Nearly half of Seattle businesses have weighed moving elsewhere: survey | Daily Hive

47% of Seattle businesses have weighed taking business elsewhere amid public safety and cost concerns: survey

Homeless tents near the Seattle Space Needle, September 2025. (Photo Spirit/Shutterstock)

Seattle is the Pacific Northwest’s largest economic powerhouse by a wide margin when compared to its counterparts of Vancouver and Portland, but a new survey suggests that confidence among some of the businesses driving its economy is on very shaky ground, as concerns over public safety and business costs have prompted them to consider their future in the city.

Nearly half of respondents to a new Seattle business survey indicate that they have seriously considered moving operations, jobs, or investment to outside the city, amid widespread frustration over safety and business costs.

Respondents gave Seattle’s overall business environment an average rating of just 39.1 out of 100. The municipal government scored even lower for how well it responds to business needs, averaging 26.4.

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The 2026 Business Climate Survey, conducted in late Summer 2026 by the Seattle Metro Chamber and Downtown Seattle Association, collected responses from 247 businesses and organizations.

Of the 197 respondents who answered whether they had seriously considered moving operations, jobs, or investment out of Seattle during the previous year, 92 businesses — about 47 per cent — said yes.

In a separate question about their Seattle operations over the coming year, nine per cent expected to relocate outside the city and 19 per cent anticipated shrinking. Nearly half or 49 per cent expected their operations to remain about the same, while 17 per cent anticipated growth.

“These findings should be a wake-up call, but they should also be a roadmap,” said Joe Nguyen, the president and CEO of the Seattle Metro Chamber, this week.

“Businesses are telling us very clearly what they need to succeed: safer neighbourhoods and commercial districts, greater predictability around taxes and fees, and a city that recognizes that a strong business environment is fundamental to jobs, investment, and opportunity. Seattle has tremendous strengths, but we cannot take our economic future for granted. We need to act with urgency to make this a city where businesses want to stay, grow and invest.”

The findings suggest many businesses believe Seattle has become a more difficult place to do business.

Among those answering a question comparing conditions with a year earlier, 56 per cent reported deterioration, while 12 per cent saw improvement.

Looking ahead, 61 per cent were pessimistic about Seattle as a location for business activity and investment over the next 12 months, compared with 23 per cent who were optimistic.

The willingness of existing businesses to recommend Seattle to someone starting, running, or expanding a business averaged 32.6 out of 100. Their confidence in their own business or organization’s performance over the coming year averaged 52.9.

Public safety and cost of doing business were the biggest concerns when participants were asked to identify up to five of their most pressing challenges.

Public safety and taxes and fees were each selected by 64 per cent. This was followed by the combined category covering homelessness and “behavioural health conditions,” which was selected by 61 per cent, while 59 per cent identified labour costs.

The survey also found mixed assessments of public safety immediately around businesses, with 40 per cent indicating that the surrounding area felt safe always or most of the time. Another 42 per cent said it depended, while 18 per cent said it usually did not feel safe or never did.

On costs, 72 per cent of respondents disagreed that Seattle was competitive with comparable locations, when taxes, fees, and the cost of complying with government policies were considered together.

When asked to select up to three factors that would encourage them to stay, expand, or put more money into Seattle over the long term, 70 per cent selected better public safety. A stronger recovery in Downtown Seattle followed at 56 per cent, while 43 per cent wanted taxes and fees to be more predictable and 41 per cent wanted additional help for small businesses.

“Businesses want to invest here, but we have to create the conditions that give them confidence to do it. That means safe and welcoming streets, a vibrant downtown, a competitive business environment, and sustained partnership between the public and private sectors,” said Jon Scholes, the president and CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association.

Several proposed actions that could be taken by Seattle’s municipal government attracted substantial support.

About 91 per cent backed reviewing how taxes and fees affect businesses and employment. A proposal combining additional Seattle Police Department hiring with efforts to make the department’s leadership more stable received 89 per cent support.

Meanwhile, 79 per cent supported speeding up permits for improvements to commercial spaces and housing construction.

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, who entered office at the start of 2026, has also increasingly come under pressure from business leaders over her administration’s handling of public safety.

In September 2026, more than 30 business leaders, including executives from major Seattle-area headquartered companies — such as Microsoft, Starbucks, Costco, T-Mobile, Nordstrom, and Alaska Airlines — urged Wilson and Seattle City Council to deliver a 100-day public safety action plan, improve emergency response times, and take further action on public drug use and homeless encampments.

Much of this will sound familiar just north of the Canada-U.S. border in Vancouver.

Businesses in and around Downtown Vancouver have also repeatedly and increasingly raised concerns about public safety, crime, homelessness, open drug use, and public disorder, while dealing with high operating costs and the frustration of getting permits and approvals from Vancouver’s municipal government.

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