Washington is a state in the United States of America. It is located in the northwestern United States on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, north of Oregon, west of Idaho, and south of British Columbia in Canada.
Measured by its area, Washington ranks 18th among the US states with 184,665 square kilometers, measured by its population of 6,724,540 residents in 13th place (as of 2010). The majority of the population is concentrated around Puget Sound, an approximately 150 km long, island-rich and widely branched bay in the west of the state, on which the capital Olympia and by far the largest city, Seattle, are located.
Area | 184,665 km² |
Residents | 7,288,000 |
Residents per km² | 39.5 |
Capital | Olympia |
Postal Code | WA |
ISO-3166-2 code | US WA |
FIPS code | 53 |
The state was named after the first US President, George Washington, and was incorporated into the United States as the 42nd state in 1889. Due to the variety of conifers (particularly conifers), the state is nicknamed Evergreen State (German Evergreen State).
In order to delimit the state from the capital of the USA Washington, DC, which is also named after George Washington and is located on the east coast of the USA, the name “Washington State” is often used for the state.
Abbreviated as WA by AbbreviationFinder, Washington is characterized by the sharp contrast between the mountain and coastal regions in the west and the dry areas in the east of the state. The coastal location and natural harbors offer the best opportunities for overseas trade on the Pacific Ocean, with Canada and with Alaska. The high forests on the Olympic Peninsula are among the rainiest areas on earth. 52% of the land area of the state is covered by coniferous forests (conifers, cedars). To the east of the Cascade Mountains lie the country’s semi-deserts, which are completely devoid of any significant vegetation. Mount Rainier, a dormant volcano, is the highest mountain in the state at 4,392 m.
Economy
Washington is one of the wealthiest states in the United States. The real gross domestic product per capita real GDP was USD 64,454 in 2016 (national average of the 50 US states: USD 57,118; national ranking: 10). The unemployment rate was 4.5% in November 2017 (national average: 4.1%). Washington had the third highest median household income of any state, at $ 75,418 in 2017.
The most important branch of the economy is the aerospace industry. The most important employer in the state and the largest export company in the USA is Boeing, with civil aircraft manufacturing in Seattle, Renton and Everett. Computer technology is of great importance. The market leader for software Microsoft is based in Redmond, a suburb of Seattle ; the online mail order company Amazon.com is based in Seattle itself. Another important Seattle company is the Starbucks coffee house chain.
Other important industries are:
- Aluminum, copper extraction
- Cultivation of grain, potatoes, hops, fodder crops and fruit
- chemical industry
- Wood and paper industry
- Nuclear Energy Research Center
- Salmon fishing and breeding
- Mechanical engineering and shipbuilding
- Hydropower generation
Washington Flag
The flag of the US state of Washington is the only flag of the United States with a green background.
The state seal with the portrait bust of the first President of the United States, George Washington, dates from 1889 and was introduced into the flag in 1923.
Also known as Evergreen State, Washington is short for WA with a population of 5,894,121. According to Countryaah, the capital city of Washington is Olympia and the biggest city is Seattle.