List of counties in Washington facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Counties of Washington |
|
---|---|
Location | State of Washington |
Number | 39 |
Populations | 2,266 (Garfield) – 1,931,249 (King) |
Areas | 175 square miles (450 km2) (San Juan) – 2,742 square miles (7,100 km2) (Okanogan) |
Government | County government |
Subdivisions | cities, towns, townships, unincorporated communities, indian reservations, census designated place |
There are 39 counties in the U.S. state of Washington. Washington came from what was the western part of Washington Territory and was admitted to the Union as the 42nd state in 1889. The first counties were created from unorganized territory in 1845. Eight of the counties were created by Oregon governments prior to the organization of Washington Territory, 26 were created during Washington's territorial period, and five more were created after Washington became a state (Benton, Chelan, Grant, Ferry, and Pend Oreille).
Article XI of the Washington State Constitution addresses the organization of counties. New counties must have a population of at least 2,000 and no county can be reduced to a population below 4,000 due to partitioning to create a new county. At least one early county, named Quillehuyte, was disestablished by the territorial government due to low population. To alter the area of a county, the state constitution requires a petition of the "majority of the voters" in that area. A number of county partition proposals in the 1990s interpreted this as a majority of people who voted, until a 1998 ruling by the Washington Supreme Court clarified that they would need a majority of registered voters.
The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code, used by the United States government to uniquely identify counties, is provided with each entry. The FIPS code links in the table point to U. S. Census "quick facts" pages for each county.
Washington's postal abbreviation is WA and its FIPS state code is 53.
List
County |
FIPS code | County seat | Established | Origin | Etymology | Population | Area | Map |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adams County | 001 | Ritzville | 1883 | Whitman County | John Adams (1735–1826), 2nd U.S. President | 18,728 | ( 4,986 km2) |
1,925 sq mi|
Asotin County | 003 | Asotin | 1883 | Garfield County | The Nez Percé name for Eel Creek | 21,623 | ( 1,647 km2) |
636 sq mi|
Benton County | 005 | Prosser | 1905 | Yakima and Klickitat Counties | Thomas Hart Benton (1782–1858), a Missouri U.S. Senator | 175,177 | ( 4,411 km2) |
1,703 sq mi|
Chelan County | 007 | Wenatchee | 1899 | Okanogan and Kittitas Counties | A Native American word meaning "deep water", likely referring to Lake Chelan | 72,453 | ( 7,568 km2) |
2,922 sq mi|
Clallam County | 009 | Port Angeles | 1854 | Jefferson County | A Klallam word meaning "the strong people" | 71,404 | ( 4,520 km2) |
1,745 sq mi|
Clark County | 011 | Vancouver | 1845 | Original county | William Clark (1770–1838), the co-captain of the Lewis and Clark Expedition | 425,363 | ( 1,627 km2) |
628 sq mi|
Columbia County | 013 | Dayton | 1875 | Walla Walla County | The Columbia River | 4,078 | ( 2,251 km2) |
869 sq mi|
Cowlitz County | 015 | Kelso | 1854 | Original county | Cowlitz, an Indian tribe | 102,410 | ( 2,950 km2) |
1,139 sq mi|
Douglas County | 017 | Waterville | 1883 | Lincoln County | Stephen A. Douglas (1813–1861), U.S. Senator from Illinois | 38,431 | ( 4,716 km2) |
1,821 sq mi|
Ferry County | 019 | Republic | 1899 | Stevens County | Elisha P. Ferry (1825–1895), 1st Governor of Washington State | 7,551 | ( 5,708 km2) |
2,204 sq mi|
Franklin County | 021 | Pasco | 1883 | Whitman County | Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), writer, orator, inventor, and U.S. Founding Father | 78,163 | ( 3,217 km2) |
1,242 sq mi|
Garfield County | 023 | Pomeroy | 1881 | Columbia County | James A. Garfield (1831–1881), 20th U.S. President | 2,266 | ( 1,839 km2) |
710 sq mi|
Grant County | 025 | Ephrata | 1909 | Douglas County | Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885), 18th U.S. President | 89,120 | ( 6,944 km2) |
2,681 sq mi|
Grays Harbor County | 027 | Montesano | 1854 | Thurston County | Grays Harbor, a body of water named after explorer and merchant Robert Gray (1755–1806) | 72,797 | ( 4,965 km2) |
1,917 sq mi|
Island County | 029 | Coupeville | 1853 | Thurston County | Whidbey and Camano Islands | 78,506 | ( 541 km2) |
209 sq mi|
Jefferson County | 031 | Port Townsend | 1852 | Thurston County | Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), 3rd U.S. President and principal author of the Declaration of Independence | 29,872 | ( 4,685 km2) |
1,809 sq mi|
King County | 033 | Seattle | 1852 | Thurston County | William R. King (1786–1853), U.S. Vice President under Franklin Pierce; officially renamed in 1986 after Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) | 1,931,249 | ( 5,506 km2) |
2,126 sq mi|
Kitsap County | 035 | Port Orchard | 1857 | King and Jefferson Counties | Chief Kitsap (d. 1860), leader of the Suquamish tribe | 251,133 | ( 1,026 km2) |
396 sq mi|
Kittitas County | 037 | Ellensburg | 1883 | Yakima County | Kittitas tribe word of uncertain meaning, with popular translations ranging from "white chalk" to "land of the plenty" | 40,915 | ( 5,949 km2) |
2,297 sq mi|
Klickitat County | 039 | Goldendale | 1859 | Walla Walla County | Klickitat Tribe | 20,318 | ( 4,848 km2) |
1,872 sq mi|
Lewis County | 041 | Chehalis | 1845 | Original county | Meriwether Lewis (1774–1809), the co-captain of the Lewis and Clark Expedition | 75,455 | ( 6,237 km2) |
2,408 sq mi|
Lincoln County | 043 | Davenport | 1883 | Whitman County | Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), 16th U.S. President | 10,570 | ( 5,985 km2) |
2,311 sq mi|
Mason County | 045 | Shelton | 1854 | King County | Charles H. Mason (1830–1859), 1st Secretary of Washington Territory | 60,699 | ( 2,489 km2) |
961 sq mi|
Okanogan County | 047 | Okanogan | 1888 | Stevens County | A Salish Native American word meaning "rendezvous" | 41,120 | ( 13,644 km2) |
5,268 sq mi|
Pacific County | 049 | South Bend | 1851 | Lewis County | The Pacific Ocean | 20,920 | ( 2,525 km2) |
975 sq mi|
Pend Oreille County | 051 | Newport | 1911 | Stevens County | The Pend d'Oreille Native American tribe | 13,001 | ( 3,626 km2) |
1,400 sq mi|
Pierce County | 053 | Tacoma | 1852 | Thurston County | Franklin Pierce (1804–1869), 14th U.S. President | 795,225 | ( 4,341 km2) |
1,676 sq mi|
San Juan County | 055 | Friday Harbor | 1873 | Whatcom County | San Juan Island | 15,769 | ( 453 km2) |
175 sq mi|
Skagit County | 057 | Mount Vernon | 1883 | Whatcom County | The Skagit Native American tribe | 116,901 | ( 4,494 km2) |
1,735 sq mi|
Skamania County | 059 | Stevenson | 1854 | Clark County | A Chinookan word meaning "swift water" | 11,066 | ( 4,289 km2) |
1,656 sq mi|
Snohomish County | 061 | Everett | 1861 | Island County | The Snohomish tribe | 713,335 | ( 5,413 km2) |
2,090 sq mi|
Spokane County | 063 | Spokane | 1879 | Stevens County | The Spokane Native American tribe | 471,221 | ( 4,569 km2) |
1,764 sq mi|
Stevens County | 065 | Colville | 1863 | Walla Walla County | Isaac Stevens (1818–1862), 1st Governor of the Washington Territory | 43,531 | ( 6,418 km2) |
2,478 sq mi|
Thurston County | 067 | Olympia | 1852 | Lewis County | Samuel Thurston (1815–1851), the Oregon Territory's first delegate to U.S. Congress | 252,264 | ( 1,883 km2) |
727 sq mi|
Wahkiakum County | 069 | Cathlamet | 1854 | Cowlitz County | Leader of Wahkiakum ("Tall Timber"), Native American tribe | 3,978 | ( 684 km2) |
264 sq mi|
Walla Walla County | 071 | Walla Walla | 1854 | Skamania County | The Walla Walla Native American tribe, and also another name for running water | 58,781 | ( 3,289 km2) |
1,270 sq mi|
Whatcom County | 073 | Bellingham | 1854 | Island County | Nooksack word meaning "noisy water" | 201,140 | ( 5,491 km2) |
2,120 sq mi|
Whitman County | 075 | Colfax | 1871 | Stevens County | Marcus Whitman (1802–1847), a Methodist missionary | 44,776 | ( 5,592 km2) |
2,159 sq mi|
Yakima County | 077 | Yakima | 1865 | Ferguson County (defunct) | The Yakama Native American tribe | 243,231 | ( 11,127 km2) |
4,296 sq mi
Former county names
- Chehalis County, originally named for the Chehalis people, was renamed Grays Harbor County in 1915.
- Sawamish County, originally named for the Sahewamish Native American tribe, was renamed Mason County in 1864.
- Slaughter County, originally named for Lieutenant William A. Slaughter who was killed during the Indian Wars, was renamed Kitsap County shortly after its formation in 1857. The initial proposals for this county called it Madison County or Kitsap County.
- Vancouver County, originally named for George Vancouver, was renamed Clark County in 1849.
Former counties
- Ferguson County, named for Washington legislator James L. Ferguson, was established on January 23, 1863 from Walla Walla County and dissolved on January 18, 1865. Yakima County was established in its place.
- Quillehuyte County was split from Jefferson and Clallam counties in 1868 and returned to those counties a year later.
Proposed counties
- The representatives at the Cowlitz Convention of 1851 discussed a proposal to form Columbia Territory, which included a number of new counties in what later became Washington. The next session of the Oregon Territorial Legislature created only one of counties: Thurston County (which was originally proposed as Simmons County).
- Buchanan County was proposed in 1856 as a division of Clark County.
- Other proposed counties during Washington's statehood have included (with proposal dates): Big Bend (1891), Palouse (1891 and 1903), Sherman (1891), Washington (1891), McKinley (1903), Steptoe (1903), Coulee (1905).
Works
Images for kids
See also
In Spanish: Anexo:Condados de Washington para niños