Pierce County, Washington

Pierce County is a county in Washington, United States, about 30 miles south of Seattle. It had a population of 921,130 at the 2020 census, an estimated 946,288 in 2024, and covers 1,805.5 square miles (4,676 km2) centred near 47°03′N 122°09′W.

Tacoma is the county seat and by far its largest city; its postal code is 98402. The county holds 18 cities, 5 incorporated towns and dozens of unincorporated communities across Puget Sound’s southern basin and the Cascade foothills, and it runs on Pacific Time. Its FIPS code is 53053.

Towns & Villages in Pierce County

Pierce County has 23 incorporated places — 18 cities and 5 towns — plus more than a hundred named unincorporated communities on record, from Puget Sound fishing villages to old coal and timber camps in the Cascade foothills. CDP stands for census designated place, a populated area the Census Bureau tracks without a city government; Unincorp. covers smaller communities with no formal boundary or population count of their own.

Three places on this list are not wholly Pierce County residents. Auburn and Pacific are both primarily King County cities with a smaller share of their land, and a small share of their population, inside Pierce — their table figures are citywide totals. Milton straddles the same line but keeps most of its population, 8,697 people, on the Pierce side. A fourth city, Enumclaw, is sometimes listed as a Pierce County place because it owns a strip of park land inside the county, but Enumclaw itself sits entirely in King County and has no Pierce County residents; it is not included above.

Beyond the incorporated places, ten unincorporated communities carry their own Census designation and a real 2020 population count:

South Hill, on Tacoma’s southeastern edge, is more populous than any incorporated city in the county except Tacoma itself, yet has never voted to incorporate. Dozens more named places appear in older county records and Census gazetteers with no current population figure — among them Browns Point, Dash Point, Fox Island, Wollochet, Home, Longbranch, McKenna, Kapowsin and Ashford, the last of these the main gateway community for Mount Rainier National Park’s Nisqually entrance. Most are informal crossroads, old rail sidings, or defunct company and coal towns rather than places with their own government or postal designation.

ZIP Codes

• 98402, 98403–98499 (multiple) — Tacoma, the county’s largest city, uses more than two dozen ZIP codes across its neighborhoods
• 98499 — Lakewood
• 98371 — Puyallup (also serves Frederickson)
• 98466, 98467 — University Place (98466 shared with Fircrest)
• 98391 — Bonney Lake
• 98372 — Edgewood
• 98332 — Gig Harbor
• 98424 — Fife
• 98327 — DuPont
• 98390 — Sumner (also serves Summit)
• 98360 — Orting
• 98354 — Milton
• 98388 — Steilacoom
• 98321 — Buckley
• 98328 — Eatonville
• 98407 — Ruston (shared with north Tacoma)
• 98580 — Roy
• 98323 — Carbonado
• 98396 — Wilkeson
• 98385 — South Prairie
• 98374, 98375 — South Hill and Puyallup’s southern suburbs
• 98444 — Parkland and Midland
• 98387 — Spanaway and Elk Plain
• 98338 — Graham
• 98422 — Key Center, on the Key Peninsula
• 98303 — Anderson Island, reached only by ferry

Small unincorporated places such as Home, Longbranch, McKenna and Kapowsin have no ZIP of their own; mail there is delivered under the nearest post office’s code.

Geography

Pierce County spans the southern reach of Puget Sound, the low prairie country around Tacoma, and the western slopes of the Cascade Range, rising to Mount Rainier’s 14,410-foot summit — the highest point in the Cascades and the dominant landmark of the entire South Sound. Mount Rainier National Park sits mostly within the county’s southeastern corner, shared with Lewis County. Of the county’s 1,805.5 square miles, 1,668.0 are land and 137.5 are water, about 7.6 percent, reflecting its long Puget Sound shoreline and Commencement Bay, Tacoma’s working harbor. The Puyallup, Nisqually and Carbon rivers, all fed by glaciers on Rainier, cross the county on their way to the Sound; American Lake, near Joint Base Lewis-McChord, is the county’s largest natural lake.

King County borders Pierce to the north, Kitsap County lies across Puget Sound to the northwest, Mason County to the west, Thurston County and Lewis County to the south, and Yakima County and Kittitas County lie across the Cascade crest to the east. King County, Kitsap County, Mason County, Thurston County, Lewis County, Yakima County and Kittitas County all border Pierce directly.

Demographics

Pierce County had a population of 921,130 at the 2020 census, the second-most populous county in Washington behind King County, and estimates put it near 946,288 residents in 2024. Tacoma and Lakewood are the two largest incorporated cities, though unincorporated South Hill, Parkland and Spanaway together hold well over 130,000 more residents outside any city government. Median household income runs $99,564, close to the Washington statewide figure of $94,605. Population density works out to roughly 552 people per square mile of land, concentrated heavily in the Tacoma-Lakewood-Puyallup urban core along the Sound, with the eastern third of the county, given over to Mount Rainier’s forests and foothills, sparsely settled.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 63,525 people, followed by retail trade at 51,961 and construction at 39,121. Joint Base Lewis-McChord, straddling the Pierce-Thurston line near Lakewood, is the county’s largest single employer, supporting more than 45,000 active-duty military and civilian jobs and a resident population near 210,000 once families and retirees are counted. Tacoma’s port, the Port of Tacoma on Commencement Bay, is one of the busiest container ports on the West Coast and anchors a large share of the county’s logistics and manufacturing jobs; MultiCare Health System, headquartered in Tacoma, is a major regional hospital employer. Frederickson, southeast of Tacoma, hosts a Boeing composite-wing manufacturing plant, one of the county’s largest industrial sites. Pierce County also grows around half of the rhubarb produced in the United States, mostly on Sumner and Puyallup valley farms. The county’s biggest annual event is the Washington State Fair each September, held on the fairgrounds in Puyallup and drawing well over a million visitors.

History

The Oregon Territorial Legislature created Pierce County on 22 December 1852, naming it for Franklin Pierce, then the president-elect of the United States. It originally covered a far larger area than today before neighboring counties were split from it. Tacoma was incorporated on 12 November 1875, after its selection in 1873 as the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad, which set the city on course to become the county’s dominant port and rail hub.

In December 1854, territorial governor Isaac Stevens signed the Treaty of Medicine Creek with Nisqually, Puyallup and other South Sound tribes near present-day DuPont, ceding most of what is now Pierce County to the United States in exchange for small reservations and treaty fishing rights. Nisqually leader Leschi rejected the terms and led resistance during the 1855-56 Puget Sound War; he was tried and hanged in 1858, and the Washington State Legislature formally exonerated him in 2004, more than 140 years later.

Getting There

Interstate 5 runs the length of the county through Tacoma and Lakewood; State Route 16 connects Tacoma to Gig Harbor and the Kitsap Peninsula, and State Route 167 links Puyallup and Sumner north toward Auburn.

• Seattle — about 30 miles north
• Olympia — about 25 miles south
• Mount Rainier (Paradise) — about 60 miles southeast
• Bremerton — about 20 miles northwest across the Sound

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, about 25 miles north of Tacoma, is the nearest major commercial airport. Amtrak’s Cascades and Coast Starlight trains stop at Tacoma Dome Station, which also serves Sounder commuter rail to Seattle.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Pierce County located?
It sits on the southern reach of Puget Sound in western Washington, about 30 miles south of Seattle, stretching east to Mount Rainier.

What is the population of Pierce County?
921,130 at the 2020 census, with a 2024 estimate near 946,288.

How big is Pierce County?
1,805.5 square miles (4,676 km2), of which 1,668.0 square miles are land.

What is the county seat of Pierce County?
Tacoma is the county seat and by far the county’s largest city.

How many towns and cities are in Pierce County?
Twenty-three incorporated places — 18 cities and 5 towns — plus large unincorporated communities such as South Hill, Parkland and Spanaway with no city government of their own.

What ZIP codes does Pierce County use?
Tacoma alone uses more than two dozen ZIP codes; other main codes include 98371 for Puyallup, 98499 for Lakewood and 98332 for Gig Harbor.

What is Pierce County known for?
Mount Rainier National Park, the Port of Tacoma, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and producing roughly half the rhubarb grown in the United States.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Washington.