This Is the County in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Despite the ongoing vaccination effort, new daily cases of COVID-19 are rising once again in much of the United States. To date, 50,102,068 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 796,205 have died as a result. On a per capita basis, the U.S. has one of the highest known infections rates in the world.

In the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metropolitan area, located in Washington, a total of 354,764 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 9,312 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — below the national rate of 15,314 cases per 100,000 people.

The lower than average per capita COVID-19 infection rate across Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue is being driven by one area in particular.

The broader Seattle metro area comprises three counties or county equivalents — and of them, King County in Washington has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 177,812 infections in King County, or 8,220 for every 100,000 people.

Not only does King County have the lowest per capita infection rate in the Seattle metro area, it also has a relatively low per capita fatality rate.

There have been a total of 98 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in King County, below the 103 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Dec. 17, 2021.

These are all the counties in Washington where COVID-19 is slowing (and where it’s still getting worse).