Despite national layoffs, Meta ramps up Bellevue hiring by about 1,800 employees

Meta has expanded its workforce in Bellevue by nearly 50% in 2024, and now employs roughly 3.28% of Bellevue’s workforce.

Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, employed 5,400 Bellevue employees last year, up from 3,600 employees at the end of 2023, according to The Puget Sound Business Journal (PSBJ).

Meta grows in Bellevue

Meta is now the third-largest employer in Bellevue with 5,400 employees, behind only Amazon (14,300 employees) and T-Mobile (7,800 employees).

Bellevue employees with Meta have grown over the years, while its overall Seattle-area workforce has been stagnant. Meta employs roughly 74,000 people nationwide, and had 8,000 local employees in 2023 and 2024, according to PSBJ.

An announced layoff of 5% of Meta’s total workforce was made in January, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg described the layoffs as performance-based cuts, possibly to be backfilled later this year.

As other high-profile tech companies have announced massive layoffs in the region, Meta continued to add to its workforce.

The growth of Meta in Bellevue may be attributed to lower taxes, a business-friendly government, and talent.

In 2015, the city had a reported 144,472 employees citywide, which jumped to 164,679 employees by 2024, PSBJ reported.

Meta’s local office space

Meta leased a 36-acre building in Bellevue’s Spring District, a 1.8 million square foot location, of which the company only occupies about 50% of the space.

Additionally, Meta has an office and lab space in Redmond at 9825 Willows Road NE, which holds 1,434 employees as of 2021.

Seattle has a 190,000 square foot office building in South Lake Union that was put up for sublease in 2023, and also moved out of an office building in Eastlake, moving its employees to Westlake.

Follow Jason Sutich on X. Send news tips here.