Washington Franchise Opportunities

A mountainous and breathtaking state in the Pacific Northwest, Washington is green, clean and almost tax-free. It is a major agricultural state, but also has a number of other industries. If you want a low-tax place to enjoy the beauty of nature, try your hand at franchising in Washington!

City Selection

About 60 percent of all Washingtonians live in the greater Seattle area, though there are plenty of other places to settle down. Check out these for size:

• Seattle: The largest city in the state and the Pacific Northwest, Seattle has great coffee (Starbucks started here), a strong performing arts scene, and is also a tech hub, with Amazon.com headquartered here.
• Spokane: Located on the eastern side of the state, Spokane has some gorgeous architecture, fun minor league sports teams and many colleges.
• Yakima: The center of a large agricultural area, Yakima produces three-quarters of the hops grown in the country, as well as many fruits and vegetables.

Economic Drivers

Some of the significant industries in Washington include technology, aircraft manufacturing, lumber production, telecommunications, electronics, mining and real estate.

Washington is a major agricultural state, growing vast amounts of apples, raspberries, cherries, hops, peas and pears. The state also has a huge wine industry, producing more wine than any other state, except for California.

Let’s Talk Taxes

Washington is one of only four states lacking a corporate income tax, as well as a personal income tax. There is a business and occupation tax that taxes the gross receipts of a business, but the levels of taxation are quite low, ranging primarily from 0.47 to 1.8 percent.

Business by the Numbers

• There are 546,800 small businesses in Washington, which account for 98.1 percent of all employers in the state.
• Of those, 14,800 are franchises, which employ 164,700 people.
• Washington has a GDP of $412.9 billion, which is slightly more than that of Austria.