Seattle, WA (population: 614,214) has two audio schools within its city limits. University of Washington-Seattle Campus, the highest ranked school in the city with an audio 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.
Audio students from Seattle schools who go on to become audio professionals, audio production engineers, audio engineers, audio recording professionals, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 46,070 people working as audio and video equipment technicians alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $42,450. Also, Sound engineering technicians make on average $53,940 per year and there are about 15,560 of them employed in the US today. In fact, in the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett Metropolitan area alone, there are 260 employed sound engineering technicians earning an average salary of $53,200. Audio and video equipment technicians in this area earn $42,500/yr and there are 540 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 0.386 out of every 1000 jobs in Seattle are held by audio and video equipment technicians, and 0.185/1000 are held by sound engineering technicians.
Of the 2 audio schools in Seattle, only 1 has a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, University of Washington-Seattle Campus comes out as the most expensive ($8,906/yr) for audio students, with Seattle Central Community College as the lowest, reported at only $7,598/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 |