Seattle, WA (population: 614,214) has two animal care schools within its city limits. University of Washington-Seattle Campus, the highest ranked school in the city with an animal care program, has a total student population of 45,943. It is the 26th highest ranked school in the USA and the highest in the state of Washington.
Animal Care students from Seattle schools who go on to become animal care supervisors, veterinarians, animal trainers, animal behavioralists, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 15,320 people working as animal control workers alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $33,560. Also, Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers make on average $23,400 per year and there are about 71,350 of them employed in the US today. In fact, in the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett Metropolitan area alone, there are 710 employed veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers earning an average salary of $26,060. Animal control workers in this area earn $46,740/yr and there are 90 employed.
Seattle lies in King county, which is one of the 24 counties in Washington. Overall, the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett Metropolitan area has 1,404,710 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 0.7% unemployment rate, $25.60/hr average worker wage, and a $53,240 average annual salary. Thus, about 0.065 out of every 1000 jobs in Seattle are held by animal control workers, and 0.502/1000 are held by veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers.
Of the 2 animal care schools in Seattle, only 1 has a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Pima Medical Institute comes out as the most expensive ($14,292/yr) for animal care students, with University of Washington-Seattle Campus as the lowest, reported at only $8,906/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from Seattle |
| Kirkland | WA | 48,153 | 2 | 17.9541 | 117 | 8.5 miles |
| Bellevue | WA | 128,225 | 4 | 10.794 | 140 | 9.0 miles |
| Tukwila | WA | - | 1 | 9.30665 | 25 | 10.9 miles |
| Bothell | WA | - | 2 | 28.3486 | 26 | 11.9 miles |
| Renton | WA | 66,884 | 4 | 19.959 | 76 | 12.0 miles |
| Lynnwood | WA | - | 1 | 17.534 | 76 | 14.0 miles |
| Edmonds | WA | 40,568 | 0 | - | 0 | 14.6 miles |
| Kent | WA | 84,987 | 1 | 34.1348 | 6 | 16.7 miles |
| Federal Way | WA | 84,659 | 2 | 22.1387 | 18 | 21.4 miles |
| Everett | WA | 99,092 | 6 | 27.2101 | 95 | 24.5 miles |
| Tacoma | WA | 200,855 | 9 | 34.3764 | 293 | 26.1 miles |
| Fife | WA | - | 1 | 33.1119 | 4 | 26.3 miles |
| Puyallup | WA | - | 1 | 10.872 | 24 | 30.2 miles |
| South Hill | WA | 63,243 | 0 | - | 0 | 33.4 miles |
| Olympia | WA | 46,257 | 2 | 20.9056 | 57 | 47.4 miles |
| Bellingham | WA | 82,173 | 5 | 30.4386 | 275 | 77.7 miles |
| Aberdeen | WA | - | 3 | 19.6431 | 151 | 82.0 miles |