![]() ![]() In 2021, the preliminary civilian labor force averaged 128,106, slightly below the 2020 level of 128,417. The arrival of COVID-19 has put this growth in the rear-view mirror with the view out the front windshield less than optimal.Ĭurrent labor force and unemployment statistics are available on the Labor area summaries page. Between 20, nonfarm job growth was 2.1 percent, just above the statewide average of 2.0 percent. The 2021 data showed a slight bounce back from 2020 as nonfarm payrolls gained and unemployment rates dropped. The county registered climbing unemployment rates and nonfarm payrolls suffered as the pandemic took hold. While the economic outlook for Kitsap County appeared to be steadily improving, the economic engine came to a sudden halt in 2020. Kitsap County, like the state, nation and the world economy, faced unprecedented hardships as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the economy hard beginning in March 2020. The balance of economic activity in the county includes a thriving gaming industry with large casinos located on tribal properties, a major medical center, and a regional retail hub attracting shoppers from Kitsap County as well as the surrounding rural counties: Clallam, Jefferson and Mason. This infrastructure supports the economy based on public sector Department of Defense jobs, as well as over 15,000 uniform service personnel based there. Washington state’s 520 and I-90 bridges across Lake Washington are the first and second-longest floating bridges in the world, respectively. The bridge is the third-longest floating bridge in the world, and the longest crossing salt water. The Hood Canal, bordering the west side of the Kitsap Peninsula, is traversed by the Hood Canal floating bridge linking Kitsap and Jefferson counties. More than half of all ridership on Washington state ferries originates or ends in Kitsap County, with routes showing a systemwide 23.5 percent increase in passenger trips in 2021 following the COVID-19 disruption. In the north part of the county, the ferries serving the Edmonds and Kingston run hosted over 3.51 million passenger trips during the year. In 2021, more than 3.72 million passenger trips were taken on the Seattle-Bainbridge ferry run, and more than 1.05 million trips were taken on the Seattle-Bremerton route. Navy centers at Bremerton, Keyport and Bangor, continues to dominate the economy of the county as demonstrated by an annual military and civilian payroll in excess of $2.1 billion.īecause of Kitsap County’s geographic configuration, the Washington state ferry system is an important infrastructure link for Kitsap residents. Today’s spending by the Department of Defense, including U.S. During other periods of conflict, military installations dotted the coastline of the county, including Fort Ward on Bainbridge Island. Navy established the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in 1891, which soon became a magnet for other businesses and workers. Port Orchard was selected in the 1880s as a ship repair facility nearer to the open Pacific Ocean. In the mid to late 19th century, the Kitsap Peninsula had the distinction of having the greatest per capita income on Puget Sound. Shipyards sprang up near the mill towns where lumber was shipped mainly to California, but also across the Pacific to Asia. The 1850 gold rush in California triggered non-native settlement in the area as the demand for lumber spurred migration to the region’s great stands of timber. Contact with Europeans and the introduction of diseases such as smallpox in the 1780s decimated their numbers. ![]() ![]() They lived in permanent settlements, fishing, hunting and gathering. ![]() Native Americans were the first residents in the area. It ranks third, however, in the state in terms of its population density, with 636 people per square mile. Kitsap County is one of the smallest counties in the state in terms of land area at about 395 square miles. Voters later changed the name to honor Kitsap, the Suquamish war chief. The county, initially named Slaughter County for a U.S. Water transportation is dominant in the culture and economy of the county. It is located between Hood Canal and Admiralty Strait. Kitsap County, originally part of King and Jefferson counties, is the northern end of the Kitsap peninsula, jutting into the Puget Sound positioned between the Olympic Peninsula to the west and King County to the east. ![]()
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