{"id":8632,"date":"2023-10-03T16:18:04","date_gmt":"2023-10-03T16:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/?p=8632"},"modified":"2026-08-07T10:25:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T10:25:04","slug":"king-county-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/king-county-washington\/","title":{"rendered":"King County, Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"

King County is a county in Washington, United States, anchored by Seattle on Puget Sound about
\n25 miles north of Tacoma. It had a population of 2,269,675 at the 2020 census, an estimated
\n2,344,939 by 2024, and covers 2,307 square miles (5,980 km2) centred near 47\u00b028\u2032N 121\u00b050\u2032W.<\/p>\n

Seattle is the county seat and by far the largest city; its postal code is 98104. The county
\nholds 35 incorporated cities and 4 incorporated towns, plus a large unincorporated area with
\nhundreds of named neighborhoods and rural communities, and it runs on Pacific Time. Its FIPS code
\nis 53033.<\/p>\n

Towns & Villages in King County<\/h2>\n

King County has 39 incorporated cities and towns on record, ranging from Seattle’s
\n737,015 residents to Skykomish’s 161, listed largest first below. “City ·
\nseat” marks Seattle; Beaux Arts Village, Hunts Point, Skykomish and Yarrow Point are
\nincorporated as towns rather than cities under Washington law, a smaller legal category with the
\nsame self-government powers.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Place<\/th>\nType<\/th>\nPop.<\/th>\nZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Seattle<\/td>\nCity · seat<\/td>\n737,015<\/td>\n98104<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bellevue<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n151,854<\/td>\n98004<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kent<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n136,588<\/td>\n98032<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Renton<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n106,785<\/td>\n98057<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Federal Way<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n101,030<\/td>\n98003<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kirkland<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n92,175<\/td>\n98033<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Auburn<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n87,256<\/td>\n98001<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Redmond<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n73,256<\/td>\n98052<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sammamish<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n67,455<\/td>\n98074<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Shoreline<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n58,608<\/td>\n98133<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Burien<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n52,066<\/td>\n98148<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bothell<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n48,161<\/td>\n98011<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Issaquah<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n40,051<\/td>\n98027<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Des Moines<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n32,888<\/td>\n98198<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
SeaTac<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n31,454<\/td>\n98188<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Maple Valley<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n28,013<\/td>\n98038<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mercer Island<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n25,748<\/td>\n98040<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kenmore<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n23,914<\/td>\n98028<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tukwila<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n21,798<\/td>\n98168<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Covington<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n20,777<\/td>\n98042<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Snoqualmie<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n14,121<\/td>\n98065<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lake Forest Park<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n13,630<\/td>\n98155<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Woodinville<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n13,069<\/td>\n98072<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Newcastle<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n13,017<\/td>\n98056<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Enumclaw<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n12,543<\/td>\n98022<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Milton<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n8,697<\/td>\n98354<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Duvall<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n8,034<\/td>\n98019<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
North Bend<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n7,461<\/td>\n98045<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pacific<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n7,235<\/td>\n98047<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Normandy Park<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n6,771<\/td>\n98166<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Black Diamond<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n4,697<\/td>\n98010<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Algona<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n3,290<\/td>\n98001<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Clyde Hill<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n3,126<\/td>\n98004<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Medina<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n2,915<\/td>\n98039<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Carnation<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n2,158<\/td>\n98014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Yarrow Point<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n1,134<\/td>\n98004<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hunts Point<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n457<\/td>\n98004<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Beaux Arts Village<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n317<\/td>\n98004<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Skykomish<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n161<\/td>\n98288<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Four places straddle King County’s border with a neighbor. Bothell’s 48,161 is
\ncitywide — most of the city sits in King County, but its northern edge extends into
\nSnohomish County. Auburn reaches south into Pierce County the same way. Pacific spans the
\nKing–Pierce line along the Green River, and Milton runs the opposite direction: it is
\nchiefly a Pierce County city, with only a small eastern slice of its 8,697 residents inside King
\nCounty.<\/p>\n

Beyond the incorporated list, King County has dozens of unincorporated communities the Census
\nBureau recognizes as census-designated places (CDPs). The largest are set out below; smaller
\ncrossroads and rural settlements exist well beyond this list. Seattle’s own internal
\nneighborhoods — Ballard, Fremont, Capitol Hill, Georgetown and the rest — are
\ndistricts of the city itself, not separate places, despite older directories sometimes listing
\nthem as standalone towns.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Community (CDP)<\/th>\nPop. (2020)<\/th>\nLocated near<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Cottage Lake<\/td>\n22,857<\/td>\nWoodinville<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fairwood<\/td>\n19,396<\/td>\nRenton<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bryn Mawr-Skyway<\/td>\n17,397<\/td>\nRenton \/ Seattle<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lakeland North<\/td>\n13,663<\/td>\nAuburn<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lakeland South<\/td>\n13,169<\/td>\nAuburn<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
East Renton Highlands<\/td>\n11,937<\/td>\nRenton<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Vashon<\/td>\n11,055<\/td>\nVashon Island<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lake Morton-Berrydale<\/td>\n10,474<\/td>\nMaple Valley<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hobart<\/td>\n6,767<\/td>\nMaple Valley<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Boulevard Park<\/td>\n4,094<\/td>\nBurien<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fall City<\/td>\n2,032<\/td>\nSnoqualmie<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ames Lake<\/td>\n1,524<\/td>\nRedmond<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lake Marcel-Stillwater<\/td>\n1,334<\/td>\nDuvall<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

ZIP Codes<\/h2>\n

King County uses well over 70 ZIP codes: one or more per incorporated city, plus a further set
\nfor unincorporated areas and Seattle’s own dozens of postal zones. Seattle alone runs from
\n98101 in the downtown core through the 98103–98199 range covering its neighborhoods;
\nBellevue’s codes run 98004–98008, Kent’s 98030–98032, and
\nRedmond’s 98052–98053. Most other incorporated cities carry a single core code
\n— Kirkland 98033, Renton 98057, Federal Way 98003, Auburn 98001, Issaquah 98027, Sammamish
\n98074, Kenmore 98028, Woodinville 98072, Snoqualmie 98065, Enumclaw 98022, Carnation 98014,
\nDuvall 98019, North Bend 98045, Black Diamond 98010 and Skykomish 98288 among them. The tiny
\nEastside towns of Clyde Hill, Yarrow Point, Hunts Point and Beaux Arts Village all share
\nBellevue’s 98004 code, since none is large enough on its own to support a separate post
\noffice.<\/p>\n

Geography<\/h2>\n

King County straddles the Puget Sound lowland and the Cascade Range, running from saltwater
\nshoreline in the west to alpine peaks in the east. Of its 2,307 square miles, 2,116 square miles
\n(5,480 km2) are land and 191 square miles (490 km2) are water, about 8.3 percent — Lake
\nWashington and Lake Sammamish account for most of the freshwater, while Puget Sound forms the
\ncounty’s western edge. Mount Daniel, at 7,959 feet (2,426 meters), is the county’s
\nhighest point, and the Snoqualmie and Green–Duwamish rivers are its principal waterways,
\nwith Snoqualmie Falls a well-known landmark on the former.<\/p>\n

Snohomish County lies to the north, Pierce County to the south, Kitsap County across Puget
\nSound to the west, and Chelan County and Kittitas County over the Cascade crest to the east.
\nSnohomish County<\/a>,
\nPierce County<\/a>,
\nKitsap County<\/a>,
\nChelan County<\/a> and
\nKittitas County<\/a> all border King
\nCounty directly.<\/p>\n

Demographics<\/h2>\n

King County had a population of 2,269,675 at the 2020 census, up from 1,931,249 in 2010, and
\nthe latest estimate puts the county near 2,344,939 residents by 2024. Seattle and Bellevue are by
\nfar the two largest communities, together holding well over a third of the county’s
\npopulation. Median household income runs $124,746, well above Washington’s statewide
\nfigure of $94,600. Population density works out to roughly 1,073 people per square mile of land,
\namong the highest in the Pacific Northwest outside a handful of dense West Coast metros.<\/p>\n

Economy & Local Life<\/h2>\n

Professional, scientific and technical services is the county’s largest employment
\nsector, with about 227,948 workers, followed by health care and social assistance at 150,442 and
\nretail trade at 148,767. Boeing’s commercial-airplane operations run out of Renton, where
\nthe 737 has been built since the 1960s. Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, and Amazon and
\nExpedia anchor Seattle’s downtown and South Lake Union districts. Costco Wholesale is
\nheadquartered in Issaquah. The county’s biggest annual event is Seattle Seafair each
\nAugust, a weeks-long festival built around hydroplane races on Lake Washington and a Blue Angels
\nair show.<\/p>\n

History<\/h2>\n

The Washington territorial legislature created King County on December 22, 1852, naming it
\nfor Vice President-elect William Rufus King. In 2005 the county council formally re-designated
\nthe name’s honoree as civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., without changing the
\ncounty’s name itself. The Duwamish and other Coast Salish peoples had lived around Puget
\nSound for thousands of years before the Denny Party landed at Alki Point in 1851 and founded what
\nbecame Seattle. Coal mining drove the early economy around Newcastle and Black Diamond in the
\nlate 1800s, and Seattle’s Klondike Gold Rush-era boom, beginning in 1897, turned the city
\ninto the main supply port for prospectors headed to Alaska and the Yukon.<\/p>\n

Getting There<\/h2>\n

Interstate 5 runs the length of the county along Puget Sound, Interstate 90 crosses it
\neast–west over Snoqualmie Pass, and Interstate 405 loops around Lake Washington’s
\neast side. State Route 520 crosses Lake Washington between Seattle and the Eastside, and State
\nRoute 99 carries heavy commuter traffic through Seattle itself.<\/p>\n