Pierce County
FACT SHEET
Name origin: Named for Franklin Pierce (1804–1869), 14th President of the United States (1853-57), although he was merely the president-elect at the time the county was created.
- Established: 1852 Dec 22
- County seat: Tacoma
- County government website
- Upcoming events (via WA-List’s events calendar)
- Population (2010): 795,225 (Rank: 2 of 39)
- Area (2010): 1,669.51 square miles (Rank: 23 of 39)
- Density (2010): 476.3 people per square miles (Rank: 4 of 39)
- Highest elevation: 14,411 feet, Mount Rainier.
Cities and Towns | Population | Area | Density | Elevation | Zip code | |||||
(sq miles) | (pop/sq miles) | (feet) | ||||||||
1. | Tacoma | ⊕ | city | 198,397 | 49.72 | 3,990.2 | 150 | 984** | ||
Auburn 1 | city | 70,180 | See King County | |||||||
2. | Lakewood | ⊕ | city | 58.163 | 17.17 | 3,387.5 | 100 | 984** | ||
3. | Puyallup | ⊕ | city | 37,022 | 13.93 | 2,658.3 | 45 | 9837* | ||
4. | University Place | ⊕ | city | 31,144 | 8.42 | 3,697.9 | 9846* | |||
5. | Bonney Lake | ⊕ | city | 17,374 | 7.94 | 2,187.6 | 585 | 98391 | ||
Enumclaw 1 | city | 10,669 | See King County | |||||||
6. | Sumner | ⊕ | city | 9,451 | 7.51 | 1,258.8 | 60 | 98390 | ||
7. | Edgewood | city | 9,387 | 8.41 | 1,115.9 | 400 | 9837* | |||
8. | Fife | city | 9,173 | 5.68 | 1,613.5 | 30 | 98424 | |||
9. | DuPont | ⊕ | city | 8,199 | 5.86 | 1,399.6 | 225 | 98327 | ||
10. | Gig Harbor | city | 7,126 | 5.95 | 1,198.3 | 175 | 983** | |||
11. | Milton 1 | city | 7,048 | 2.51 | 2,778.3 | 150 | 98354 | |||
12. | Orting | city | 6,746 | 2.73 | 2,472.9 | 286 | 98360 | |||
Pacific1 | city | 6,606 | See King County | |||||||
13. | Fircrest | ⊕ | city | 6,497 | 1.58 | 4,114.6 | 380 | 98466 | ||
14. | Steilacoom | ⊕ | town | 5,985 | 2.04 | 2,933.8 | 25 | 98388 | ||
15. | Buckley | city | 4,354 | 3.87 | 1,125.1 | 720 | 98321 | |||
16. | Eatonville | town | 2,758 | 1.82 | 1,515.4 | 800 | 98328 | |||
17. | Roy | city | 793 | 0.49 | 1,618.4 | 315 | 98580 | |||
18. | Ruston | city | 749 | 0.26 | 2,880.7 | 50 | 98407 | |||
19. | Carbonado | town | 610 | 0.42 | 1,452.4 | 1,000 | 98323 | |||
20. | Wilkeson | ⊕ | town | 477 | 0.47 | 1,014.9 | 805 | 98396 | ||
21. | South Prairie | town | 434 | 0.39 | 1,112.8 | 430 | 98385 |
1 Auburn, Enumclaw, Milton, and Pacific span the King-Pierce county lines. Milton is mostly in Pierce County so it is listed here. Most of Auburn, Enumclaw, and Pacific are in King County and are thus listed there.
Unincorporated communities (CDPs) among the 20 largest in the state (with 2010 population):
- South Hill, 52,431
- Parkland, 35.803
- Spanaway, 27,227
- Graham, 23,491
- Frederickson, 18,719
Additional facts
- Pierce County has the 2nd largest population in Washington. It also has the 4th largest population density.
- Tacoma is the 3rd most populated city in the state. Lakewood is 17th.
- Tacoma has the 3rd largest land area for a city in Washington.
- Not only is Pierce County home to the highest point in the state — Mount Rainier ⊕ — it is one of only 4 counties that has at least one peak about 10,000 feet in elevation.
Notes
- This page is updated periodically in an effort to keep information accurate and offer additional data.
- ⊕ = link to map
- All population and area data are from the 2010 United States Census. All population density figures for cities greater than 5,000 people are as well. Densities of smaller towns and cities were calculated separately using US Census data.