As Seattle grew, the number of cars here has barely budged since 2017

Typically, I write about data showing a change, trend or something else new happening in Seattle. In this case, though, the story is about something not happening.

Census data shows the number of vehicles in the city has been effectively unchanged for years, even as the number of households has grown.

Because the number of cars has basically plateaued while the number of households has grown, the rate of car ownership has declined. In 2023, which is the latest available census data, there were 127 vehicles for every 100 city households, which is down from about 140 vehicles for every 100 households in 2017.

While overall there were more cars than households in Seattle, the number of city residents living without a car has increased rapidly. In 2023, there were a record 74,100 carless ho