Seattle Culture
A City of Nerds? How About a City of Cool?
Why Seattle is one of the ‘coolest’ cities to visit
By Rob Smith April 9, 2025
So, Seattle’s the nerd capital of America, huh? I’m not buying it.
OK, maybe Washington leads the nation in searches for nerdy things such as cosplay, fan fiction and Rubik’s cubes. Those are geeky things, indeed.
But now this study from Betway reveals that Seattle is the fifth-coolest city to visit in America.
Seattle ranks No. 5, blending a youthful vibe (the median age is only 35) with a robust music scene. The city was cited for its street art murals, high number of record stores and even its abundance of tattoo parlors, which the study says fosters “a strong arts and self-expression culture.”
Seattle also has an outsized number of vegan and vegetarian-themed restaurants.
The only cities ranking ahead of Seattle are Boston (No. 1), Las Vegas, Portland and San Francisco.
While those metrics may not reflect the jock-centered, overly confident cliques considered popular in high school, I can accept that it’s a more mature, adult definition of cool.
We’ll have to find some way to sort this out. As the character Richard (played by David Spade) said in Tommy Boy: “My fellow nerds and I will retire to the nerdery with our calculators.”
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