You can’t just include Seattle (Fremont), you also have to consider Kirkland, which is much bigger than Fremont. They are building (or have built?) a new larger office in South Lake Union (5 buildings), I’m not sure if they will be consolidating Fremont but I’m pretty sure they aren’t going to consolidate Kirkland.

Altogether Google employs 4500 in the Seattle area, and that number will increase substantially when south lake union comes online. And of course, Google will just be a small presence compared to the other craziness in South Lake Union (Amazon being the biggest, but also Apple and Facebook having large presences).

Now, 4500 in Seattle, 4000 in Zurich, 3,500 in London, 7,000 in NYC...that easily approaches the 23,000 in Mountain View.