WATCH: Wealthy flee King County, taking billions with them, data shows

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(The Center Square) - Newly analyzed data from the IRS concerning migration patterns found more than 68,000 tax filers left King County in recent years, with the trend only expected to get worse.

The data was analyzed by the Puget Sound Business Journal, which indicates those exiting King County took approximately $2.19 billion with them in adjusted gross income in 2023, the most recent year data is available.

People are also moving into King County, but it’s higher-income earners leaving the county, with more lower income earners moving in.

That makes a difference as local governments depend on upper income economic activity to fund everything from public safety to social services.

According to PSBJ’s review of IRS county-to-county migration records, nearly one-third of tax filers leaving King County went to neighboring Pierce and Snohomish counties, where housing costs are significantly lower.

“I can tell you quite clearly that the job creators, the captains of industry, and those people that are owners of small and mid-sized businesses, are in fact leaving,” said King County Councilman Reagan Dunn in a Wednesday interview with The Center Square.

Dunn said dialing for dollars during his 2025 campaign illustrated people are making plans to relocate.

“I call a lot of these people every four years, and I was up for election last year. I call to raise money, right?” said Dunn who added that about a quarter of those donors he reached out to told him they would not donate, “because they are trying to get residency out of state."

"I saw that really hard for the first time this last fall,” he added.

A good chunk of the King County exodus could stem from Seattle job losses.

Downtown Seattle Association President Jon Scholes told The Center Square Seattle has lost thousands of jobs as employers increasingly moving positions outside the city to avoid Seattle’s growing tax burden and employment costs.

As reported by TCS, Seattle’s office vacancies have reached nearly 40% with many employers allowing leases to expire and shifting employees around for a smaller footprint.

“I think the state legislature, along with local governments in some counties like King, have really, maybe killed the goose that laid the golden egg,” said Dunn. “Which is really what I am worried about. You’re seeing maybe the leading indicators of this stuff now, but I'm worried that in two, three, or four years, we'll see the downstream effects.”

Dunn blames one party rule in Washington for the last 40+ years for the continued push for higher taxes, more regulations and an anti-business climate that is pushing the state to the brink, even as supporters of those policies turn a blind eye.

“With the estate tax issue, people were on the edge to leave and then the income tax proposal on higher earners was the nudge they needed out the door,” he said.

In 2026, Washington lawmakers rolled back the increased estate tax passed during the 2025 legislative session that raised the cap to 35%. It's back to 20%, tied with Hawaii as highest in the nation.

Dunn said the recent passage of the so-called "millionaire's tax" on income has had a big negative impact.

“The downstream consequences are going to be very real. And you can look back at Jamie Pederson's legislation as probably one of the key linchpins in dramatically hurting Washington State's economy for the next generation,” Dunn said.