Washington: Upper Northwest Corner of the Lower Forty-Eight

Washington is located in the Pacific Northwest region of United States along the Pacific Ocean, bordering Canada to the north, Idaho to the east, and Oregon to the south. As with many other regions of the modern day U.S., the territory that is now Washington was inhabited by Native American Indians at the time the Spanish explored it in 1775. It was later claimed by and ceded to the British in 1790. Ultimately, Britain ceded its claims to land in the Pacific Northwest south of the 49th parallel, including what is now Washington State, to the United States in the Treaty of Oregon 1846. Washington joined the United States on November 11, 1889. Industries that had emerged by this time included agriculture and timber. Smelting and ship building also became important industries. During the Great Depression, the Grand Coulee Dam was built as part of an effort to expand production of electric energy. The state served as a major contributor to the U.S. effort in World War II, serving as a launch point for military personnel to the Pacific Theater, producing bomber aircraft through the Boeing Corporation, and the aiding in the development of the atomic bomb through Hannaford Works. Today Washington is a hub for the software, computer, and internet technology industries, shipping and trade, apple production, timber, and manufacturing of industrial equipment and aircraft. Washington is the only U.S. state named after a U.S. president and is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from Washington D.C., the nation’s capital.

The Washington Economy: Diverse, Diversified

Economic contributors to the state of Washington economy include manufacturing of aircraft, automotive, and other products, computer and software development, telecommunications, electronics, biotechnology and life sciences research, production of aluminum and other metals, lumber and wood processing, energy production, consumer and retail products, and tourism. Washington State is home to a number of Fortune 500 companies, including Microsoft Corporation and the operations of the Boeing Corporation.

Education: School Is in Session

Washington has an educated populace with educational attainment levels above national averages. As of 2000, roughly 87% of its residents aged 25 and older had completed high school, and nearly 28% had completed college. There are 2,074 institutions of higher education in Washington. Prominent among these is the University of Washington, with nearly 43,000 students at four locations including the flagship campus in Seattle, and Washington State University, with nearly 26,000 students enrolled at four campuses. Other selected institutions of higher learning in Washington include: Eastern Washington State University, Gonzaga University, and Whitman College.

The Crime Scene in Washington: Down over the Past Five Years

Washington has seen declining crime activity since 2005. Prior to that time, crime activity levels peaked in the mid-1990’s and had started to decline until 2000, at which point they started to climb. Violent crime and all other forms of crime have been steadily declining since 2005, and are substantially down from all-time highs seen in the mid 1990’s. In 2006, Washington ranked 28th among U.S. states for violent crimes with 346 per 100,000 population.

The Washington Population – Flat Growth; Balanced Historically, Leaning Democratic

Washington has a population of roughly 6.7 million. Its population has been growing steadily, at a rate of 1.2% per year in the past decade. Politically, Washington has been mixed over time. In the past several decades, Washington has leaned Democratic in its electoral choices. While he eastern part of the state trends conservative, it is offset by the western part of the state, which contains Seattle, which trends Democratic. Among the nearly 3 million votes cast in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Washington voters chose Democratic candidate Barack Obama over Republican candidate John McCain by a ratio of 58% to 41%.