Question: How large is King County, Washington?

King County, Washington



King County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,188,649 in the 2017 census estimate. King is the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle,[1] which is the state's largest city.
King County is one of three Washington counties that are included in the Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue metropolitan statistical area. (The others are Snohomish County to the north, and Pierce County to the south.) About two-thirds of King County's population lives in Seattle's suburbs.
History
The county was formed out of territory within Thurston County on December 22, 1852, by the Oregon Territory legislature, and was named after Alabama resident William R. King, who had just been elected Vice President of the United States under President Franklin Pierce. Seattle was made the county seat on January 11, 1853.[2][3] The area became part of the Washington Territory when it was created later that year.
King County originally extended to the Olympic Peninsula. According to historian Bill Speidel, when peninsular prohibitionists threatened to shut down Seattle’s saloons, Doc Maynard engineered a peninsular independence movement; King County lost what is now Kitsap County, but preserved its entertainment industry.[4]
Name
On February 24, 1986, a motion to change the namesake to Martin Luther King Jr.[5] was passed by the King County Council five votes to four.[6][7] The motion stated, among other reasons for the change, that "William Rufus DeVane King was a slaveowner and a ‘gentle slave monger’ according to John Quincy Adams."[8] Because only the state can charter counties, the change was not made official until April 19, 2005, when Governor Christine Gregoire signed into law Senate Bill 5332, which provided that "King county is renamed in honor of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.," effective July 24, 2005.[9][10][11]
The County Council voted on February 27, 2006 to adopt the proposal sponsored by Councilmember Larry Gossett to change the county's logo from an imperial crown to an image of Martin Luther King.[12] On March 12, 2007, the new logo was unveiled.[13]  The new logo design was developed by the Gable Design Group and the specific image was selected by a committee consisting of King County Executive Ron Sims, Council Chair Larry Gossett, Prosecutor Norm Maleng, Sheriff Sue Rahr, District Court Judge Corrina Harn, and Superior Court Judge Michael Trickey.[14]
Martin Luther King Jr. visited King County for two days in November 1961.[15]
Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,307 square miles (5,980km2), of which 2,116 square miles (5,480km2) is land and 191 square miles (490km2) (8.3%) is water.[16] King County has nearly twice the land area of the state of Rhode Island. The highest point in the county is Mount Daniel at 7,959 feet (2,426 meters) above sea level.
King County borders Snohomish County to the north, Kitsap County to the west, Kittitas County to the east, and Pierce County to the south. It also shares a small border with Chelan County to the northeast. King County includes Vashon Island and Maury Island in Puget Sound.
Geographic features

Terrain

Cascade Range
Issaquah Alps
Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
Mount Daniel, the highest point
Mount Si
Harbor Island
Maury Island
Mercer Island
Sammamish Plateau
Vashon Island

Water

Cedar River
Green/Duwamish River
Elliott Bay
Greenwater River
Issaquah Creek
Lake Sammamish
Lake Union
Lake Washington
Lake Youngs
Pratt River
Puget Sound
Raging River
Skykomish River
Snoqualmie River
Taylor River
Tolt River
White River

Major highways

 Interstate 5
 Interstate 90
 Interstate 405
 U.S. Route 2
 State Route 18
 State Route 99
 State Route 167
 State Route 520
 State Route 522

Adjacent counties
Snohomish County – north
Pierce County – south
Chelan County – east/northeast
Kittitas County – east/southeast
Kitsap County – west
National protected areas
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park (part, also in Skagway, Alaska)
Snoqualmie National Forest (part)
Demographics






Historical populationCensusPop.%±1860302—18702,120602.0%18806,910225.9%189063,989826.0%1900110,05372.0%1910284,638158.6%1920389,27336.8%1930463,51719.1%1940504,9808.9%1950732,99245.2%1960935,01427.6%19701,156,63323.7%19801,269,7499.8%19901,507,31918.7%20001,737,03415.2%20101,931,24911.2%Est. 20172,188,649[17]13.3%U.S. Decennial Census[18]
1790–1960[19] 1900–1990[20]
1990–2000[21] 2010–2016
The center of population of the state of Washington in 2010 was located in eastern King County ().[22] King County's own center of population was located on Mercer Island ().[23]
2010 census
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 1,931,249people, 789,232households, and 461,510families residing in the county.[24] The population density was 912.9 inhabitants per square mile (352.5/km2). There were 851,261 housing units at an average density of 402.4 per square mile (155.4/km2).[25] The racial makeup of the county was 68.7% White (64.8% Non-Hispanic White), 6.2% African American, 14.6% Asian, 0.8% Pacific Islander, 0.8% Native American, 3.9% from other races, and 5.0% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 8.9% of the population.[24] In terms of ancestry, 17.1% were German, 11.6% were English, 11.1% were Irish, 5.5% were Norwegian, and 2.9% were American.[26]
Of the 789,232households, 29.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.3% were married couples living together, 9.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 41.5% were non-families, and 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 3.05. The median age was 37.1 years.[24]
The median income for a household in the county was $68,065 and the median income for a family was $87,010. Males had a median income of $62,373 versus $45,761 for females. The per capita income for the county was $38,211. About 6.4% of families and 10.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.5% of those under age 18 and 8.6% of those age 65 or over.[27]
Government

The King County Executive (currently Dow Constantine) heads the county's executive branch. The King County Prosecuting Attorney (currently Dan Satterberg), Elections Director (currently Julie Wise), Sheriff (currently Mitzi Johanknecht), and the King County Assessor (currently John Wilson) are also elected executive positions. Judicial power is vested in the King County Superior Court and the King County District Court. Seattle houses the King County Courthouse.
King County is represented in the United States Congress through a near-entirety of the population in the 7th and 9th Congressional Districts, a majority of the population in the 8th Congressional District and a plurality of the population in the 1st Congressional District. In the state legislature, King contains the entirety of the 5th, 11th, 33rd, 34th, 36th, 37th, 41st, 43rd, 45th, 46th, 47th, and 48th legislative districts as well as the near-entirety of the 30th legislative district, about one-half of the 32nd legislative district, about one-third of the 1st and 31st legislative district, and a mere 627 people in the 39th legislative district.
The people of King County voted on September 5, 1911 to create a Port District. King County's Port of Seattle was established as the first Port District in Washington State. The Port of Seattle is King County's only Port District. It is governed by five Port Commissioners, who are elected countywide and serve four-year terms. The Port of Seattle owns and operates many properties on behalf of King County's citizens, including Sea-Tac International Airport; many seaport facilities around Elliott Bay, including its original property, publicly owned Fishermen's Terminal, home to the North Pacific fishing fleet and the largest homeport for fishermen in the U.S. West Coast; four container ship terminals; two cruise ship terminals; the largest grain export terminal in the U.S. Pacific Northwest; three public marinas; 22 public parks; and nearly 5,000 acres of industrial lands in the Ballard-Interbay and Lower Duwamish industrial centers.
Council members







District 1 – Rod Dembowski
District 2 – Larry Gossett
District 3 – Kathy Lambert

District 4 – Jeanne Kohl-Welles
District 5 – Dave Upthegrove
District 6 – Claudia Balducci

District 7 – Pete von Reichbauer
District 8 – Joe McDermott
District 9 – Reagan Dunn

Politics

King County and Seattle are strongly associated with liberal politics; the area is a bastion for the Democratic Party. No Republican presidential candidate has garnered the majority of the county's votes since Ronald Reagan's landslide reelection victory in 1984. In the 2008 election, Barack Obama defeated John McCain in the county by 42 percentage points, a larger margin than any previous election. Slightly more than 29% of Washington state's population reside in King County, making it a significant factor for the Democrats in a few recent close statewide elections. In 2000, it was King County that pushed Maria Cantwell's total over that of incumbent Republican Slade Gorton, winning her a seat in the United States Senate. In 2004, King County gave a lead to Democrat Christine Gregoire in the second recount in the state's gubernatorial election, pushing her ahead of Republican Dino Rossi, who led by 261 votes after the initial count.[28] Rossi resided in the county at the time of the election, in Sammamish.
The suburbs east and south of Seattle have historically tended to be moderate. In the 2005 County Executive race, Republican David Irons beat Democrat Ron Sims outside of Seattle (which voted 74% for Sims), but in 2004, John Kerry received landslide victories in much of the Bellevue and Redmond areas. Generally the suburbs are becoming more liberal on the state and county levels.
In 2004, voters passed a referendum reducing the size of the County Council from 13 members to 9. This resulted in all council seats ending up on the 2005 ballot.
Some residents of eastern King County have long desired to secede and form their own county. This movement was most vocal in the mid-1990s (see Cedar County, Washington).[29][30] It has recently been revived as Cascade County.[31] According to a map published by the Seattle Times,[32] four different geographic borders are being considered. Additional plans (see Skykomish County, Washington) also exist or have existed.
Presidential elections results







































































































































































Presidential elections results[33]YearRepublicanDemocraticThird parties201621.0% 216,33969.9% 718,3229.1% 93,789201228.4% 275,70068.7% 668,0042.9% 28,317200828.0% 259,71670.0% 648,2302.0% 18,511200433.7% 301,04364.9% 580,3781.5% 13,307200034.4% 273,17160.0% 476,7005.6% 44,325199631.4% 232,81156.4% 417,84612.2% 90,447199227.4% 212,98650.2% 391,05022.4% 174,557198844.8% 290,57453.9% 349,6631.3% 8,720198452.1% 332,98746.7% 298,6201.2% 7,654198045.4% 272,56739.2% 235,04615.4% 92,544197650.8% 279,38245.2% 248,7434.0% 21,994197256.4% 298,70740.1% 212,5093.5% 18,478196846.0% 218,45747.1% 223,4697.0% 33,009196439.4% 177,59859.5% 268,2161.1% 4,826196050.9% 224,15047.4% 208,7561.8% 7,904195655.3% 213,50443.4% 167,4431.4% 5,276195253.9% 200,50744.5% 165,5831.5% 5,681194844.9% 131,03949.1% 143,2955.9% 17,301194441.4% 118,71957.7% 165,3080.9% 2,577194039.5% 95,50459.2% 143,1341.3% 3,165193631.7% 66,54466.0% 138,5972.3% 4,904193234.4% 63,34659.1% 108,7386.5% 11,947192865.6% 96,26331.8% 46,6042.6% 3,811192453.5% 60,4386.6% 7,40439.9% 45,098192054.7% 58,58416.2% 17,36929.1% 31,171191640.7% 38,95954.7% 52,3624.6% 4,387191221.9% 15,57928.2% 20,08850.0% 35,642190855.8% 22,29736.6% 14,6447.6% 3,052190470.4% 20,43418.1% 5,26611.5% 3,329190054.3% 10,21841.4% 7,8044.3% 810189644.8% 6,41354.1% 7,7331.1% 159189244.2% 6,52033.7% 4,97422.1% 3,268

Education
K–12 schools

Auburn School District
Bellevue School District
Enumclaw School District
Federal Way Public Schools
Highline School District
Issaquah School District
Kent School District
Lake Washington School District
Mercer Island School District
Northshore School District
Renton School District
Riverview School District
Seattle Public Schools
Shoreline School District
Snoqualmie Valley School District
Tahoma School District
Tukwila School District
Vashon Island School District

Public libraries
Most of King County is served by the King County Library System. The Seattle Public Library serves the City of Seattle.
Communities

Cities

Algona
Auburn (partial)
Bellevue
Black Diamond
Bothell (partial)
Burien
Carnation
Clyde Hill
Covington
Des Moines
Duvall
Enumclaw
Federal Way
Issaquah
Kenmore
Kent
Kirkland
Lake Forest Park
Maple Valley
Medina
Mercer Island
Milton (partial)
Newcastle
Normandy Park
North Bend
Pacific (partial)
Redmond
Renton
Sammamish
SeaTac
Seattle (county seat)
Shoreline
Snoqualmie
Tukwila
Woodinville

Towns
Beaux Arts Village
Hunts Point
Skykomish
Yarrow Point
Census-designated places

Ames Lake
Baring
Boulevard Park
Bryn Mawr-Skyway
Cottage Lake
East Renton Highlands
Fairwood
Fall City
Hobart
Klahanie (former)
Lake Holm
Lake Marcel-Stillwater
Lake Morton-Berrydale
Lakeland North
Lakeland South
Maple Heights-Lake Desire
Mirrormont
Ravensdale
Riverbend
Riverton (former)
Shadow Lake
Tanner
Union Hill-Novelty Hill
Vashon
Westwood
White Center
Wilderness Rim

Other unincorporated communities

Bayne
Cedar Falls
Cumberland
Denny Creek
Ernie's Grove
Grotto
Kanaskat
Kangley
Lake Joy
Naco
Novelty
Palmer
Preston
Selleck
Spring Glen
Wabash

Former cities and towns
East Redmond
Foster
Houghton
Ghost towns

Cedar Falls (aka Moncton)
Edgewick
Franklin
Hot Springs
Krain
Lester
Monohon
Nagrom
Osceola
Snoqualmie Falls
Taylor
Wellington
Weston

See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in King County, Washington






 presents King County, Washington, through 12,000 historical images carefully chosen from twelve cultural heritage organizations' collections. These catalogued 19th and 20th century images portray people, places, and events in the county's urban, suburban, and rural communities.




Coordinates: