Google, Zillow, Salesforce slash jobs in Washington state as corporate retreat from Seattle area accelerates

The latest cuts came Thursday, when the Washington State Employment Security Department received a Work Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice from Salesforce Inc. showing the company will permanently lay off 59 workers in Seattle and Bellevue beginning October 5.

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The reductions are reportedly hitting employees across Tableau, Trailhead, community engagement, events and other divisions and mark Salesforce’s third round of layoffs in 2026.

The new Salesforce cuts add to recently announced reductions at Google and Zillow. Google disclosed that it will permanently cut 52 Washington employees, including workers based in Seattle, Kirkland, Redmond and remote positions across the state. The affected positions include software engineers, engineering managers, product managers, recruiters, designers and other technical employees.

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Meanwhile, Seattle-based real estate company Zillow will permanently lay off 91 Washington employees as part of a larger restructuring affecting more than 500 workers worldwide. Many of the Washington cuts involve senior and highly compensated positions, including directors, principal engineers, senior software engineers, senior product managers and research employees.

Zillow has characterized the reductions as an effort to make the company more efficient and place “the right people in the right roles.” The company has denied that artificial intelligence was the primary cause of the layoffs, despite several AI and machine-learning positions appearing among those affected.

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The cuts reinforce a much larger trend. Microsoft has cut thousands of jobs statewide, while Amazon has eliminated thousands of positions tied to the Seattle area. Meta has also laid off hundreds of Washington employees while reducing major office commitments. Salesforce’s latest announcement now adds another major technology company to the continuing 2026 contraction.

Seattle-area tech layoffs are well into the tens of thousands in recent years, contributing to weakening demand for downtown office space and raising concerns about the region’s ability to retain high-paying jobs.

Starbucks, one of Seattle’s most recognizable corporate institutions, has repeatedly reduced its local footprint while expanding operations in Tennessee.

The coffee giant previously announced approximately 1,300 corporate layoffs, many connected to its Seattle headquarters operation. Company employment at its headquarters has fallen substantially from 2023 levels, while Starbucks has also closed Washington locations and shifted some positions elsewhere. At the same time, Starbucks is developing a roughly 250,000-square-foot corporate operation in Nashville that could eventually accommodate as many as 2,000 workers. Starbucks maintains that Seattle remains its global and North American support headquarters. But its layoffs, Washington reductions and growing Nashville presence have fueled questions about whether the company is gradually shifting its corporate center of gravity away from the city where it was founded.

Seattle’s central business district had an office vacancy rate of just 6.7 percent in 2019. Now in 2026, it has climbed to approximately 37 percent, the highest in the US with nearly one out of every three downtown office spaces vacant.

The Downtown Seattle Association has also reported that downtown lost approximately 30,000 jobs after Seattle adopted its JumpStart payroll tax in 2020. Between 2020 and 2025, downtown Seattle office property values reportedly fell 48 percent, while downtown Bellevue office values increased 7 percent.

Washington Democrats approved a new 9.9 percent income tax on annual income above $1 million, commonly referred to as the “millionaire’s tax,” marking a major departure for a state that long promoted itself as having no personal income tax. The tax targets some of the state’s most mobile executives, entrepreneurs, investors and professional athletes, people who can often change their residency or move business activity more easily than middle-income workers.

One of the highest-profile examples came from Starbucks founder and former CEO Howard Schultz, who reportedly announced his move to Florida on the same day lawmakers passed the tax.

Schultz is not the only business figure reconsidering Washington. Bulwark Capital Management Chief Investment Officer Zach Abraham told The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI that he was making plans to move his company out of the state, warning that investment firms controlling billions of dollars could not only relocate but stop investing in Washington startups. “Between the two of our firms was $4 billion of investable capital,” Abraham said. “We both agreed, not only are we leaving, we won’t make any investments in startups in this state either.”

“That’s just the tip of the iceberg,” he added.

A survey by the Association of Washington Business found that 44 percent of employers were considering moving their personal residence out of Washington, with 64 percent citing taxes as their primary concern.

The tax could also affect Seattle’s ability to attract professional athletes. Seattle Seahawks General Manager John Schneider warned that the income tax could erase one of Washington’s longtime recruiting advantages over teams in states such as California. Agents, he said, have already noticed that Seattle can no longer be marketed as a destination without a personal income tax.

Meanwhile, Seattle officials have considered still more taxes as the city confronts major budget pressures, including possible changes to the JumpStart payroll tax and other new revenue sources.