Bellingham is a larger medium-sized coastal city (ie. on the ocean or tidally-influenced rivers) located in the state of Washington. With a population of 66,815 people and 14 constituent neighborhoods, Bellingham is the tenth largest community in Washington.

Unlike some cities, Bellingham isn't mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Bellingham are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Bellingham is a city of sales and office workers, professionals, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Bellingham who work in office and administrative support jobs (15.43%), sales jobs (12.93%), and management occupations (7.78%).

In addition, Bellingham is a major college town that has a very high percentage of its residents over 18 years old who are college students. Naturally, collegiate life has a major influence on local Bellingham culture, lifestyle and entertainment options. Bellingham really pulses to the beat of the academic calendar. In Bellingham every fall, returning students reinvigorate the community, who you will notice are all over town, buying groceries, out with friends, and getting acquainted or re-acquainted with each other and Bellingham. One of the beneficial effects that colleges provide is that they tend to be lasting institutions that deliver direct economic benefits to the local economy in the form of such things as jobs for faculty and staff, and spending by students. Bellingham benefits directly from this.

Not only is Bellingham a city with many college students, but it also retains many recent graduates who are looking to start new careers, creating a decent-sized population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile. This makes it a good choice for other relocating single professionals. Here, these young singles will find many others like themselves, with opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun.

One of the nice things about Bellingham is that is it nautical, meaning that parts of the city are somewhat historic and on the ocean, or touch tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and tidal rivers. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.

Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Bellingham spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 17.75 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be.

Bellingham Information and Demographics

The citizens of Bellingham are very well educated compared to the average community in the nation: 33.03% of adults in Bellingham have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.

The per capita income in Bellingham in 2000 was $19,483, which is middle income relative to Washington, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $77,932 for a family of four.

The people who call Bellingham home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Bellingham is White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Bellingham include German, English, Irish, Norwegian, Scottish, Swedish, Italian, Dutch, and European.

The most common language spoken in Bellingham is English. Some people also speak Spanish.