Chinatown-International District Zoning

The Chinatown-International District is zoned International District Mixed (IDM) and International District Residential (IDR) — downtown designations meant to keep ground-floor shops, community spaces, and housing layered together. Its three historic cores — Chinatown, Japantown (Nihonmachi), and Little Saigon — all sit within the International Special Review District, a preservation overlay established in 1973 that reviews new development to protect the neighborhood’s scale and character.

The International District/Chinatown Link Station (the 1 and 2 Lines) and the First Hill Streetcar both stop at 5th Ave S and S Jackson St, with King Street Station and a dense web of bus routes alongside. The neighborhood remains at the center of debate over how nearby transit and downtown growth should — or shouldn’t — reshape one of Seattle’s most historically significant communities.

See It on the Map

Open the interactive map centered on Chinatown-International Districtto see every parcel's zoning, click for allowed uses and nearby permits, and toggle transit and bike layers. New to zone codes? Start with the guide to Seattle zoning.