I came across this link to some basic info about Bellingham and thought you might find some “by-the-numbers” and simple mathematical analysis interesting. The source is DATAUSA, and the latest information is from 2023. 

They list our population as 92,367. Even a more detailed breakdown didn't provide a truly accurate number for children, but I got the stat from somewhere else. About 11,000 of that 92,000 are children, which leaves us with 81,367 adults. Of those adults, about 13,000 are senior citizens, so we have about 68,367 working age adults.

However, only about 50,000 of those adults work, and statisticians count any work as work, which skews the numbers in the stats. Living on your parents couch and have a part time job cleaning bathrooms at Whole Foods? Well, you're considered gainfully employed. And yet, almost 19% of our population lives below the poverty line.

Please note, that the poverty line is a ridiculous $31,200 for a four-person household, and $15,000 for an individual. Yet the average rent in Bellingham is $2,200/mo. So even a person working full-time and earning minimum wage probably can't afford rent since they're only earning $38,812 per year before taxes. Of course, most employers cut the hours of this level of employee to avoid paying for benefits, etc. Now consider that with rent costing $26,400 and the "full-time" employee earning about $30K per year after taxes, they are left with $3,600 per year for literally everything else in their lives. 

So really, even earning $50K a year, which is Bellingham’s average income, still leaves you poor, unless you were lucky enough to move here and buy your home before the average cost of housing went up to about $600K per home. Remember to include an annual property tax of $18,000 on average. So, actually, most of our population is poor. In fact, almost 50% of Bellingham’s residents rent and will never be able to afford to buy a home. 

Bellingham Public Schools graduate only about 85% of their students, and even Superintendent Greg Baker admits that most graduates are not ready for college when they leave. Yet our school board never holds him accountable, even as more and more teachers and parents admit they think he's doing an awful job. Still, apparently most Bellinghammers just won't go the extra mile even when it comes to the long term success of their kids.

And speaking of report cards, all of Washington state received a solid “C” on its overall infrastructure report card, which takes all infrastructure into account. Our average for bridges was a C+, but because bridges are usually the most vulnerable part of a road system, it is likely many of our bridges are below that rating. I wonder where those bridges are that bring the average down.

Still, what do we expect from a town whose laws were largely set up by old southern Civil War generals?  The historical page on this one is odd too. They claim Pickett was a successful general in the Civil War. But first, he was not that successful, as any Civil War buff can tell you; and second, can anyone fighting to preserve slavery be considered a success?

I could go on, but the picture is pretty clear: Bellingham is way overpriced. There is no value linked to the expense here except for enjoying the great outdoors and mountain biking, activities that are good in other places too. So, perhaps it's time for Bellinghammers to start asking their government what the fuck is going on. And hold them accountable. The city had a $23 million dollar surplus when Mayor Lund took office, but now says they're going bankrupt. One last stat and question: Why is Bellingham almost double the nationwide average for property crime and vandalism?

I have no larger point here. I'm just trying to explain to myself why Bellingham never gets better except for the top 10%. I think the reason is evident in some of these numbers. The people have lots of justification to rise up and demand a more fair government, they just never do. But as Gil Lund said when referring to infrastructure and the attitude in general, "I don't know if it's special interest here, or no interest."