Washington Living

40 Fun Facts About the State of Washington!

Washington is America's coffee capital, with more coffee bean roasters per capita than any other state

'The Wave', a popular fan cheer for the past 25 years, was started by Husky fans at the University of Washington

Adam Morrison, a Washington State native and Gonzaga University basketball star, led the NCAA Division I in scoring last season

The state is the nation's largest exporter, representing $34 billion and 5% of all US exports: forest products, aerospace products, apples, tulips, hops, mint, wheat and several other quality food products

Leading innovators - Microsoft's Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Starbucks' Howard Schultz, wireless pioneers the McCaw family, and the Boeing family - live in Washington State

Washington State is America's gateway to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C.

Washington leads the country in technology industry employment

Grand Coulee Dam, the largest concrete structure in North America, is in Washington State

Washington's residents are educated; it's the state with most residents holding high school diplomas, and Seattle leads the country in residents with more college degrees per capita

Father's Day was founded here in 1910

The state is home to the world's largest private car collection featuring over 3,000 vehicles

Washington is home to the largest land mollusk in North America, a foraging banana slug that grows up to 9 inches long

In Washington, a Seahawk is an athlete, not a bird...the closest thing to a Seahawk is an osprey hawk

Washington's entrepreneurial climate has made it the leading state for both startup and gazelles, or fast growing young companies

Washington, the 42nd state in the union, is the only state named for a president

Seattle gets less rainfall annually than Atlanta, Boston, New York, Houston, Miami, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Miami, with 37 inches

Seattle has the highest concentration of aerospace jobs in the world, led by Boeing's 50,000 workers

Our homegrown musicians include Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, Kenny G, The Wailers, Pat Boone, Bing Crosby, and Quincy Jones, among others

Petrified wood is the state's gem, and there's a petrified forest here that is considered the most unusual fossil forest in the world

Washington State defines innovation; some of the leading employers include Microsoft, Amazon.com, Nordstrom, Boeing, Costco and Starbucks

Washington has hosted the World's Fair twice: 1962 in Seattle and 1974 in Spokane

Washington produces 70% of the nations hops used to brew beer. Coincidentally, to overcome beer breath, the majority of the nation's mint is also grown in the state!

The longest accessible beach in the US is in Washington, the 28-mile long stretch is aptly named Long Beach

Washington is a leader in health sciences research; it ranks tops in scientists and engineers as a percentage of workforce

'Tales from the Far Side' cartoonist Gary Larson is a Washington native

Washington has the largest ferry system in the nation - 26 million passengers travel by ferry each year

The state's nickname is the Evergreen State for its abundant evergreen forests

It is America's raspberry capitol, harvesting more than 57 million pounds of raspberries each year

Washington is the country's second largest producer of wine, with its more than 350 wineries gaining international attention

More people in Seattle commute to work on bicycles than any other city nationwide

Washington's Hell's Canyon is the depest river gorge in North America, deeper than the Grand Canyon at over 5,500 feet deep

One in every six Washingtonians owns a boat in this state where recreational and commercial boating industry leads the country

Kennewick Man, a 9,000-year-old skeleton, the oldest ever discovered in the Americas, was found in Washington in 1996

The first revolving restaurant in the continental US was built in Seattle's Space Needle for the 1962 World's Fair

The cleanest air in the natiton is found in a Washington community, Bellingham, according to the EPA and American Lung Association

Washington's cows produce more milk per cow than any other state, totaling 1.3 billion pounds of milk each year

Seattle's world-famous glass artist, Dale Chihuly, has put Washington on the international map, second only to Venice in number and skill of glassblowing artists

Mark Rypien, 1992 Super Bowl MVP, is a Washington native and resides in Washington State

Washington is the nation's top apple-producing state, with 10-12 billion apples handpicked annually

Rick Miner is Western Washington's Luxury and Waterfront Home Specialist!