Privacy
Privacy law status in Washington
Washington has not enacted a comprehensive consumer data privacy law as of October 9, 2026. Privacy laws in other states, and federal rules, can still apply when a site collects data from their residents.
City guides / Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
SEATTLE web design.
Endcap Design is a web design agency that designs and builds websites for businesses, with the branding and marketing to match, and works remotely with clients outside Southern California. This guide collects the business numbers, building activity, and Washington rules we would look at before designing a site for a business in Seattle or elsewhere in the metro, including Tacoma, Bellevue, Kent, Everett, and Renton.
Updated October 2026 with building permits through August 2026, from U.S. Census Bureau data. Sources are listed at the end of this page.
Endcap is based in Orange County, California, and works remotely with clients outside Southern California by video call, phone, and email.
The market
SEATTLE
in numbers.
The figures that shape who a Seattle website is for and what it needs to do. Each figure is the most recent Census release in this guide’s data, with its year shown.
4,161,883
residents in the metro
Census population estimate, July 2025
+3.3%
population change since 2020
April 2020 to July 2025; the US grew 3.1%
110,685
business locations with employees
County Business Patterns 2023
7,527
real estate businesses
NAICS 531, 2023
1,321
property management companies
Residential and nonresidential, 2023
13,910
new housing units permitted
January through August 2026
$112,388
median household income
American Community Survey 2024
42%
of households rent their home
690,498 renter households
Business mix
WHO DOES BUSINESS
in Seattle.
Real estate brokerages are the most concentrated of these businesses in the Seattle metro: 83 for every 100,000 residents, and their share of local businesses is 1.59 times the national share. Builders and developers follow at 1.47 times the national share. Law offices are less common here than nationally, at 0.94 times the national share.
The chart compares each sector’s share of Seattle-area business locations with its share nationally (a location quotient). 1.00× matches the US; higher means the sector is more concentrated here. County Business Patterns 2023.
Building activity
WHAT’S BEING
built.
New buildings mean new properties to lease and new businesses to open. Census Building Permits Survey, August 2026.
Builders in the Seattle metro were authorized to build 13,910 new housing units from January through August 2026, 52% more than the 9,153 in the same months of 2025.
64% of those units are in buildings with five or more homes, against 32% nationally.
That is an apartment-heavy pipeline. Each new community needs a leasing website, usually before construction finishes, and the developer often needs a project site for investors and the city as well.
- Single-family 4,220
- Two to four units 779
- Five or more 8,911
What this means for your site
BUILT FOR
Seattle.
What we would plan into a Seattle website, based on the numbers above.
Talk through your site- 01
A site for each property
Commercial building owners and lessors have 471 staffed offices in the metro, 1.03 times the national share of local businesses. A leasing website for each center or building, with a site plan and available suites, gives tenants and their brokers a direct path to the owner.
- 02
Pages written for owners
Seattle has 1.26 times the national share of property management companies, so owners have several firms to compare. A management website needs its services, reporting, and a request for a management proposal where an owner can find them.
- 03
Show the deals
Brokerages are 1.59 times as concentrated here as nationally. A brokerage site stands out with closed deals, current listings that stay up to date, and a page for each broker.
- 04
Washington license details
Brokerage websites in Washington carry specific disclosure requirements (RCW 18.85.361(8); RCW 18.85.011(1) and (4); WAC 308-124B-210 (Advertising), effective October 31, 2010). We build them into the footer and listing templates, so every page that advertises a property has them.
- 05
Accessible by default
Every site we build follows WCAG 2.2 AA practice: readable contrast, keyboard navigation, labeled forms, and text alternatives for images. Federal ADA website lawsuits run into the thousands each year, most of them filed in New York, Florida, and Illinois.
Washington rules
WHAT THE LAW
asks of your site.
State rules that change what goes on a business or real estate website in Washington, checked against official sources as of October 9, 2026. This is general information, not legal advice; your counsel owns the final wording.
Worth knowing Washington has no comprehensive privacy law, but the My Health My Data Act applies to any business that collects consumer health data from Washington consumers, with no revenue threshold, and requires a separate consumer health data privacy policy linked from the homepage.
Real estate advertising
What a Washington brokerage site must show
All Washington advertising for brokerage services, including internet advertising, web pages and email, must include the firm's licensed name or licensed assumed name in a clear and conspicuous manner. Brokers who use a name, title or brand, such as a team name, without an assumed name license must display the firm's licensed name with it and may not use entity or brokerage terms in that name.
What the website needs
- Under WAC 308-124B-210(1), all advertising or solicitations for brokerage services, including internet-based advertising, web pages and email, must include the firm name or an assumed name as licensed.
- Under RCW 18.85.361(8), advertising in any manner without the real estate firm's name or assumed name as licensed in a clear and conspicuous manner is a ground for discipline, except that licensees advertising their own personally owned real property need only disclose that they hold a real estate license.
- Under RCW 18.85.011(4), "clear and conspicuous" means the term is of such color, contrast, size or audibility, and presented in such a manner, as to be readily noticed and understood.
- Under WAC 308-124B-210(2)(a), a broker or managing broker using a name, title or brand without an assumed name license must always display the firm's licensed name or licensed assumed name clearly and conspicuously together with that name, title or brand.
- Under WAC 308-124B-210(2)(b) and (c), that name, title or brand may not suggest a separate legal entity, such as "Inc.," "LLC," "LLP," "Corp.," "firm," or "company," and may not use terms commonly understood to refer to a firm or office, such as "realty," "realtors," "firm," or "real estate."
Accessibility
The federal ADA
Title III of the ADA covers businesses open to the public, but the Department of Justice has no regulation that sets a technical standard for private business websites. DOJ's web guidance says businesses have flexibility in how they make their websites accessible and points to WCAG as a helpful existing technical standard. Federal appeals courts have not agreed on when a website is covered, so a website's legal status can depend on where a lawsuit is filed and whether the site is connected to a physical location. Washington has no separate website accessibility statute for private businesses in our research, so WCAG 2.2 AA is the practical target.
What we design
FOR SEATTLE
businesses.
Ordered by how concentrated each kind of business is in the Seattle metro. We design for every kind of business.
3,449real estate brokerages in the metro
Brokerage websites with listings, team pages, and closed deals
4,948builders and developers in the metroProject websites for pre-leasing and a portfolio for the firm
1,321property management companies in the metroCompany websites that win owner clients and link residents to their portal
2,189dental offices in the metroPractice websites with booking and service pages
1,867architecture and engineering firms in the metroPortfolio websites that present built work
8,239specialty contractors in the metroWebsites that turn local searches into estimate requests
Portfolio
RECENT
work.
Websites and identities we have designed and built for our clients. See all of our work.
Client words
IN THEIR
words.
We own ten homes at Casa De Laguna and were still sending people to a site built in 2013. Noah pulled the photos and details out of the old site, designed a logo from the rooflines and the pond, and put the community, the homes and current availability in one place. It’s the first time the website has looked like the place we actually rent.
“Highly recommend. Great work.”
How many real estate businesses are in the Seattle area?
The Census Bureau counted 7,527 real estate business locations with employees in the Seattle metro in 2023, including 3,449 offices of agents and brokers and 1,321 property management companies.
How much new construction is happening in Seattle?
From January through August 2026, the Seattle metro permitted 13,910 new housing units, 52% more than a year earlier, according to the Census Building Permits Survey.
Does Washington have a privacy law that affects business websites?
Washington has not enacted a comprehensive consumer data privacy law as of October 9, 2026. Privacy laws in other states can still apply when a website collects data from their residents.
What does Washington require on a real estate website?
All Washington advertising for brokerage services, including internet advertising, web pages and email, must include the firm's licensed name or licensed assumed name in a clear and conspicuous manner. Brokers who use a name, title or brand, such as a team name, without an assumed name license must display the firm's licensed name with it and may not use entity or brokerage terms in that name. (RCW 18.85.361(8); RCW 18.85.011(1) and (4); WAC 308-124B-210 (Advertising), effective October 31, 2010)
Do you work with Seattle businesses remotely?
Yes. Endcap is based in Orange County, California, and works remotely with clients outside Southern California by video call, phone, and email. You review the design and the working site online before launch.
How much does a website cost?
We quote each project after a short conversation, once we know the pages, content, and features it needs. The proposal lists the deliverables, schedule, and price, and we agree on it before work begins.
How long does a website take?
Most websites take two to four weeks once the content is ready. The proposal confirms the schedule.
Nearby city guides
Other markets near Seattle
Bremerton, WA283,374 residentsOlympia, WA304,261 residentsYakima, WA259,185 residentsPortland, OR2,542,282 residentsKennewick, WA324,334 residentsSalem, OR445,814 residentsAll city guides 200 metros
National rankings: where the US is building, property managers by metro, brokerages by metro, and commercial landlords by metro.
Sources
- Business counts U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (NAICS 2017) Data
- Population U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 Data
- Income and housing U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year 2024 Data
- Building permits U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, January-August 2026 year-to-date vs. same months of 2025 Data
- Metro definitions OMB metropolitan statistical areas, July 2023 (OMB Bulletin 23-01) Data
Figures are for the metropolitan statistical area unless noted. Business counts cover locations with paid employees. Data refreshed 2026-10-10.
Contact Endcap
START A
project.
A website, a brand, or a complete set of materials.
We reply within an hour during business hours, and we only use your details to answer you.
Start a project or call or text Noah at (425) 233-0769