{"h1":"Best cities for AI-skill jobs in the Pacific Northwest","faq":[{"a":"Bellevue leads the Pacific Northwest for AI skills: 28% of its professional openings ask for them, against 19% across all cities in our data.","q":"Which city ranks first: best cities for ai-skill jobs in the pacific northwest?"},{"a":"16 cities have at least 100 openings, so the list has 16 entries.","q":"How many cities are ranked?"},{"a":"A city's score is the share of its open professional roles whose posting names at least one AI skill or tool, found by our AI-skill tagger on the posting text. The tagger looks for named skills (for example prompt engineering, machine learning, or a named AI tool), not the words \"AI-powered\" in a company blurb. A city where one employer posts more than 50% of its openings is not ranked, so a single company cannot decide a city's score.","q":"How is the ranking calculated?"},{"a":"Every month. This is the November 2026 edition. Older editions stay on this site at their own dated addresses.","q":"How often is it updated?"}],"lead":"Bellevue leads the Pacific Northwest for AI skills: 28% of its professional openings ask for them, against 19% across all cities in our data.","minN":100,"rows":[{"n":1395,"key":"WA|bellevue","sub":"WA","href":"/places/washington/city/bellevue","name":"Bellevue","rank":1,"stats":[{"label":"AI-skill openings","value":"386"},{"label":"All openings","value":"1,395"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$197k"}],"value":0.2767025089605735,"change":null,"employers":["Amazon","TerraPower","Okta"],"valueLabel":"28%"},{"n":5347,"key":"WA|seattle","sub":"WA","href":"/places/washington/city/seattle","name":"Seattle","rank":2,"stats":[{"label":"AI-skill openings","value":"1,384"},{"label":"All openings","value":"5,347"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$180k"}],"value":0.2588367308771274,"change":null,"employers":["Amazon","Blue Origin","Shield AI"],"valueLabel":"26%"},{"n":1150,"key":"WA|redmond","sub":"WA","href":"/places/washington/city/redmond","name":"Redmond","rank":3,"stats":[{"label":"AI-skill openings","value":"210"},{"label":"All openings","value":"1,150"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$209k"}],"value":0.1826086956521739,"change":null,"employers":["Amazon","SpaceX","Microsoft"],"valueLabel":"18%"},{"n":130,"key":"WA|renton","sub":"WA","href":"/places/washington/city/renton","name":"Renton","rank":4,"stats":[{"label":"AI-skill openings","value":"15"},{"label":"All openings","value":"130"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$154k"}],"value":0.1153846153846154,"change":null,"employers":["Hasbro","Providence Health & Services Washington","Michels"],"valueLabel":"12%"},{"n":158,"key":"WA|kirkland","sub":"WA","href":"/places/washington/city/kirkland","name":"Kirkland","rank":5,"stats":[{"label":"AI-skill openings","value":"16"},{"label":"All openings","value":"158"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$171k"}],"value":0.1012658227848101,"change":null,"employers":["Echodyne","Amazon","Google"],"valueLabel":"10%"},{"n":129,"key":"WA|bothell","sub":"WA","href":"/places/washington/city/bothell","name":"Bothell","rank":6,"stats":[{"label":"AI-skill openings","value":"11"},{"label":"All openings","value":"129"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$163k"}],"value":0.08527131782945736,"change":null,"employers":["Verathon","IonQ","Koninklijke Philips"],"valueLabel":"9%"},{"n":153,"key":"WA|vancouver","sub":"WA","href":"/places/washington/city/vancouver","name":"Vancouver","rank":7,"stats":[{"label":"AI-skill openings","value":"12"},{"label":"All openings","value":"153"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$121k"}],"value":0.0784313725490196,"change":null,"employers":["HP","ZoomInfo","Ecolab USA"],"valueLabel":"8%"},{"n":185,"key":"WA|everett","sub":"WA","href":"/places/washington/city/everett","name":"Everett","rank":8,"stats":[{"label":"AI-skill openings","value":"11"},{"label":"All openings","value":"185"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$183k"}],"value":0.05945945945945946,"change":null,"employers":["Helion Energy","Fortive","TerraPower"],"valueLabel":"6%"},{"n":119,"key":"WA|tacoma","sub":"WA","href":"/places/washington/city/tacoma","name":"Tacoma","rank":9,"stats":[{"label":"AI-skill openings","value":"6"},{"label":"All openings","value":"119"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$105k"}],"value":0.05042016806722689,"change":null,"employers":["Globe Main","TOTE Maritime"],"valueLabel":"5%"},{"n":183,"key":"OR|hillsboro","sub":"OR","href":"/places/oregon/city/hillsboro","name":"Hillsboro","rank":10,"stats":[{"label":"AI-skill openings","value":"8"},{"label":"All openings","value":"183"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$147k"}],"value":0.04371584699453552,"change":null,"employers":["American Society for Microbiology","Washington County OR","Microsoft"],"valueLabel":"4%"},{"n":785,"key":"OR|portland","sub":"OR","href":"/places/oregon/city/portland","name":"Portland","rank":11,"stats":[{"label":"AI-skill openings","value":"30"},{"label":"All openings","value":"785"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$132k"}],"value":0.03821656050955414,"change":null,"employers":["Oregon Health & Science University","Legacy Health","Keen Footwear"],"valueLabel":"4%"},{"n":118,"key":"OR|salem","sub":"OR","href":"/places/oregon/city/salem","name":"Salem","rank":12,"stats":[{"label":"AI-skill openings","value":"3"},{"label":"All openings","value":"118"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$126k"}],"value":0.02542372881355932,"change":null,"employers":["Agility Robotics","Garmin","Northwest Human Services"],"valueLabel":"3%"},{"n":111,"key":"OR|beaverton","sub":"OR","href":"/places/oregon/city/beaverton","name":"Beaverton","rank":13,"stats":[{"label":"AI-skill openings","value":"2"},{"label":"All openings","value":"111"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$103k"}],"value":0.01801801801801802,"change":null,"employers":["Ralliant","Apple","Software Specialists"],"valueLabel":"2%"},{"n":110,"key":"OR|eugene","sub":"OR","href":"/places/oregon/city/eugene","name":"Eugene","rank":14,"stats":[{"label":"AI-skill openings","value":"1"},{"label":"All openings","value":"110"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$122k"}],"value":0.00909090909090909,"change":null,"employers":["University of Oregon","Sinclair"],"valueLabel":"1%"},{"n":140,"key":"WA|spokane","sub":"WA","href":"/places/washington/city/spokane","name":"Spokane","rank":15,"stats":[{"label":"AI-skill openings","value":"1"},{"label":"All openings","value":"140"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$108k"}],"value":0.007142857142857143,"change":null,"employers":["McKinstry","BDO USA"],"valueLabel":"1%"},{"n":146,"key":"WA|kent","sub":"WA","href":"/places/washington/city/kent","name":"Kent","rank":16,"stats":[{"label":"AI-skill openings","value":"1"},{"label":"All openings","value":"146"},{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$125k"}],"value":0.00684931506849315,"change":null,"employers":["Stoke Space","Cowboy Space","Amazon"],"valueLabel":"1%"}],"slug":"best-cities-for-ai-jobs-in-the-pacific-northwest","unit":"openings","scope":{"id":"pacific-northwest","kind":"region","name":"Pacific Northwest"},"title":"Best cities for AI-skill jobs in the Pacific Northwest","family":"AI","method":["A city's score is the share of its open professional roles whose posting names at least one AI skill or tool, found by our AI-skill tagger on the posting text.","The tagger looks for named skills (for example prompt engineering, machine learning, or a named AI tool), not the words \"AI-powered\" in a company blurb.","A city where one employer posts more than 50% of its openings is not ranked, so a single company cannot decide a city's score."],"builtAt":"2026-11-02T22:01:52.820Z","edition":"2026-11","measure":"ai","sources":["NextChapter job data: open professional roles on employer career sites, verified in the last week"],"baseline":{"label":"all cities in our data","valueLabel":"19%"},"keyFacts":["#1 Bellevue, WA: 28%","#2 Seattle, WA: 26%","#3 Redmond, WA: 18%","16 cities ranked in the Pacific Northwest","Data as of November 2026"],"placeNoun":"cities","commentary":["The lead is wide: Bellevue (28%) is well clear of Hillsboro at #10 (4%).","Seattle is the largest market in the top ten, with 5,347 openings behind its figure.","Cities with fewer than 100 openings are not ranked, and small differences between neighbouring ranks are not meaningful."],"license":"Free to use and share with a link to https://launchyournextchapter.com/rankings/best-cities-for-ai-jobs-in-the-pacific-northwest"}