The week in review: August 31 – September 4
The week of August 31 – September 4 on seattletrendlines.com, in 9 posts.
Monday, August 31 — Thirty years of Seattle school spending, to 2022. Seattle Public Schools spent $23,519 per pupil in 2022, in constant dollars — down 2.1% on the year, and 72% above the series low of $13,702 in 1995. The real peak was $24,313 in 2020.
Tuesday, September 1 — King County’s share of Washington’s EVs, July 2026. 48.4% of Washington’s electric vehicles were registered in King County in July 2026 — 138,528 of the state’s 285,934. The share was 57.0% at its height, in February 2017.
Tuesday, September 1 — Seattle building permits, July 2026. On a trailing 12-month basis, the Seattle metro permitted 20,712 housing units through July 2026, up 35.8% from a year earlier. This updates the permit slump; the 12-month sum smooths the monthly noise so the trend is the signal.
Wednesday, September 2 — What share of Seattle works where, July 2026. Information employers were 6.2% of all Seattle-metro payrolls in July 2026; manufacturers were 7.8%. In 1990 manufacturing was 18% and nothing else came close.
Wednesday, September 2 — Battery or plug-in hybrid, July 2026. Washington registered 230,345 battery-electric vehicles and 55,589 plug-in hybrids in July 2026. Batteries are 81% of the state’s electric fleet, and their count is up 13.5% on the year.
Thursday, September 3 — Sea-Tac against normal, August 2026. August 2026 at Sea-Tac ran 0.9°F above normal. Normal here is the 1991-2020 average for that same month, which is the standard climate baseline — so this is a comparison with the recent past, not with the start of the record.
Thursday, September 3 — Construction’s share of Seattle jobs, July 2026. Construction and mining was 5.7% of Seattle-metro payroll jobs in July 2026 — 122,500 jobs. The share peaked at 7.5% in August 2007 and bottomed at 4.5% in January 2012.
Friday, September 4 — King County for-sale inventory, August 2026. King County ended August 2026 with 7,366 active for-sale listings, up 27.4% from a year earlier — the monthly update to King County’s inventory rebuild.
Friday, September 4 — What King County sellers listed, August 2026. King County sellers put 2,512 new listings on the market in August 2026, up 12.3% from the same month a year earlier.
The week in review: every post from August 31 – September 4, summarised from its own listing blurb and linked. Assembled each Saturday from the posts that actually published that week.