The state of Washington is located in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. 7.7 million people live in the state, and more than half of the residents live in the greater Seattle Metro area. Many around the world know the state for its natural beauty, tech field, and more. If you are going to Seattle or any other cities in the state, you need to connect to a VPN. We can tell you why it is essential in a moment. First, though, please have a look at our list of the best VPNs for Washington.
| Rank | VPN Service | Our Score | Server Locations | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | 9.8 | 160 |  |
| 2 |  | 9.4 | 87 | |
| 3 |  | 9.2 | 95 | |
| 4 |  | 9.0 | 110 | |
| 5 |  | 8.8 | 73 | |
Why Use a VPN While in Washington?
- Major sports teams – Because so many live in Seattle, the state has top-tier sports teams. Those include the Seattle Kraken (NHL), the Mariners (MLB), Seahawks (NFL), and the Sounders FC (MLS). While the state has some well-established teams, other teams like the Kraken are new. Unfortunately, fans of those teams will miss out on watching them online if they are in the city of Seattle. That is because of licensing TV rights, and that forces you to watch the games on TV. By connecting to a VPN, though, you can solve that issue. The key to enjoying the Kraken, Seahawks, Sounders, or Ms play online is to choose a VPN server that is “out-of-market”. With that status, you can use the sports-specific apps to watch your favorite teams no matter where you are.
- Nature trails – Of course, Washington has some great places to commune with nature. These include Lake 22 Trail, Snow Lake Trail, Rattlesnake Ledge Trail, and many others. They are all great places to get steps and elevation in for your fitness tracker. However, those devices also send large amounts of data to and from your phone. Whether it is music preferences, pulse rate, or even an EKG, all of that information is vulnerable unless you connect to a VPN. Since the trackers won’t run VPN apps, the key is connecting them to your phone. That way, you can protect both devices at the same time. It would be best if you didn’t have to worry about your privacy while on a hike.
- Conventions and festivals – Being what many see as the headquarters for technology, the state has many different festivals and conventions you can attend. From the Emerald City Comic-Con, PAX West, the Wooden Boat Festival, SlugFest, or others, you’ll find they are all well organized, and many have pop-up WiFi networks. Those are great to help you save data on your phone. However, you need the encryption layer from a VPN to protect your privacy. That way, you can focus on more important things in life, like who the better coder is.
There are more options and reasons to connect to a VPN, but we won’t list them all here. The question is, which one should you use?
What is the Best VPN for the State of Washington?
In the US, you do not have to worry too much about government censorship or monitoring. What you do have to be aware of are the cybercrooks we mentioned earlier. Because of that, we will focus more on security first. That way, we can tell you what the best VPN for the state of Washington is.
- Strong encryption to help protect your privacy while in Washington state
- Strict no-logs policy
- Ability to get around firewalls and sports blackouts while you are in the state
- Mobile apps and support for Amazon Firestick devices
- High-speed servers that perform well in Washington and the region
- High network stability to help you avoid dropped connections
And now, Let’s take a close look at some of the best VPNs for the state of Washington.
1. ExpressVPN – Best VPN with Washington IP Address
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Of course, you can find sports fans all over the world. Because different events interest different people, you can expect strong regional support where the event takes place. What you can not always expect, however, is to be able to watch it if you are outside the area. The idea is to connect to a VPN server from ExpressVPN. As long as you connect to one in the area of the sporting event, you will be able to watch the local broadcast. Just make sure you have an account for one of the streaming options for the event.
The ExpressVPN team goes the extra mile to provide a feature rich service. They are also strong privacy advocates. They offer a $5,000 Future of Privacy scholarship every year to help promote privacy among college students. Just a quick example of their dedication to spreading the message of privacy around the world. Just as important, they offer a premium network to allow for fast connections. This makes the service an excellent choice for downloading and streaming. Test their network for yourself with their 30-day money-back guarantee. Sign up for 12 months and get 3 months free with our ExpressVPN deal.
Want to learn more? Read our full ExpressVPN review.
2. NordVPN – good value with servers in Seattle
One of the more uncommon features that NordVPN offers is what they refer to as a double VPN. Many experts in the community refer to this type of connection as “multi-hop.” Even though it will slow your connection, it adds a second layer of encryption to your traffic. In other words, it will encrypt your data a second time using a different location. If you are concerned that a single layer of encryption is not enough and you want extra security, NordVPN has you covered.
If you are a fan of a top-level sports team and happen to be in the city where they play, you already know that the broadcasters will stop you from seeing them online. That is usually because of licensing rights and they call them blackouts. Of course, you can watch them on TV, but some do not have TVs anymore. The solution to the problem is to connect to a VPN by using NordVPN. In this case, you simply need to select a server that is not in the market area. Then, you can watch your favorite team play.
Want to learn more? Read our full NordVPN review.
3. Private Internet Access – US-based VPN with servers in Seattle
Established in 2010, Private Internet Access has an excellent reputation in the community. They support several different privacy foundations and organizations, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight for the Future, the Internet Society, OpenMedia, Open Rights Group, and many more open source projects. That shows their commitment to protecting the privacy of their members and why so many users love the service. In addition to reasonable pricing, Private Internet Access offers a trustworthy service that you can not go wrong with if you choose it.
Private Internet Access launched in 2010 and quickly took the world by storm. The company’s founder, Andrew Lee, is a privacy proponent and a big supporter of blockchain technologies. He helped keep PIA ahead of the curve. From open source software to bringing down the cost of VPN so college students and others could afford it. In addition to supporting organization like the EFF and WireGuard, PIA sponsors college hackathons. You can try the service risk-free for 30 days. It is quite a value at just $2.19 a month.
Want to learn more? Read our full Private Internet Access review.
4. CyberGhost – hosts 48 Washington VPN servers in Seattle
If you are concerned about privacy, CyberGhost has you covered. Of course, different VPN providers have their headquarters in various places. CyberGhost, however, has its main offices located in Bucharest, Romania. What that means is they are outside the EU Data Retention Directive and they consider it unconstitutional. Additionally, Romania is not part of any kind of surveillance alliance. That includes the 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes, and 14 Eyes agreements. If your provider has its main offices in one of them, the concern is that they may share your data with 13 other nations besides the one used.
We could debate all day over which VPN service provides the fastest speeds. Regardless of the methodology, there are a few elements that need to be in place for fast connections and CyberGhost has them covered. They support the right protocols including L2TP and IKEv2. Split tunneling will let you choose which apps pass through the VPN tunnel. CyberGhost has even allocated servers for streaming and torrenting which gives them a performance boost. You can try them out for yourself from just $2.29 a month.
Want to learn more? Read our full CyberGhost review.
5. IPVanish – dependable VPN with servers in Washington
One of the big things that streaming viewers still want to watch live is sports. If you are a sports fan, you know that some sports have an international following. Unfortunately, you may not be able to watch unless you connect to a VPN from IPvanish. Often, that is because of the licensing rights of some media companies. If you are a country that does not offer coverage, you would generally miss out. Instead, just connect to a server in the home country, log in with your credentials to the streaming service, and enjoy.
When IPVanish joined J2 Global in 2019 it brought new team members and some big name sister companies. This led to a partnership with SugarSync that gives IPVanish customers 250 GB of encrypted storage. Having a combination of VPN access and secure storage is definitely a plus. IPVanish has a strict no-log policy meaning that they do not log your connections or activities on the network. The addition of 24/7 tech customer and a 30-day money-back guarantee make IPVanish one of our favorite VPNs.
Want to learn more? Read our full IPVanish review.
