion of the city's tax base. The forests were declining after heavy logging, causing lumber mills to shut down. The deforested land was suitable for farming. Agriculture became Redmond's primary business, keeping residents fed during the Great Depression. When the U.S. entered World War II, shipyard jobs and other wartime work came to Redmond.
After the war, Redmond's expansion began in earnest. The city expanded over 30 times larger in area through annexations between 1951 and 1967. From 1956 to 1965, Redmond was bordered by the town of East Redmond, which was formed by rural homeowners and later dissolved by the Washington Supreme Court. The completion of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge across Lake Washington in 1963 allowed Redmond to flourish as a suburb of Seattle. In 1978, the U.S. Census Bureau proclaimed Redmond the fastest growing city in the state. Many technology companies made the city their home, and the increasing population demanded more retail shops. By the late 1980s, Downtown Redmond had become "a series of strip centers surrounded by parking lots", sparking plans for a mixed-use revitalized downtown.
Redmond underwent a commercial boom during the 1990s, primarily due to Nintendo of America and Microsoft establishing their respective headquarters within the city in 1984 and 1986 respectively, culminating in 1997 with the opening of Redmond Town Center, a major regional shopping center on the site of a long-defunct golf course. Since 1990, the city has seen rising traffic congestion as a result of its rapid expansion, particularly in areas of urban sprawl. To address these issues, SR 520 underwent expansion in the 2000s and 2010s. A light rail line connecting Redmond to Seattle was proposed by Sound Transit as part of a ballot measure that was passed by voters in 2008. The first section of the 2 Line, as the light rail project was later renamed, opened in April 2024 between Bellevue and Redmond Technology station in Overlake. It was followed by an extension to Downtown Redmond on May 10, 2025.
Geography
Redmond is bordered by Kirkland to the west, Bellevue to the southwest, and Sammamish to the southeast. Unincorporated King County lies to the north (with Woodinville a short distance beyond) and east. The city's urban downtown lies just north of Lake Sammamish; residential areas lie north and west of the lake. Overlake, the city's second urban center, is to the west of Lake Sammamish. The Sammamish River runs north from the lake along the west edge of the city's downtown. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which are land and are water.
The city is divided into several neighborhoods that form a ring around downtown Redmond. The Overlake neighborhood, which also encompasses part of Bellevue, lies southwest of downtown and includes the Microsoft headquarters campus and other office complexes as well as residential areas. The predominantly residential neighborhood of Education Hill lies north of downtown and was named for the five schools in the area, including Redmond High School; it was previously known as Poverty Hill until the 1950s, when it was annexed into Redmond.
Climate Redmond, like most of the Pacific Northwest, has a mild climate for its latitude, but still gets all four seasons. Summers tend to be warm and dry, with low rainfall and sunny or partly sunny from June to September. Winters tend to be cool and wet, with November being the rainiest month. Snowfall is uncommon, with the most common cold air being in a form of a high pressure system, driving out the rains from the area. However, snowfall is not as rare as in other cities closer to the moderating effects of Puget Sound, like Seattle. On average, the warmest month is August. The highest recorded temperature was on June 28, 2021. On average, the coolest month is January. The lowest recorded temperature was in January 1950. The maximum average precipitation usually occurs in December.Monthly Averages for Redmond, WA (98052). weather.com. Retrieved on August 23, 2013.
Redmond has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Csb), with a fairly dry summer peak.
Demographics
Racial and ethnic composition +Redmond, Washington – racial and ethnic composition Race / ethnicity (NH = non-Hispanic) Pop. 2000 Pop. 2010 % 2000 % 2010 White alone (NH) 34,593 33,04931,840 76.44% 61.04%43.46% Black or African American alone (NH) 659 8761,565 1.46% 1.62%2.14% Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) 176 140179 0.39% 0.26%0.24% Asian alone (NH) 5,874 13,70230,009 12.98% 25.31%40.96% Pacific Islander alone (NH) 73 8194 0.16% 0.15%0.13% Other race alone (NH) 145 297521 0.32% 0.55%0.71% Mixed race or multiracial (NH) 1,198 1,7853,738 2.65% 3.30%5.10% Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2,538 4,2145,310 5.61% 7.78%7.25% Total 45,256 54,14473,256 100.00% 100.00%100.00%
2020 census As of the 2020 census, there were 73,256 people, 29,693 households, and 18,617 families residing in the city.
The median age was 34.1 years. 23.8% of residents were under the age of 18 and 9.7% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 106.4 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 106.4 males age 18 and over.
There were 31,738 housing units, of which 6.4% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.8% and the rental vacancy rate was 8.1%.
100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.
2010 census As of the 2010 census, there were 54,144 people, 22,550 households, and 13,890 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 24,177 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 65.19% White, 1.71% African American, 0.37% Native American, 25.36% Asian, 0.15% Pacific Islander, 3.22% from other races, and 4.00% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 7.78% of the population.
There were 22,550 households, of which 32.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.4% were married couples living together, 6.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 38.4% were non-families. 29.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.98.
The median age in the city was 34.1 years. 22.7% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 38.7% were from 25 to 44; 21.6% were from 45 to 64; and 9.5% were 65 years of age or older. The sex ratio of the city was 50.9% male and 49.1% female. Economy
Several companies in the high-tech industry are based in Redmond. The largest employer in the city by far is Microsoft, which moved its headquarters to Redmond in 1986. As of 2012, Microsoft has over 47,000Microsoft Redmond Campus Refresh . Microsoft. Retrieved on August 23, 2013. full-time employees, 45,000 contractors, and more than of office space in the Seattle area Eastside region, primarily in Redmond, with additional offices in Bellevue and Issaquah (90,000 employees worldwide). In June 2006, Microsoft purchased former Safeco's Redmond campus at 4515–5069 154th Place NE for $220.5 million.
Other companies with headquarters in Redmond include Nintendo of America, Genie Industries (now part of Terex), Physio-Control (now part of Stryker), Visible.net, WildTangent, Solstice (acquired by Samsung) and Data I/O. Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) has several engineering offices in Redmond, including the Frank Gehry-designed Building X that opened in 2023. , approximately 89 percent of employees for Redmond companies commute from outside the city.
In 2015, SpaceX opened a Starlink satellite development facility in Redmond.
Unlike Bellevue and other neighboring cities, the city of Redmond does not have a business and occupation tax on income. However, to help offset the costs of road improvements for businesses, a business license fee of $55 per employee was approved in 1996. , the fee is $141 per employee.
Top employers According to Redmond's Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports, the top employers in the city are:
Employer 2021 2020 2019 2018 Rank # of Employees Rank # of Employees Rank # of Employees Rank # of Employees Microsoft Corporation 1 44,782 1 40,646 1 38,026 1 37,305 Meta Platforms, Inc. (Facebook) 2 1,434 3 1,317 10 575 – – Lake Washington School District 3 1,422 4 1,294 3 1,718 4 1,328 Eurest Dining Services/Compass Group @ Microsoft 4 1,157 5 1,269 4 1,071 3 1,372 Nintendo of America 5 1,097 6 877 6 873 5 1,004 CBRE, Inc. 6 814 8 725 – – 10 559 City of Redmond 7 708 9 713 9 658 7 757 United Parcel Service 8 675 10 636 7 755 8 755 Terex, formerly Genie Industries 9 668 2 2,282 2 2,044 2 2,044 Honeywell International, Inc. 10 643 7 748 5 923 6 923
Largest employers in 2015 # Employer # of Employees1 Microsoft34,3582 Terex / Formerly Genie Industries2,6563 Eurest Dining Services @ Microsoft1,0414 Nintendo of America9455 AT&T Mobility8316 Lake Washington School District8187 United Parcel Service7578 Physio-Control7069 Honeywell67710 Aerojet Rocketdyne530
Largest employers in 2010 # Employer # of Employees1 Microsoft (includes MSNBC)31,9812 AT&T Mobility1,3023 Genie Industries1,1914 Lake Washington School District9905 Volt Technical Resources9646 Nintendo of America7967 Honeywell7278 Eurest6789 United Parcel Service60010 Physio-Control559
Largest employers in 2005 # Employer # of Employees1 Microsoft (includes MSNBC)27,8552 Genie Industries2,3973 Cingular Wireless (now part of AT&T)1,8164 Volt Technical Resources1,6175 Honeywell1,0826 Group Health Cooperative1,0747 Physio-Control9568 Safeco8509 Lake Washington School District78010 Nintendo of America723
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