Jobs Moved Across the Lake: How Seattle Service Businesses Win Eastside Customers in Bellevue, Redmond and Kirkland

Short answer: Seattle lost roughly 18,000 jobs between 2024 and 2025, most of them downtown, while Bellevue added 5,375, according to the Downtown Seattle Association. Amazon alone had 15,700 workers in Bellevue at the end of 2025. If you're a Seattle home services company, clinic, caterer or professional firm, part of your future customer base now lives and works on the Eastside. You can reach them without a second office: set up a proper service area, build a dedicated page for each Eastside city you serve, target ads by location, and make it easy to book.

01What's happening on each side of the lake

The Downtown Seattle Association (DSA) reported that Seattle shed more than 18,000 jobs between 2024 and 2025, with about 13,000 of those in the downtown core. Over the same period, KOMO reported, Bellevue added 5,375 jobs and Tacoma added 662.

Amazon is a big part of the story. GeekWire reported that Amazon employed 15,700 people in Bellevue at the end of 2025, making it the city's largest employer at almost 10% of its workforce. KUOW noted that even Bellevue's growth has slowed, with Amazon adding fewer jobs there last year than the year before.

Why jobs are moving is debated. The DSA points to Seattle's business taxes. Critics, including writers at The Urbanist, argue that the data shows a more mixed picture. For a small business, the reason matters less than the result: more customers with good incomes are working, and often living, east of Lake Washington.

Who should pay attention

• Home services (plumbing, HVAC, roofing, cleaning, landscaping). Eastside homeowners search locally and want someone who clearly serves their city. See our home services marketing approach.
• Clinics and practices (dental, physical therapy, wellness) near I-90, SR 520 or light rail, where commuters from either side can reach you.
• Caterers and restaurants that can serve office lunches, team events and private parties in Bellevue and Redmond.
• Professional services (accounting, law, IT, design) whose clients are the companies and employees now based on the Eastside.

How to reach Eastside customers from Seattle

1. Set your service area properly

In your Google Business Profile, list the Eastside cities you actually serve: Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Issaquah, Sammamish. If you visit customers, you can hide your address and show a service area instead. This is a core part of our local SEO work.

2. Build a real page for each Eastside city

A page called "Plumbing in Bellevue" ranks far better than a single line saying "we also serve the Eastside." Each page should cover what you do there, typical jobs, the neighborhoods you cover, how fast you can arrive, and reviews from customers in that city. Write each page fresh. Copying the same text and swapping the city name doesn't help customers and doesn't rank.

3. Target ads by location and commute

Run paid search and social ads for Eastside cities as their own campaigns, with their own budgets and ad copy that names the city. Read results separately so you can see whether Bellevue customers cost more or less to win than Seattle ones.

4. Make cross-lake service easy to believe

Eastside customers may assume a Seattle company won't want to cross the bridge. Answer that directly: say which days you serve the Eastside, mention any travel fees up front, and show photos of finished work there.

5. Respond fast

Whoever replies first usually wins a quote request. Automated follow-up can reply to an Eastside inquiry within minutes, offer booking times and send reminders, so the extra distance doesn't cost you the job.

6. Go after office demand

Caterers and corporate service providers should build lists of Eastside offices and coworking spaces, then pitch team lunches, event catering or office services directly. A clear lead generation funnel with a landing page for office orders makes it easy for an office manager to say yes.

What to measure

Track leads, booked jobs and revenue by city. Within a quarter you'll know whether the Eastside deserves more budget, its own staff schedule or eventually a second location.

For help building a Puget Sound plan that covers both sides of the lake, see our work with Seattle businesses.

FAQ

Is Bellevue growing while Seattle shrinks? Between 2024 and 2025, Seattle lost about 18,000 jobs while Bellevue added 5,375, according to the Downtown Seattle Association and KOMO. Bellevue's growth has also slowed recently.

Do I need a Bellevue office to rank there? Not if you visit customers. A service-area Google Business Profile, a strong page for each city and real reviews from Eastside customers can be enough. Businesses that customers visit in person need a real local address to rank in that city's map results.

Should my Eastside pages use the same text as my Seattle page? No. Write each one for that city's customers, jobs and questions. Duplicated pages rarely rank and don't help people decide.

Sources

• KOMO News: Business leaders warn sluggish hiring could stall Seattle's downtown revival
• GeekWire: Downtown Seattle lost 13,000 jobs in a year while Bellevue's tech hub boomed
• KUOW: Seattle lost 18,000 jobs last year as labor force in Tacoma, Bellevue grew
• Downtown Seattle Association: Economic Report 2026
• The Urbanist: Op-ed disputing the DSA jobs report