Spokane County, Washington facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Spokane County
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Spokane County Courthouse
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Location within the U.S. state of Washington
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Washington's location within the U.S. |
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Country | United States | |
State | Washington | |
Founded | January 29, 1858 (created) January 19, 1864 (annexed to Stevens Co.) October 30, 1879 (separated from Stevens Co.) |
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Named for | Spokane people | |
Seat | Spokane | |
Largest city | Spokane | |
Area | ||
• Total | 1,781 sq mi (4,610 km2) | |
• Land | 1,764 sq mi (4,570 km2) | |
• Water | 17 sq mi (40 km2) 0.9%% | |
Population
(2020)
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• Total | 539,339 | |
• Estimate
(2023)
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551,455 | |
• Density | 275/sq mi (106/km2) | |
Demonym(s) | Spokanite | |
Time zone | UTC−8 (Pacific) | |
• Summer (DST) | UTC−7 (PDT) | |
Congressional district | 5th |
Spokane County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 539,339, making it the fourth-most populous county in Washington. The largest city and county seat is Spokane, the second largest city in the state after Seattle. The county is named after the Spokane people.
Spokane County is part of the Spokane metropolitan area, which is also part of the greater Spokane–Coeur d'Alene combined statistical area that includes nearby Kootenai County, Idaho.
Contents
History
The first humans to arrive in what is now Spokane County arrived between 12,000 and 8,000 years ago and were hunter-gatherer societies who lived off the plentiful game in the area. Initially, the settlers hunted predominantly bison and antelope, but after the game migrated out of the region, the native people became dependent on gathering various roots, berries, and nuts, and harvesting fish. The Spokane tribe, after which the county is named, means "Children of the Sun" or "sun people" in Salishan Explorer-geographer David Thompson, working as head of the North West Company's Columbia Department, became the first European to explore what is now the Inland Northwest. After establishing the Kullyspell House and Saleesh House fur trading posts in what are now Idaho and Montana, Thompson then attempted to expand further west. He sent out two trappers, Jacques Raphael Finlay and Finan McDonald, to construct a fur-trading post on the Spokane River in Washington and trade with the local Indians. This post was established in 1810, at the confluence of the Little Spokane and Spokane Rivers, becoming the first enduring European settlement of significance in Washington. Known as the Spokane House, or simply "Spokane", it was in operation from 1810 to 1826.
Spokane County was established by the Washington Territorial Legislature effective January 29, 1858, from a portion of Walla Walla County, which originally encompassed most of eastern Washington Territory between the Cascades and Rockies. The new county was bound to the west by the Columbia and Snake rivers and to the east by the Rockies; it included portions of modern-day Idaho and Montana. The territorial legislature designated the farm of Angus McLeod as the temporary county seat and appointed officials to several positions for Spokane County, but they never took office and did not organize a government. In late 1859, a group of settlers in the Bitterroot Valley petitioned to create their own county, which was not granted at that time; the territorial legislature reorganized Spokane County on January 17, 1860, with a seat on a land claim near Fort Colville.
The first county government met on May 8, 1860, and began conducting business. The eastern and southern portions of Spokane County were partitioned several times as new counties were created, beginning with Missoula County in December 1860 and followed by Shoshone County and Nez Perce County in 1861. These areas became part of the new Idaho Territory, which was organized by the U.S. Congress on March 3, 1863, and reduced the size of Spokane County even further. On January 19, 1864, the county was annexed into neighboring Stevens County, which had been created a year earlier from the northern portions of Walla Walla County. The seat of Stevens County was Pinkney City (now Colville) until it was temporarily relocated to the town of Spokane Falls (now Spokane) in 1875.
Spokane County was re-established on October 30, 1879, from the portions of Stevens County south of the Columbia, Spokane, and Wenatchee rivers. The western portion of the county was used to create Lincoln County, which was established on November 23, 1883. The first post office in the county was located at Spokane Bridge.
The selection of a permanent county seat was to be decided in an election in November 1880 between the growing cities of Cheney and Spokane Falls, both candidates for a major Northern Pacific Railway hub. The unofficial returns showed a 14-vote margin in favor of Cheney, but the result was disputed by county officials from Spokane Falls based on "irregularities" in the ballots. The official result had a margin of two or three votes for Spokane Falls, but Cheney residents demanded a recount, which was granted by a court order that was ignored by county officials in Spokane Falls. On March 21, 1881, a group of armed Cheney residents forcibly took custody of the county auditor, recount ballots, and other county records during a nighttime raid. After declaring their own recount had been in favor of Cheney as county seat, the records and the county auditor were moved from Spokane Falls; other government officials also moved to Cheney after a court order upheld the Cheney recount. A new ballot question in 1886 resulted in Spokane becoming the permanent county seat.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,781 sq mi (4,610 km2), of which 17 square miles (44 km2) (0.9%) are covered by water. The lowest point in the county is the Spokane River behind Long Lake Dam (boundary of Stevens County) at 1,538 feet (469 m) above sea level. (Virtually no change in elevation occurs between the dam and the mouth of the Little Spokane River inside Riverside State Park.) The highest point in the county is the summit of Mount Spokane at 5,887 ft (1,794 m).NAVD 88
Spokane County has a complex geologic history and varied topography. To the west is the barren landscape of the Columbia Basin and to the east are the foothills of the Rockies—the Coeur d'Alene Mountains, which rise to the east in northern Idaho. Spokane County lies in a transition area between the eastern edge of the basaltic Channeled Scablands steppe plains to the west and the rugged, timbered Rocky Mountain foothills to the east. The area exhibits signs of the prehistoric geologic events that shaped the area and region such as the Missoula Floods, which ended 12,000 to 15,000 years ago. The geography to the southeast, such as the Saltese Flats and Saltese Uplands is characterized as a shrub–steppe landscape with grassy hills and ravines.
In ecology, as with the topography, the county is also in a transition area, roughly split between the Columbia Plateau ecoregion in the southwest portion, where it is at the eastern edge of the basaltic Channeled Scablands steppe plain and the Northern Rockies ecoregion in the northwest portion, which is the rugged and forested Selkirk Mountains.
Rivers and streams
- Spokane River
- Cable Creek
- Latah Creek
- Marshall Creek
- Garden Springs Creek
- Little Spokane River
- Deep Creek
- Coulee Creek
- Saltese Creek
Lakes and reservoirs
- Eloika Lake
- Liberty Lake
- Medical Lake
- West Medical Lake
- Newman Lake
- Shelley Lake
Notable summits and peaks
- Mount Spokane
- Mount Kit Carson
- Mica Peak
- Krell Hill
Notable parks
- Dishman Hills Natural Conservation Area
- Riverside State Park
- Riverfront Park
- Manito Park
- Mount Spokane State Park
National protected area
Major highways
Adjacent counties
- Stevens County – northwest
- Pend Oreille County – north
- Bonner County, Idaho – northeast
- Kootenai County, Idaho – east
- Benewah County, Idaho – southeast
- Whitman County – south
- Lincoln County – west
Demographics
Historical population | |||
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Census | Pop. | %± | |
1860 | 996 | — | |
1870 | 2,000 | 100.8% | |
1880 | 4,262 | 113.1% | |
1890 | 37,487 | 779.6% | |
1900 | 57,542 | 53.5% | |
1910 | 139,404 | 142.3% | |
1920 | 141,289 | 1.4% | |
1930 | 150,477 | 6.5% | |
1940 | 164,652 | 9.4% | |
1950 | 221,561 | 34.6% | |
1960 | 278,333 | 25.6% | |
1970 | 287,487 | 3.3% | |
1980 | 341,835 | 18.9% | |
1990 | 361,364 | 5.7% | |
2000 | 417,939 | 15.7% | |
2010 | 471,221 | 12.7% | |
2020 | 539,339 | 14.5% | |
2023 (est.) | 551,455 | 17.0% | |
U.S. Decennial Census 1790–1960 1900–1990 1990–2000 2010–2020 |
2020 census
Race | Number | Percent |
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White (NH) | 431,806 | 80.1% |
Black or African American (NH) | 10,486 | 1.9% |
Native American (NH) | 6,862 | 1.3% |
Asian (NH) | 12,404 | 2.3% |
Pacific Islander (NH) | 4,202 | 0.8% |
Some Other (NH) | 2,644 | 0.5% |
Other/Mixed (NH) | 35,585 | 6.6% |
Hispanic or Latino | 35,350 | 6.6% |
As of the 2020 census, there were 539,339 people, 212,470 households, and 132,324 families residing in the county. The population density was 305.7 inhabitants per square mile (118.0/km2) averaging 2.46 persons per household. There were 224,019 housing units had an average density of 128.0 per square mile (49.4/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 82.1% White, 2.0% African American, 1.5% Native American, 2.3% Asian, 0.8% Pacific Islander, 2.2% from some other races and 9.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.6% of the population. 21.3% of residents were under the age of 18, 5.5% were under 5 years of age, and 17.5% were 65 and older.
Females consisted of 50.1% of the county. 5.3% of the county consist of foreign born persons.
Of those 25 years or older, 94.2% people in the county hold a high school diploma, GED, or higher; and 31.5% obtaining a bachelor's degree or higher. Of those below the age of 65 years, 10.% have a disability and 6.3% are without health insurance. The median household income was $64,079 (in 2021 dollars) and 11.2% of the county are living in poverty.
2010 census
As of the 2010 census, there were 471,221 people, 187,167 households, and 118,212 families were residing in the county. The population density was 267.2 people per square mile (103.2 people/km2). The 201,434 housing units had an average density of 114.2 units per square mile (44.1 units/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 89.2% White, 2.1% Asian, 1.7% African American, 1.5% American Indian, 0.4% Pacific Islander, 1.2% from other races, and 3.8% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 4.5% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 27.0% were German, 15.4% were Irish, 13.5% were English, 6.9% were Norwegian, and 4.4% were American.
Of the 187,167 households, 30.9% had children under 18 living with them, 47.2% were married couples living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.8% were not families; 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.44, and the average family size was 2.99. The median age was 36.8 years.
The median income for a household in the county was $47,250 and for a family was $59,999. Males had a median income of $44,000 versus $33,878 for females. The per capita income for the county was $25,127. About 9.1% of families and 14.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.0% of those under age 18 and 8.5% of those age 65 or over.
Communities
Cities
- Airway Heights
- Cheney
- Deer Park
- Liberty Lake
- Medical Lake
- Millwood
- Spangle
- Spokane (county seat)
- Spokane Valley
Towns
Census-designated places
- Country Homes
- Fairchild Air Force Base
- Fairwood
- Four Lakes
- Mead
- Otis Orchards-East Farms
- Town and Country
Unincorporated communities
- Amber
- Buckeye
- Chattaroy
- Colbert
- Deep Creek
- Denison
- Duncan
- Dynamite
- Elk
- Espanola
- Freeman
- Garden Springs
- Geiger Heights
- Glenrose
- Greenacres
- Green Bluff
- Hazard
- Highland
- Manito
- Marshall
- Mica
- Milan
- Moab
- Mount Hope
- Newman Lake
- Nine Mile Falls
- Orchard Prairie
- Peone
- Plaza
- Riverside
- Seven Mile
- Silver Lake
- Spokane Bridge
- Spring Valley
- Stringtown
- Tyler
- Valleyford
- Veradale
Ghost towns/neighborhoods
Education
School districts in the county include:
- Central Valley School District
- Cheney School District
- Deer Park School District
- East Valley School District (Spokane)
- Freeman School District
- Great Northern School District
- Liberty School District
- Mead School District
- Medical Lake School District
- Newport School District
- Nine Mile Falls School District
- Orchard Prairie School District
- Reardan-Edwall School District
- Riverside School District
- Rosalia School District
- Spokane Public Schools
- St. John School District
- Tekoa School District
- West Valley School District (Spokane)
Community colleges include:
- Spokane Community College
- Spokane Falls Community College
Universities include:
- Eastern Washington University
- Gonzaga University
- Washington State University
- Whitworth University
- University of Washington
See also
In Spanish: Condado de Spokane para niños