Seattle, the county seat of King County, is the most populous city in Washington state and the Pacific Northwest, with a 2025 population of 784,777 (18th-most in the U.S.) and a metro area of 4.15 million that ranked 15th nationally after growing 21.1% from 2010 to 2020. Situated on an isthmus between Puget Sound and Lake Washington, it is the northernmost major U.S. city and a key Asia-Pacific trade hub, hosting the fourth-largest container port in North America. Inhabited by Native Americans like the Duwamish for at least 4,000 years, the city was founded in 1851 by the Denny Party and named after Chief Seattle, and today it boasts a diverse population with the fifth-highest percentage of LGBT residents among major U.S. metros. Economically, Seattle evolved from logging and Klondike Gold Rush shipping into a post-war aviation center for Boeing, then into a tech powerhouse home to Microsoft's headquarters and Alaska Airlines. Its culture is heavily defined by music, ranging from a 1918–1951 jazz scene that launched Ray Charles and Quincy Jones to the grunge movement led by Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden—alongside legends like Jimi Hendrix.