Some K-Bar Stats

How many bars are there in Seattle?

By my definition -- basically any bar, shop or restaurant that has a designated area primarily for sitting to consume alcoholic beverages (where people under 21 years-old are not allowed) there appear to be 900+ bars open at any one time in the Seattle city limits. (Note that this number is well below the approximately 2,000 on-premises liquor licenses in the city of Seattle as these licenses include private clubs, restaurants with no designated bar area, and various shops and misc. businesses. Since there are approx. 9,000 on-premises licenses state-wide, that extrapolates to around 5,000 bars across the state of Washington.)

How many bars open each year in Seattle?

There seems to have been an explosion of new bar and restaurant openings in Seattle that started shortly after the mortgage bubble collapse in 2008. In the years leading up to 2008, there were about 50 new bars opening each year in Seattle. By 2010, it was over 100 bars a year (although there seems to have been a cooling trend since 2013). In the table to the left are my counts of Seattle bars I have identified opening and closing over the last few years. These figures will be a little low, particularly for the most recent years, but fairly close. (Again, my definition of a bar includes restaurants that contain a designated bar area where only 21+ are allowed.)