After Google closed offices in Seattle and Bellevue last year, its Kirkland headcount jumped 47%. City data shows that Google’s Kirkland workforce rose from 3,449 workers in 2024 to 5,076 in 2025.
In recent years, Kirkland has grown to become Google’s largest employment hub in the region. More than half of the roughly 8,000 Seattle-area workers the company employs are based in Kirkland. That’s a dramatic climb from 2016, when Google had just 1,020 employees in the city. Google now has about 11.5% of Kirkland’s workforce on its payroll, with only EvergreenHealth employing more people.
The majority of Google’s Kirkland workforce is based at Sixth Street South or the Kirkland Urban campus. Some of the workers currently at those locations were previously based out of Google’s Bellevue and Fremont offices.
In 2023, Google had about 3,540 workers at its Fremont and South Lake Union locations. After announcing plans to close the Fremont campus in 2025, Google relocated those employees, though it is unclear how many moved to the South Lake Union office versus Kirkland.
According to Google, its Kirkland campuses had enough space to accommodate any employees transferred from closed offices. The Kirkland Urban campus has 650,000 square feet, and the Sixth Street campus has 496,000 square feet. By comparison, Google has around 1 million square feet in South Lake Union and at least 105,000 square feet in Bellevue.
Over the last year, layoffs have dominated headlines across the region’s tech industry. Google, meanwhile, has been quietly growing, adding around 1,000 employees to its Seattle-area workforce.
This post was based on information found on Puget Sound Business Journal.
Photo courtesy of Kirkland Urban.
