King County, Washington

King County, Washington
King County Courthouse

Flag
Logo
Map of Washington highlighting King County
Location in the U.S. state of Washington
Map of the United States highlighting Washington
Washington's location in the U.S.
Founded December 22, 1852
Named for William Rufus King (1852–2005)
Martin Luther King, Jr. (2005–present)
Seat Seattle
Largest city Seattle
Area
 • Total 2,307 sq mi (5,975 km2)
 • Land 2,116 sq mi (5,480 km2)
 • Water 191 sq mi (495 km2), 8.3%
Population (est.)
 • (2017) 2,188,649
 • Density 1,034/sq mi (399/km2)
Congressional districts 1st, 7th, 8th, 9th
Time zone Pacific: UTC−8/−7
Website www.kingcounty.gov

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 and name change

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]

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

Map of King County

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,307 square miles (5,980 km2), of which 2,116 square miles (5,480 km2) is land and 191 square miles (490 km2) (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

The Cascade Range (including Granite Mountain shown here) dominates the eastern part of King County.

Terrain

Water

Major highways

Adjacent counties

National protected areas

Demographics

Historical population
CensusPop.%±
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 (47°19′51″N 121°37′12″W / 47.330750°N 121.619994°W / 47.330750; -121.619994 (Washington center of population, 2010)).[22] King County's own center of population was located on Mercer Island (47°32′54″N 122°13′48″W / 47.548320°N 122.229983°W / 47.548320; -122.229983 (King County center of population, 2010)).[23]

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 1,931,249 people, 789,232 households, and 461,510 families 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 789,232 households, 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 present King County Courthouse (2007)

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

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]
Year Republican Democratic Third parties
2016 21.0% 216,339 69.9% 718,322 9.1% 93,789
2012 28.4% 275,700 68.7% 668,004 2.9% 28,317
2008 28.0% 259,716 70.0% 648,230 2.0% 18,511
2004 33.7% 301,043 64.9% 580,378 1.5% 13,307
2000 34.4% 273,171 60.0% 476,700 5.6% 44,325
1996 31.4% 232,811 56.4% 417,846 12.2% 90,447
1992 27.4% 212,986 50.2% 391,050 22.4% 174,557
1988 44.8% 290,574 53.9% 349,663 1.3% 8,720
1984 52.1% 332,987 46.7% 298,620 1.2% 7,654
1980 45.4% 272,567 39.2% 235,046 15.4% 92,544
1976 50.8% 279,382 45.2% 248,743 4.0% 21,994
1972 56.4% 298,707 40.1% 212,509 3.5% 18,478
1968 46.0% 218,457 47.1% 223,469 7.0% 33,009
1964 39.4% 177,598 59.5% 268,216 1.1% 4,826
1960 50.9% 224,150 47.4% 208,756 1.8% 7,904
1956 55.3% 213,504 43.4% 167,443 1.4% 5,276
1952 53.9% 200,507 44.5% 165,583 1.5% 5,681
1948 44.9% 131,039 49.1% 143,295 5.9% 17,301
1944 41.4% 118,719 57.7% 165,308 0.9% 2,577
1940 39.5% 95,504 59.2% 143,134 1.3% 3,165
1936 31.7% 66,544 66.0% 138,597 2.3% 4,904
1932 34.4% 63,346 59.1% 108,738 6.5% 11,947
1928 65.6% 96,263 31.8% 46,604 2.6% 3,811
1924 53.5% 60,438 6.6% 7,404 39.9% 45,098
1920 54.7% 58,584 16.2% 17,369 29.1% 31,171
1916 40.7% 38,959 54.7% 52,362 4.6% 4,387
1912 21.9% 15,579 28.2% 20,088 50.0% 35,642
1908 55.8% 22,297 36.6% 14,644 7.6% 3,052
1904 70.4% 20,434 18.1% 5,266 11.5% 3,329
1900 54.3% 10,218 41.4% 7,804 4.3% 810
1896 44.8% 6,413 54.1% 7,733 1.1% 159
1892 44.2% 6,520 33.7% 4,974 22.1% 3,268

Education

K–12 schools

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

Towns

Census-designated places

Other unincorporated communities

Former cities and towns

Ghost towns

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Court Directory: County-City Reference List". Washington Courts. Retrieved 2017-05-07.
  2. ↑ "Milestones for Washington State History — Part 2: 1851 to 1900". HistoryLink.org. 2003-03-06.
  3. ↑ Reinartz, Kay. "History of King County Government 1853–2002" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-12-01. Retrieved 2007-12-29.
  4. ↑ Bill Speidel, Doc Maynard, The Man Who Invented Seattle (Seattle: Nettle Creek Publishing Co., 1978) ( ISBN 0-914890-02-6).
  5. ↑ "County's Name Is Same, But Meaning Is All New". Toledo Blade. Google News Archive Search. Associated Press. 25 February 1986.
  6. ↑ "What's in a Name? King County renamed for civil rights leader". Spokane Chronicle. Google News Archive Search. Associated Press. 25 February 1986.
  7. ↑ Sims, Ron. "Motion redesignating King County's name". Archived from the original on 2009-05-14. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
  8. ↑ "King County Council names county after Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on February 24, 1986. - HistoryLink.org". www.historylink.org.
  9. ↑ "2005 Senate Bill 5332: Honoring the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr". WashingtonVotes.org. Retrieved 2018-09-25.
  10. ↑ "Bill Information, SB 5332 - 2005-06 - Honoring the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr". Washington State Legislature. Retrieved 2018-09-25.
  11. ↑ ENGROSSED SENATE BILL 5332, 59th Legislature of the State of Washington, 2005 Regular Session.
  12. ↑ Ervin, Keith (February 28, 2006). "County logo to get makeover, show MLK". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on March 14, 2006.
  13. ↑ "Executive praises County Council for approval of new logo". 2007-12-29. Archived from the original on 2007-11-02.
  14. ↑ "Background about the logo- King County - King County". www.kingcounty.gov.
  15. ↑ "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  16. ↑ "American FactFinder". Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  17. ↑ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  18. ↑ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
  21. ↑ "Centers of Population by State: 2010". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on January 3, 2014. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  22. ↑ "Centers of Population by County: 2010". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on March 22, 2014. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  23. 1 2 3 "DP-1 Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 Demographic Profile Data". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  24. ↑ "Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density: 2010 – County". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  25. ↑ "DP02 SELECTED SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS IN THE UNITED STATES – 2006-2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  26. ↑ "DP03 SELECTED ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS – 2006-2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  27. ↑ "It's Rossi by 261; recount is next". The Seattle Times. November 18, 2004. Archived from the original on March 23, 2006.
  28. ↑ Radford, Dean (January 26, 2005). "Proposal would ease creation of new county". King County Journal. Archived from the original on April 4, 2005.
  29. ↑ Radford, Dean (February 6, 2005). "Calls for new county intensify – Rural rage revives drive to escape Seattle influence". King County Journal. Archived from the original on November 18, 2005.
  30. ↑ Cascadecounty.org Archived 2012-02-04 at the Wayback Machine.
  31. ↑ "Cascade County (GIF)".
  32. ↑ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org.

Coordinates: 47°28′N 121°50′W / 47.47°N 121.84°W / 47.47; -121.84

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.