The most populated city in the Pacific Northwest region of North America and the U.S. state of Washington is Seattle. With 780,995 residents as of 2024, it ranks as the 18th most populated city in the US. However, with more than 4.15 million inhabitants, the Seattle metropolitan region ranks as the 15th most populated metropolitan area in the US. King County, Washington's most populated the county, has its county seat in the city. Seattle was one of the fastest-growing big cities in the nation, with a growth rate of 21.1% between 2010 and 2020. Seattle is located on an isthmus that separates Lake Washington from Puget Sound, a Pacific Ocean inlet. Situated roughly 100 miles (160 km) south of the Canadian border, it is the northernmost major city in the United States. As of 2021, the Port of Seattle, which serves as a gateway for trade with East Asia, ranked fourth in North America for container handling. Before the first permanent European settlers arrived, Native Americans (including the Duwamish, who had at least 17 communities surrounding Elliot Bay) had lived in the Seattle area for at least 4,000 years.14 On November 13, 1851, Arthur A. Denny and his party of travelers—later dubbed the Denny Party—arrived at Alki Point on the schooner Exact from Illinois via Portland, Oregon.Named ""Seattle"" for Chief Seattle, a notable 19th-century chief of the nearby Duwamish and Suquamish tribes, the settlement was relocated to Elliott Bay's eastern side in 1852.

In British Columbia, Canada's Squamish-Lillooet Regional District sits the resort town of Whistler.About 125 kilometers (78 miles) north of Vancouver and 36 kilometers (22 miles) south of Pemberton, it is situated in the southern Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains. In addition to a larger but fluctuating number of seasonal workers, it has a permanent population of about 13,982 (2021). Alpine skiing, snowboarding, and summer mountain biking at Whistler Blackcomb are the main draws for the more than two million visitors to Whistler each year. Since the mid-1990s, prominent ski magazines have ranked Whistler as one of the best places to visit in North America, and its pedestrian village has won multiple design accolades. The majority of the alpine, Nordic, luge, skeleton, and bobsled competitions at the 2010 Winter Olympics were held in Whistler. Approximately 58 kilometers (36 miles) north of Squamish and 125 kilometers (76 miles) from Vancouver, Whistler is situated on British Columbia Highway 99, popularly referred to as the ""Sea to Sky Highway."" Through Pemberton-Mount Currie to Lillooet and connections to the Trans-Canada and Cariboo Highways beyond, the roadway links Whistler to the interior of British Columbia. Only the Rocky Mountaineer, which uses Canadian National Railway tracks from North Vancouver via Whistler and Prince George, offers passenger rail service between Vancouver and Jasper at the Whistler railway station. In the Southside neighborhood, between Nita and Alpha Lakes, lies the station for tour travelers leaving Whistler. The Whistler and Valley Express offers local bus transportation service, including service to Pemberton. The Whistler Shuttle and YVR Skylynx offer a shuttle bus service from the Vancouver Airport and Downtown Vancouver.Situated 140 kilometers (87 miles) to the south, Vancouver International Airport serves as the primary international airport for both residents and visitors to Whistler. Whistler's public schools are run by the School District 48 Sea to Sky. Myrtle Phillip Elementary and Spring Creek Elementary are the two elementary schools. Whistler Secondary School is the only high school in the neighborhood. La Passerelle is the only Francophone primary school run by the Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique in that city. In the summer, Whistler is renowned for its mountain biking and hiking, and in the winter, for its skiing and snowboarding. Cross-country skiing, skate skiing, ice skating, snowshoeing, backcountry skiing, telemark skiing, and tobogganing are some of the other winter sports that people in Whistler love. Golfing, fishing, trail jogging, mountain biking, outdoor yoga, and hiking are among the popular summertime activities in Whistler. The four run difficulties for skiing, which is undoubtedly Whistler's major draw, are green (circle), blue (square), black (diamond), and double black (diamond). The difficulty of each run remains constant throughout the year. ""Expert only"" markers at the bottom of several chairlifts indicate that the majority of the runs available from that chair are black diamonds or double black diamonds, and there are numerous signs around the mountain that indicate the severity of the runs.