Seattle-metro education and health jobs, September 2026
Seattle-metro education and health employers had 319,600 people on payroll in September 2026, up 3.1% from a year earlier. That is 14.9% of all payroll jobs in the metro, against 14.6% a year before.
This is the private sector only: hospitals, clinics, nursing and residential care, social assistance, private schools and colleges. Public schools and the University of Washington are counted as government. It is the steadiest sector in the data, because demand follows the size and the age of the population rather than the business cycle — the one sharp break in its line is spring 2020, when elective care stopped.
The two charts answer different questions. The count peaked at 319,600 in September 2026 and says whether the sector is hiring. The share — from 9.5% in January 1990, with a high of 14.9% in February 2026 and a low of 9.4% in July 1990 — says whether it is growing faster or slower than the rest of the economy.
Not seasonally adjusted, so compare a month with the same month a year earlier. The share is computed at read time from two series in the same BLS release, so it stays consistent when the levels are revised.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, State & Area Employment, education and health and total nonfarm payrolls, Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue MSA, not seasonally adjusted, via FRED (SEAT653EDUHN, SEAT653NAN). The share is derived at read time. Auto-generated each build.