King County, Washington

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King County, Washington
Seattle - City Hall Park & King County Courthouse 01.jpg
King County Courthouse
Flag of King County, Washington
Flag
Logo of King County, Washington
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.)
 • (2014) 2,079,967
 • Density 983/sq mi (380/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. As of the 2010 census its population was 1,931,249.[1] King is the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle,[2] which is the state's largest city.

King County is included in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. About two-thirds of the county's population lives in the city's suburbs. As of 2011, King County was the 86th highest-income county in the United States.

Etymology

The county was originally named after William Rufus King who was Vice-President when the Washington Territory was created. In 1986, a motion was introduced to change the namesake to Martin Luther King, Jr.[3] No public votes or hearings were taken on the change.[4]

On February 24, 1986, the King County Council passed Council Motion 6461 five votes to four setting forth the historical basis for the renaming of King County in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.[5] Because only the state can charter counties, this change was not made official until April 19, 2005, when the Governor signed Senate Bill 5332 into law.

The County Council submitted a vote to the public on February 27, 2006 to change the county's logo from a royal crown to an image of King.[6] On March 12, 2007, the new logo was unveiled.[7]

Martin Luther King Jr. visited King County for two days in November 1961.[8]

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.[9][10]

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.[11]

On February 24, 1986, the King County Council passed Motion 6461 renaming King County to commemorate the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), the civil rights leader, rather than William Rufus de Vane King (1786-1853), the vice-president-elect for whom the county was named in 1852.[12]

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.[13] King County has nearly twice the land area of the state of Rhode Island. The highest point in the county is Mount Daniel at 2,426 meters (7,959 feet) 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

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Water

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Major highways

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Adjacent counties

National protected areas

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop.
1860 302
1870 2,120 602.0%
1880 6,910 225.9%
1890 63,989 826.0%
1900 110,053 72.0%
1910 284,638 158.6%
1920 389,273 36.8%
1930 463,517 19.1%
1940 504,980 8.9%
1950 732,992 45.2%
1960 935,014 27.6%
1970 1,156,633 23.7%
1980 1,269,749 9.8%
1990 1,507,319 18.7%
2000 1,737,034 15.2%
2010 1,931,249 11.2%
Est. 2014 2,079,967 [14] 7.7%
U.S. Decennial Census[15]
1790–1960[16] 1900–1990[17]
1990–2000[18] 2010–2014[1]

As of the census[19] of 2010, there were 1,931,249 people, 789,232 households, and 461,510 families residing in the county. The population density was 817 people per square mile (315/km²). There were 742,237 housing units at an average density of 349 per square mile (135/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 68.7% White, 6.2% Black or African American, 0.8% Native American, 14.6% Asian, 0.8% Pacific Islander, 3.9% of some other race and 5.0% from two or more races. 8.9% of the population were Hispanic or Latino, of any race.

There were 789,232 households, of which 27.1% 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, and 41.5% were non-families. 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.4 and the average family size was 3.05.

In the county, the age distribution was as follows: 21.4% were under the age of 18, 6.7% from 20 to 24, 31.5% from 25 to 44, 26.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37.1 years. For every 100 females there were 99.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county in 2010 was $68,065, and the median income for a family was $87,010. Males had a median income of $45,802 versus $34,321 for females. The per capita income for the county was $29,521. 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.

According to the 2000 census, 13.2% of the population were of German ancestry, while 9.1% English, 8.3% Irish and 5.5% Norwegian ancestry. 81.7% spoke only English at home, while 4.2% spoke Spanish, 2.3% Chinese (incl. all variations), 1.5% Vietnamese, 1.3% Tagalog, and 1.0% Korean.

The center of population of the state of Washington in 2010 was located in eastern King County (Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.).[20] King County's own center of population was located on Mercer Island (Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.).[21]

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, Sheriff (currently John Urquhart), and the King County Assessor (currently Lloyd Hara) 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;[citation needed] 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

Presidential Election Results
Year Democratic Republican
2012 69.07% 668,004 28.51% 275,700
2008 70.30% 648,230 28.17% 259,716
2004 64.95% 580,378 33.69% 301,043
2000 60.02% 476,700 34.40% 273,171
1996 56.38% 417,846 31.41% 232,811
1992 50.23% 391,050 27.36% 212,986
1988 53.88% 349,663 44.78% 290,574
1984 46.71% 298,620 52.09% 332,987
1980 39.16% 235,046 45.42% 272,567
1976 45.20% 248,743 50.80% 279,382
1972 40.1% 212,509 56.4% 298,707
1968 47.1% 223,469 46.0% 218,457
1964 59.5% 268,216 39.4% 177,598
1960 47.4% 208,756 50.8% 224,150

King County, which includes Seattle, is a major center for liberal politics and is a bastion for the Democratic Party. 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 the population in the State of Washington 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 razor-thin governor's race, pushing her ahead of Republican Dino Rossi, who led by 261 votes after the initial count.[22] 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).[23][24] It has recently been revived as Cascade County.[25] According to a map published by the Seattle Times,[26] four different geographic borders are being considered. Additional plans (see Skykomish County, Washington) also exist or have existed.

Education

Schools

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Communities

See also Cities in King County.

Cities

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Towns

Census-designated places

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Unincorporated communities

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Ghost towns

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See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  3. Toledo Blade - Google News Archive Search
  4. Spokane Chronicle - Google News Archive Search
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  10. Bill Speidel, Doc Maynard, The Man Who Invented Seattle (Seattle: Nettle Creek Publishing Co., 1978) (ISBN 0-914890-02-6).
  11. http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=678
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  22. King County Journal: Proposal would ease creation of new county
  23. King County Journal: Calls for new county intensify - Rural rage revives drive to escape Seattle influence
  24. Cascadecounty.org
  25. Cascade County (GIF)

External links

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