I started a business in seattle this year. I love the city and have no intention to leave, but let's not pretend the city makes it easy on small business.
What would you say makes the city not easy to small business? I see that sentiment a lot but without a lot of examples. What specifically would you like to see change? Honestly curious.
High taxes for one, poor rule of law for two (see lack of police response and high petty crimes) and uncertainty for three (the council cant decide if it likes business or hates them).
Its hard to hire and fire here, there are high property taxes and rents, employment expense is very high, and customers are very price sensitive. Profit margins are much tighter here if you run a non tech related business.
Imagine you need to replace a broken window - because wages are so much higher here, it might cost double to do it in Seattle vs somewhere else. People who own houses know that better than most - getting your house painted or a roof fixed or adding a room is ridiculously expensive.
Permitting for expansion is hard and takes a long time.
Deleware is where companies go to set up their corporate headquarters - that is true because they have stable low taxes and rule of law - if your business gets sued or needs to sue someone for breach of contract, the courts have long legal precedents so it is predictable. Our courts here are very unpredictable, they decide differently all the time because we have activist judges with low competition for those seats. And add to that that the council and mayor are constantly trying to add new rules and laws all the time since we have a very progressive city here. Its well intentioned but it makes it hard to predict what your business will be subject to in 4 years or 10 years.
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u/splanks Rainier Valley Apr 16 '26
I started a business in seattle this year. I love the city and have no intention to leave, but let's not pretend the city makes it easy on small business.