Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

is a

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

located in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Thou ...

region of the United States. As of the

2020 U.S. census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to off ...

, Washington is the 13th most populous state, with inhabitants, and the 18th largest by land area, spanning of land. Washington is divided into 39

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

and contains 281 incorporated municipalities that are divided into cities and towns. Legally, a city in Washington can be described primarily by its class. There are five classes of municipalities in Washington: first class city, second class city, town, unclassified city, and code city. * ''First class cities'' are the 10 cities with a population over 10,000 at the time of reorganization and operating under a home rule charter. They are permitted to perform any function specifically granted them by Title 35 RCW (

Revised Code of Washington The Revised Code of Washington (RCW) is the compilation of all permanent laws currently in force in the U.S. state of Washington. Temporary laws such as appropriations acts are excluded. It is published by the Washington State Statute Law Committ ...

). * ''Second class cities'' are the 9 cities with a population over 1,500 at the time of reorganization and operating without a home rule charter. Like first class cities, they are permitted to perform any function specifically granted them by Title 35 RCW. * ''Towns'' are the 69 municipalities with a population of under 1,500 at the time of reorganization. Towns are not authorized to operate under a charter. Like the previously listed cities, they are permitted to perform any function specifically granted them by Title 35 RCW. In 1994, the legislature made 1,500 the minimum population required to incorporate. * ''Unclassified cities'' are cities that are not operating under any other class. Only one city— Waitsburg, in

Walla Walla County Walla Walla County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 62,584. The county seat and largest city is Walla Walla. The county was formed on April 25, 1854 and is named after the Walla ...

—is unclassified. It operates under the 1881 territorial charter under which it was organized, eight years before Washington was admitted to the Union in 1889. * ''Code cities'' were created by the state legislature in order to grant the greatest degree of local control to municipalities possible under the state constitution and general law. This classification has been adopted by 192 municipalities in Washington. Code cities (shorthand for ''optional municipal code cities'', as encoded by Title 35A RCW) are authorized to perform any function not specifically denied them in the state constitution or by state law. They may perform any function granted to any other city classification under Title 35 RCW. A city in Washington can be described by its form of government. Cities and towns are specifically authorized three forms of government: Commission, Mayor-Council, Council-Manager. The last city to use the three-member ''commission'' form of government was Shelton. In a 2017 Proposition, the residents voted to adopt the council-manager structure. Most cities in Washington have the ''mayor-council'' form of government, which calls for an elected

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

and an elected city council. Cities with a ''council-manager'' system have an elected council and appointed city manager. In addition, if the population of code cites is over 10,000, they may incorporate as ''charter'' code cities. They may then "set out any plan of government deemed 'suitable for the good government of the city'" (RCW 35A.08.050), which need not be a commission, mayor-council, or council-manager form. No charter code city has opted for a different type of government . The largest municipality by population in Washington is

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

with 737,015 residents, and the smallest municipality by population is

Krupp The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krupp ...

with 49 residents. The largest municipality by land area is

, which spans , while Beaux Arts Village is the smallest at .

List of cities

File:Space Needle002.jpg, Skyline of

, Washington's largest city File:SpokaneFromPalisades 20070614.jpg, Skyline of

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

, Washington's second largest city File:Tacoma skyline from Thea Foss Waterway.jpg, Skyline of Tacoma, Washington's third largest city, located in the south Puget Sound area. File:Vancouverwaskyline 004.jpg, Skyline of

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

, a suburb in the

Portland metropolitan area The Portland metropolitan area is a metro area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered on the principal city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) identifies it as the Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, ...

and Washington's fourth largest city File:Aerial Bellevue Washington August 2009.jpg, Aerial view of Bellevue, a

satellite city Satellite cities or satellite towns are smaller municipalities that are adjacent to a principal city which is the core of a metropolitan area. They differ from mere suburbs, subdivisions and especially bedroom communities in that they have m ...

in the

Seattle metropolitan area The Seattle metropolitan area is an urban conglomeration in the U.S. state of Washington that comprises Seattle, its surrounding satellites and suburbs. It contains the three most populous counties in the state—King, Snohomish, and Pierce ...

and the fifth largest municipality in Washington File:Kentstation.jpg, Aerial view of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separ ...

in the

and the sixth largest municipality in Washington File:Everett Station and Everett skyline, April 2020.jpg, Downtown Everett, located in the north Puget Sound area and the seventh largest city in Washington File:Spokane Valley cropper.jpg,

Spokane Valley The Spokane Valley is a valley of the Spokane River through the southern Selkirk Mountains in the U.S. state of Washington. The valley is home to the cities of Spokane and its suburbs Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake, and Millwood. The valley i ...

, a suburb in the

Spokane metropolitan area The Spokane–Spokane Valley Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of Spokane and Stevens counties in Washington state, anchored by the city of Spokane and its largest suburb, Spo ...

, and Washington's ninth largest city (since 2015)

List of towns

Notes

References

General * Up-to-date table of Washington municipalities. * Database of places noting county seats.

External links

Title 35 RCW
(governing all cities)
Title 35A RCW
(governing code cities)
Municipal Research & Services Center of Washington
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Cities In Washington *

Cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...