The Evergreen State has a gross state product (GSP) of $618 billion, placing it 10th in the nation and it continues to grow by 6.5% every year. The minimum wage as of January 1, 2021, was $13.69 an hour, the second highest of any state or district in the country behind Washington, DC, at $14 an hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of the noteworthy businesses headquartered in the state include Boeing, Amazon,\u00a0Microsoft, Nintendo of America, T-Mobile, Costco, Starbucks, Colliers International, Valve, and Nordstrom. Due to the high concentration of multinational companies in Washington, perhaps it's no surprise that the state also has a high number of billionaires living in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As of March 2021, both the first (Jeff Bezos of Amazon) and the second (Bill Gates of Microsoft) wealthiest people in the world, called the state home. Others include Microsoft's Paul Allen, Craig McCaw of McCaw Cellular Communications, James Jannard of Oakley, and Howard Schultz of Starbucks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Washington's technology industry has around 14,000 businesses that add more than $75.2 billion to the state economy annually, which represents 17.4% of the state's economy. Among these are small businesses (SMBs) that must compete with a high concentration of large companies for access to top talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s have a look at some small business statistics from the state of Washington:<\/p>\n\n\n\n