Geography

With a land area of 83.9 square miles (217.3 km²),^[57] Seattle is the northernmost city with at least 500,000 people in the United States, farther north than Canadian cities such as Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, at about the same latitude as Salzburg, Austria.
The topography of Seattle is hilly. The city lies on several hills, including Capitol Hill, First Hill, West Seattle, Beacon Hill, Magnolia, Denny Hill, and Queen Anne. The Kitsap and the Olympic peninsulas along with the Olympic mountains lie to the west of Puget Sound, while the Cascade Range and Lake Sammamish lie to the east of Lake Washington. The city has over 5,540 acres (2,242 ha) of parkland.

Cityscape

Further information: List of tallest buildings in Seattle

Seattle Skyline view from Queen Anne Hill. The Space Needle is visible on the left, the mountain in the background is Mount Rainier, on the right is Elliott Bay and the Port of Seattle on Puget Sound.

Panorama of Seattle as seen from the Space Needle: a nearly 360-degree view that includes (from left) Puget Sound, Magnolia, Queen Anne Hill, Lake Union, Capitol Hill, downtown Seattle, Elliott Bay, and West Seattle.

Seattle's waterfront from the Bainbridge Island ferry as it approaches the Seattle ferry terminal at Colman Dock

Topography

See also: Bodies of water of Seattle, List of parks in Seattle, List of earthquakes in Washington (state), and Regrading in Seattle

Treemap comparing the volume of earth moved by the megaprojects that transformed the landscape in and around Seattle. The Denny and other regrades moved a combined total of more than 35 million cubic yards of earth. Creating Harbor Island involved 7 million cubic yards, while the Ballard Locks project moved 1.6 million, twice that of the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel. Straightening the Duwamish River and filling its tideflats was the largest single project, at nearly 22 million cubic yards.

Seattle is located between the saltwater Puget Sound (an arm of the Pacific Ocean) to the west and Lake Washington to the east. The city's chief harbor, Elliott Bay, is part of Puget Sound, which makes the city an oceanic port. To the west, beyond Puget Sound, are the Kitsap Peninsula and Olympic Mountains on the Olympic Peninsula; to the east, beyond Lake Washington and the Eastside suburbs, are Lake Sammamish and the Cascade Range. Lake Washington's waters flow to Puget Sound through the Lake Washington Ship Canal (consisting of two man-made canals, Lake Union, and the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks at Salmon Bay, ending in Shilshole Bay on Puget Sound).

Downtown Seattle is bounded by Elliott Bay (lower left), Broadway (from upper left to lower right), South Dearborn Street (lower right), and Denny Way (upper left, obscured by clouds).

The sea, rivers, forests, lakes, and fields surrounding Seattle were once rich enough to support one of the world's few sedentary hunter-gatherer societies. The surrounding area lends itself well to sailing, skiing, bicycling, camping, and hiking year-round.^[58][59]
The city itself is hilly, though not uniformly so.^[60] Like Rome, the city is said to lie on seven hills;^[61] the lists vary but typically include Capitol Hill, First Hill, West Seattle, Beacon Hill, Queen Anne, Magnolia, and the former Denny Hill. The Wallingford, Mount Baker, and Crown Hill neighborhoods are technically located on hills as well. Many of the hilliest areas are near the city center, with Capitol Hill, First Hill, and Beacon Hill collectively constituting something of a ridge along an isthmus between Elliott Bay and Lake Washington.^[62] The break in the ridge between First Hill and Beacon Hill is man-made, the result of two of the many regrading projects that reshaped the topography of the city center.^[63] The topography of the city center was also changed by the construction of a seawall and the artificial Harbor Island (completed 1909) at the mouth of the city's industrial Duwamish Waterway, the terminus of the Green River. The highest point within city limits is at High Point in West Seattle, which is roughly located near 35th Ave SW and SW Myrtle St. Other notable hills include Crown Hill, View Ridge/Wedgwood/Bryant, Maple Leaf, Phinney Ridge, Mt. Baker Ridge, and Highlands/Carkeek/Bitterlake.

Boats gather on Lake Union in preparation for the July 4 fireworks show.

North of the city center, Lake Washington Ship Canal connects Puget Sound to Lake Washington. It incorporates four natural bodies of water: Lake Union, Salmon Bay, Portage Bay, and Union Bay.
Due to its location in the Pacific Ring of Fire, Seattle is in a major earthquake zone. On February 28, 2001, the magnitude 6.8 Nisqually earthquake did significant architectural damage, especially in the Pioneer Square area (built on reclaimed land, as are the Industrial District and part of the city center), but caused only one fatality.^[64] Other strong quakes occurred on January 26, 1700 (estimated at 9 magnitude), December 14, 1872 (7.3 or 7.4),^[65] April 13, 1949 (7.1),^[66] and April 29, 1965 (6.5).^[67] The 1965 quake caused three deaths in Seattle directly and one more by heart failure.^[67] Although the Seattle Fault passes just south of the city center, neither it^[68] nor the Cascadia subduction zone has caused an earthquake since the city's founding. The Cascadia subduction zone poses the threat of an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 or greater, capable of seriously damaging the city and collapsing many buildings, especially in zones built on fill.^[69]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 142.5 square miles (369 km²),^[70] 83.9 square miles (217 km²) of which is land and 58.7 square miles (152 km²), water (41.16% of the total area).