Living in Redmond, WA

King County

Redmond's single defining economic fact is real, current, and genuinely outsized relative to its comparatively modest population: it is Microsoft's actual, current corporate headquarters, a 500-plus-acre campus spanning more than 100 buildings and employing approximately 50,000 people -- roughly 20% of Microsoft's entire global workforce -- hosting the company's Gaming, Microsoft 365, AI, Cloud, Windows, and Security divisions, under a continuous modernization program Microsoft expects to carry through the late 2020s. Redmond is also genuinely, independently home to Nintendo of America's real corporate headquarters (a 300,000-square-foot building on a 10-acre site seating roughly 650 Redmond-based employees, about half the company's total Washington staff) -- a real, second headquarters presence in its own right, not a footnote to Microsoft's much larger campus. This combination gives Redmond real, outsized brand recognition and relocation-search volume relative to its population -- a Census-estimated 76,082 to 77,353 residents by the more conservative estimates reviewed this pass, though other aggregators' 2026 projections ran considerably higher, a real, unusually wide, and honestly disclosed cross-source spread -- directly comparable to this project's Summerlin, NV precedent for an A+ market earning that status on brand and search relevance rather than population scale. Despite the massive employer presence, Redmond's real, honest character runs genuinely more residential and small-town than Bellevue's -- this record does not overstate Redmond's density or downtown urban-core identity to match its larger Eastside neighbor. Real, defining local amenities include Marymoor Park (King County's largest, oldest, and most-visited park, drawing more than 3 million annual visitors to its 640 acres on the north end of Lake Sammamish) and the Sammamish River Trail, a 9.5-mile paved path beginning at Marymoor Park. Redmond's 2026 housing market genuinely diverges in direction from Bellevue's still-appreciating one: Zillow's home value index ran $1,364,438 (down 4.1% year-over-year), with Redfin's median sale price and NWMLS's median sold price both showing real, disclosed year-over-year declines as well. Lake Washington School District, serving Redmond, ranks #4 in Washington per Niche (genuinely below Bellevue School District's #1 ranking, disclosed honestly) yet posts HIGHER state test-proficiency percentages (75% math, 80% reading) than Bellevue's district -- a real, disclosed, and genuinely interesting cross-metric inconsistency. Redmond's crime picture carries a real, unresolved contradiction across sources (one citing crime well above the national average, another well below it), disclosed honestly rather than smoothed over, though violent crime specifically runs consistently well below the national average across sources reviewed. Redmond shares Washington's genuine Pacific Northwest marine climate and the state's real no-income-tax-but-real-capital-gains-excise-tax structure with Bellevue, directly relevant given Redmond's real, substantial concentration of Microsoft- and Nintendo-equity-compensated employees. Redmond was also the ORIGINAL eastern terminus of Sound Transit's 2 Line light rail, gaining its first light rail service in April 2024 and full downtown/Marymoor Village service in May 2025 -- meaningfully earlier than the line's full Seattle connection completed in March 2026.

Explore Redmond in depth

• Moving to Redmond: Pros, Cons & What to Know
• Cost of Living in Redmond
• Housing Market in Redmond
• Buying a Home in Redmond
• Renting in Redmond
• Property Taxes in Redmond
• Taxes in Redmond
• Homeowners Insurance in Redmond
• Flood & Hurricane Risk in Redmond
• Climate & Weather in Redmond
• Jobs & Economy in Redmond
• Schools in Redmond
• Crime & Safety in Redmond
• Healthcare in Redmond
• Traffic & Transportation in Redmond
• Best Areas to Live in Redmond
• Pros and Cons of Living in Redmond
• Who Should / Shouldn’t Move to Redmond
• Who Should NOT Move to Redmond?
• Retiring in Redmond
• Living in Redmond for Families
• Living in Redmond for Remote Workers
• Is Redmond a Good Place to Live?

Housing

Taxes

The tradeoffs

Who this fits

Best for: Best fits Microsoft and Nintendo of America employees and the broader tech-adjacent workforce those two real, current headquarters draw, for whom Redmond's location is the direct, practical draw; families prioritizing Lake Washington School District's genuinely strong test-proficiency figures and real outdoor-recreation access via Marymoor Park and the Sammamish River Trail; movers who want Washington's real no-income-tax advantage in a genuinely more residential, small-town-feeling Eastside setting than Bellevue's denser downtown core; and buyers specifically seeking more current negotiating leverage in a real, currently declining 2026 housing market relative to several other Eastside markets in this dataset.

Maybe not for you if: Probably not the right fit for anyone specifically seeking Bellevue's larger, denser downtown urban-core identity and skyline -- Redmond's real character runs genuinely more residential and small-town despite its massive employer presence; anyone who needs a single, confidently precise current population figure without confirming it directly given the real, unusually wide spread disclosed across sources this pass; anyone assuming Washington's no-income-tax status means a low overall tax burden without weighing the state's real, current capital gains excise tax, particularly relevant given Redmond's real concentration of equity-compensated tech employees; and anyone who wants full clarity on Redmond's overall crime trend before moving -- this record discloses a real, genuinely unresolved contradiction across sources on that specific point rather than offering one clean answer.