2006 population estimates released

[Sundodger]

Official April 1, 2006 Population Estimates

State of Washington - 6,375,600

Largest cities:

Seattle - 578,700

Spokane - 201,600

Tacoma - 199,600

Vancouver - 156,600

Bellevue - 117,000

Everett- 101,100

Spokane Valley - 87,000

Federal Way - 86,530

Kent - 85,650

Yakima - 81,710

Bellingham - 73,460

Kennewick - 61,770

Lakewood - 59,000

Renton - 58,360

Shoreline - 52,830

Redmond - 49,890

Auburn - 48,955

Pasco - 47,610

Kirkland - 47,180

Richland - 44,230

Olympia - 43,740

Region/Metro Area Population

Western Washington - 4,974,100

Eastern Washington - 1,401,500

Puget Sound area - 4,026,700

SW Washington - 514,800

South Central Washington - 514,500

Seattle CMA - 3,832,300

Seattle-Tacoma-Everett - 3,316,795

Spokane - 443,800

Washington part of the Portland-Vancouver MSA - 414,100

Bremerton - 243,400

Yakima - 231,800

Olympia - 231,100

Tri-Cities - 224,800

Bellingham - 184,300

Mt. Vernon-Anacortes - 113,100

Wenatchee - 105,800

Fastest growing counties, 2005-2006:

Franklin - 6.1%

Thurston - 3.1%

Clark - 3.1%

Skamania - 2.9%

Douglas - 2.9%

Snohomish - 2.4%

Pierce - 2.3%

Mason - 2.3%

Kittitas - 2.2%

Stevens - 2.2%

Jefferson - 2.2%

Highest net growth counties, 2005-2006:

King - 27,000

Pierce - 17,600

Snohomish - 16,000

Clark - 12,000

Spokane - 7,500

Thurston - 7,000

Franklin - 3,700

Whatcom - 3,500

Kitsap - 3,000

Benton - 2,500

Fastest growing counties 2000-2006:

Franklin - 30.1%

Clark - 16.9%

Benton - 12.7%

Kittitas - 12.1%

San Juan - 11.5%

Thurston - 11.5%

Snohomish - 10.9%

Whatcom - 10.5%

Pierce - 10.4%

Douglas - 9.5%

Highest net growth counties, 2000-2006:

King - 98,254

Pierce - 72,682

Snohomish - 65,776

Clark - 58,262

Spokane - 25,861

Thurston - 23,745

Benton - 18,125

Whatcom - 17,474

Franklin - 14,853

Kitsap - 11,431

Highest net growth 2000-2006, cities:

(city, net growth, growth from annexation)

Pasco - 15,544 - 1,769

Seattle - 15,324 - 0

Vancouver - 13,040 - 155

Yakima - 9,865 - 9,462

Everett - 9,612 - 4,700

Issaquah - 8,358 - 2,495

Renton - 8,308 - 828

Bellevue - 7,173 - 2,747

Kennewick - 7,019 - 1,422

Marysville - 6,835 - 2,762

Battle Ground - 6,488 - 52

Highest net migration 2000-2006, counties:

Pierce - 43,331

Clark - 40,718

Snohomish - 38,312

King - 31,628

Thurston - 17,971

Spokane - 14,956

Whatcom - 13,010

Benton - 11,065

Franklin - 9,111

Skagit - 7,529

[MJLO]

thanks for the updated stats sundodger, can you tell me, Is spokane growing faster than Tacoma? or Will Tacoma catch Spokane?

[Sundodger]

^ I am at my office right now but can give you an answer when I get back home. Basically the major issue is annexation. Spokane is really going hard after the areas to the west and north while Tacoma is pretty boxed in and I have not heard of any big movement to start any annexations to the south and southeast.

[Sundodger]

Tacoma is growing faster within its city limits. 3.028% growth since 2000 as opposed to Spokane's 2.25% growth. Spokane however has annexed an area that now contains 1,469 people while the population of Tacoma's annexation is 1. Yes, just one single person added to Tacoma via annexation since 4/1/00.

[MJLO]

lol wow, I would imagine though, that Tacoma is much more dense than Spokane.

[Randy@Tacoma]

That is SO true! Spokane is working on densifying areas, but Tacoma by a long shot is more dense than Spokane. Tacoma also has more parks within its city boundaries than Spokane does (People can live in parks yet the parks are still in the city).

[Sundodger]

^ Spokane has more acerage presevered, plus the city is adjacent to Riverside State Park.

[M.Rocks]

Thats was an interesting bit of info. Being from VA, I asumed Seattle had way more people that it does from the way it seems packed and built up. Va Beach where I'm from is in the 450,000 range and is just now starting to build a downtown. I can only hope that it will one day rival the downtown Seattle has as I think they have the most beautiful skyline ever made by man.

[pdxheel]

It really does no good to look at population statistics of cities. The land area of cities varies greatly. For example, San Francisco is not all that big population wise becuase it boundaries are small. To get a true picture you must look at the entire metropolitan region (metropolitan statistical area). If you do this the Seattle MSA is much bigger.