Population Health

October 3, 2024

Applied Research Fellowship project explores local King County business landscape

The 2024 fellows pose for a picture after their final presentationThe 2024 University of Washington Population Health Initiative Applied Research Fellowship program recently concluded their research assessing trends in the local business landscape in King County through the use of novel data sources. Their findings offer useful insights for King County policymakers regarding future resource allocations. In its fifth year, the program is a collaboration with the UW’s Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology and King County.

This year’s five student fellows were a mix of graduate and undergraduate students:

  • Anoushka Manik, Public Health – Global Health major
  • Jenny Speelmon, Informatics & Psychology major
  • Sydney Pope, MS student, Community Health and Social Justice
  • Carmen Choong, PhD student, Sociology
  • Priyanka Shrestha, PhD student, Global Health

The fellows began their work with what they knew about migration in King County: the expansion of high-paying jobs in the tech sector, pressure on existing housing supply and zoning laws have resulted in not only the displacement of low-income households, but in marked commercial gentrification as well. Commercial gentrification is the process by which local businesses are replaced by higher-value establishments or residential developments through direct, indirect or cultural displacement.

The cohort’s research questions were informed by Data Axle, a data delivery platform, and by the Census Bureau’s County Business Patterns. The questions addressed were on the accuracy of Data Axle as compared to the Census Bureau, the top 10 employers in King County and its neighborhoods and the changes over time in the geographic spread of essential community businesses.

To gain a more complete picture of the local business ecosystem in King County, the fellows looked at data at both the county level and area level. On the county level, the team analyzed and compared data on total number of businesses, employees by business size and business openings and closures to get a more accurate representation of what companies are employing people. The area-level analysis went into more depth on industry-specific results, paying particular attention to pharmacies, grocery stores, child care and third places.

Insights from the 10-week program included acknowledging that Data Axle overrepresented the number of small businesses but was fairly accurate in regard to larger businesses when compared to Census Bureau’s County Business Patterns’ data, large companies’ employee sizes are undercounted due to subsidiaries contained in data or due to incorrect reporting, third spaces are all types are closing throughout King County and essential services are not keeping up with population growth.

Looking ahead, the cohort recommended improved data cleaning, assessment of Data Axle quality at the sub-county level using Census Bureau’s Zip Code Business Patterns, and calculation of age and life expectancy of businesses by industry, space and time. Through this work, the 2024 cohort was able to deepen King County’s, policy makers’ and community members’ understanding of the business landscape in specific geographic areas and industries more likely to be exposed to economic risk and displacement in King County.

The Applied Research Fellowship program was launched in 2019 to equip students with data analysis, critical thinking and team science skills to enable them to effectively tackle complex population health challenges and become future leaders in the field. This year’s project was developed in partnership with the King County Demographer and Public Health – Seattle & King County’s Assessment, Policy Development and Evaluation Unit.

The application period for the summer 2025 Applied Research Fellowship program will open in winter quarter 2025. Learn more about this fellowship program by visiting its web page.