Spokane County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. 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 A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

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

, the second largest city in the state after

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. The county is named after the

Spokane people The Spokan or Spokane people are a Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau, Native American Plateau tribe who inhabit the eastern portion of present-day Washington (state), Washington state and parts of northern Idaho in the United States o ...

. Spokane County is part of 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, Spokan ...

, which is also part of the greater

Spokane–Coeur d'Alene combined statistical area Spokane–Coeur d'Alene combined statistical area, officially the Spokane–Spokane Valley–Coeur d'Alene, WA–ID CSA as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is a combined statistical area that comprises the Spokane metropolitan area and ...

that includes nearby

Kootenai County, Idaho Kootenai County ( ) is located in the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, its population was 171,362, making it the third-most populous county in Idaho and the largest in North Idaho, the county accounting for 45.4% of the region's ...

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 A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived Lifestyle, lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, esp ...

societies who lived off the plentiful game in the area. Initially, the settlers hunted predominantly

bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...

and

antelope The term antelope refers to numerous extant or recently extinct species of the ruminant artiodactyl family Bovidae that are indigenous to most of Africa, India, the Middle East, Central Asia, and a small area of Eastern Europe. Antelopes do ...

, but after the game migrated out of the region, the native people became dependent on gathering various roots, berries, and nuts, and harvesting fish.Ruby et al. (2006) pp. 5–6 The Spokane tribe, after which the county is named, means "Children of the Sun" or "sun people" in

Salishan The Salishan languages ( ), also known as the Salish languages ( ), are a family of languages found in the Pacific Northwest in North America, namely the Canadian province of British Columbia and the American states of Washington, Oregon, Ida ...

Phillips (1971), pp. 134–135 Explorer-geographer David Thompson, working as head of the

North West Company The North West Company was a Fur trade in Canada, Canadian fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada a ...

's Columbia Department, became the first European to explore what is now the

Inland Northwest The Inland Northwest, historically and alternatively known as the Inland Empire, is a region of the Northwestern United States centered on the Greater Spokane, Washington Area, encompassing all of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho. Under ...

.Stratton (2005), p. 19 After establishing the

Kullyspell House Kullyspell House (also spelled Kullyspel House) was a fur trading post established in 1809 on Lake Pend Oreille in what is now North Idaho. It was built by Finan McDonald under the direction of David Thompson of the North West Company. The post ...

and

Saleesh House Saleesh House, also known as Flathead Post, was a North West Company fur trading post built near present-day Thompson Falls, Montana in 1809 by David Thompson and James McMillan of the North West Company. It became a Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) po ...

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 Jacques Raphaël Finlay (1768–1828), commonly known as Jaco or Jacco (pr. Jocko), was an early Canadian fur trader, scout, and explorer associated with the North West Company. He built Spokane House and Kootanae House, two key fur-trading posts ...

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 River The Spokane River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northern Idaho and eastern Washington in the United States. It drains a low mountainous area east of the Columbia, passing through the Spokane Valley and the city o ...

s, becoming the first enduring European settlement of significance in Washington. Known as the

Spokane House Spokane House was a Factory (trading post), fur-trading post founded in 1810 by the British-Canadian North West Company, located on a peninsula where the Spokane River and Little Spokane River meet. When established, the North West Company's fart ...

, or simply "Spokane", it was in operation from 1810 to 1826. Spokane County was established by the

Washington Territorial Legislature The Washington State Legislature is the state legislature of the State of Washington. It is a bicameral body, composed of the lower Washington House of Representatives, composed of 98 representatives, and the upper Washington State Senate, wit ...

effective January 29, 1858, from a portion of

Walla Walla County Walla Walla County ( ) is a county located in the southeast of the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 62,584. The county seat and most populous city is Walla Walla. The county was formed on April 25, 1854 and i ...

, which originally encompassed most of eastern

Washington Territory The Washington Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...

between the Cascades and

Rockies The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

. The new county was bound to the west by the Columbia and

Snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

rivers and to the east by the Rockies; it included portions of modern-day

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

and

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

. The territorial legislature designated the farm of Angus McLeod as the temporary

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 The Bitterroot Valley is located in southwestern Montana, along the Bitterroot River between the Bitterroot Range and Sapphire Mountains, in the Northwestern United States. Geography The valley extends approximately from Lost Trail Pass in I ...

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 Fort Colville was a U.S. Army post in the Washington Territory located north of current Colville, Washington. During its existence from 1859 to 1882, it was called "Harney's Depot" and "Colville Depot" during the first two years, and finally "Fo ...

. 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 Missoula County is a county located in the state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 117,922, making it Montana's third most populous county. Its county seat and most populous city is Missoula. The county was founded in 186 ...

in December 1860 and followed by Shoshone County and Nez Perce County in 1861. These areas became part of the new

Idaho Territory The Territory of Idaho was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 3, 1863, until July 3, 1890, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as Idaho. History 1860s The 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 Spokane Falls is the name of a waterfall and dam on the Spokane River, located in the central business district in downtown Spokane, Washington. The city of Spokane was also initially named "Spokane Falls". History The Native American name ...

(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 Wenatchee ( ) is the county seat and most populous city of Chelan County, Washington, United States. The population within the city limits in 2010 was 31,925, and has increased to 35,508 as of 2020. Located in the north-central part of the stat ...

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 The Northern Pacific Railway was an important American transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the Western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest between 1864 and 1970. It was approved and chartered b ...

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 United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the county has a total area of , of which (0.9%) are covered by water. The lowest point in the county is the Spokane River behind

Long Lake Dam Long Lake Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Spokane River, between Lincoln County, Washington, Lincoln County and Stevens County, Washington, Stevens County about northwest of Spokane, Washington, Spokane in eastern Washington (U.S. state), Wa ...

(boundary of Stevens County) at

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. (Virtually no change in

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

occurs between the dam and the mouth of the Little Spokane River inside

Riverside State Park Riverside State Park is a Washington state park located northwest of Spokane in the community of Nine Mile Falls. The park protects of Okanagan dry forest along the Spokane and Little Spokane rivers. It is the second largest state park in W ...

.) The highest point in the county is the summit of

Mount Spokane Mount Spokane levation ��previously known as Mount Baldy until 1912 due to its pronounced bald spot—is a mountain in the northwest United States, located northeast of Spokane, Washington. Its summit is the highest point in Spokane County, a ...

at . 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

—the

Coeur d'Alene Mountains The Coeur d'Alene Mountains are the northwesternmost portion of the Bitterroot Range, part of the Rocky Mountains, located in northern Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mount ...

, which rise to the east in northern Idaho. Spokane County lies in a transition area between the eastern edge of the basaltic

Channeled Scablands The Channeled Scablands are a relatively barren and soil-free region of interconnected relict and dry flood channels, coulees and cataracts eroded into Palouse loess and the typically flat-lying basalt flows that remain after cataclysmic floods ...

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 The Saltese Flats is a Flat (landform), flat located in Spokane County, just outside Washington (state), Greenacres Washington, United States. The flats are occupied by the residual wetlands of the now-drained Saltese Lake. The term Saltese Flats ...

and

Saltese Uplands The Saltese Uplands Conservation Area is a 522 acre conservation area in Spokane County in the U.S. state of Washington. The conservation area covers the Saltese Uplands, which are situated on the western slope of the Holiday Hills, immediately to ...

is characterized as a

shrub–steppe Shrub-steppe is a type of low-rainfall natural grassland. While arid, shrub-steppes have sufficient moisture to support a cover of perennial grasses or shrubs, a feature which distinguishes them from deserts. The primary ecological processes hi ...

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

steppe plain and the Northern Rockies ecoregion in the northwest portion, which is the rugged and forested

Selkirk Mountains The Selkirk Mountains are a mountain range spanning the northern portion of the Idaho Panhandle, eastern Washington, and southeastern British Columbia which are part of a larger grouping of mountains, the Columbia Mountains. They begin at Mic ...

Rivers and streams

Cable Creek Cable Creek is a stream of approximately which rises in the U.S. state of Idaho and has its mouth across the state line in Washington. A tributary of the Spokane River that flows from the forested slopes of Mica Peak into the suburban Spokane ...

Latah Creek Latah Creek ( ), also known as Hangman Creek, is a large stream in eastern Washington and north central Idaho in the United States. The creek flows northwest from the Rocky Mountains to Spokane, where it empties into the Spokane River. It dr ...

*** Marshall Creek *** Garden Springs Creek **

Little Spokane River The Little Spokane River is a major tributary of the Spokane River, approximately long, in eastern Washington in the United States. It drains a rural area of forested foothills and a farming valley north of the city of Spokane along the Idaho– ...

** Deep Creek *** Coulee Creek *

Saltese Creek Saltese Creek is an approximately long stream in Spokane County, Washington, United States. Originally only , the lower of the stream, along with around of drainage canals were dug to drain Saltese Lake. The stream now functions as one of two ...

Lakes and reservoirs

* Eloika Lake * Liberty Lake * Medical Lake * West Medical Lake * Newman Lake *

Shelley Lake Shelley Lake is a small lake located entirely in the city of Spokane Valley, in the U.S. state of Washington. The lake is surrounded on three sides by the 248 lot gated community of Shelley Lake Estates. The lake is kept full by Saltese Creek, wh ...

Notable summits and peaks

* Mount Kit Carson *

Mica Peak Mica Peak is the name of two separate mountain summits in the United States located approximately apart; one in Spokane County, Washington and the other in Kootenai County, Idaho. The two peaks are located along the same ridge, which separates ...

Krell Hill Krell Hill, also known as Tower Mountain, is a peak at the southern end of the Selkirk Mountains in Spokane County, Washington. It rises abruptly to the southeast of the relatively flat South Hill area of the city of Spokane. An area of high ...

Notable parks

* Dishman Hills Natural Conservation Area *

* Riverfront Park * Manito Park *

Mount Spokane State Park Mount Spokane State Park is a public recreation area in the Northwestern United States, located in the Selkirk Mountains, northeast of the city of Spokane, Washington. The state park surrounds Mount Spokane and other peaks including Mount Kit C ...

National protected area

Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge The Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge is located six miles (10 km) south of Cheney, Washington, on the eastern edge of the Columbia Basin in Spokane County in northeastern Washington. Turnbull NWR encompasses more than of the Channeled S ...

Major highways

Interstate 90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain states, Mountain West, Great Pla ...

U.S. Route 2 U.S. Route 2 or U.S. Highway 2 (US 2) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway System, United States Numbered Highway spanning across the northern continental United States. US 2 consists of two segments connected ...

* U.S. Route 195 * U.S. Route 395 * State Route 27 * State Route 206 * State Route 290 * State Route 291 * State Route 902 * State Route 904

Adjacent counties

* Stevens County – northwest * Pend Oreille County – north *

Bonner County, Idaho Bonner County is a County (United States), county in the northern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 47,110. The county seat and largest city is Sandpoint, Idaho, Sandpoint. Par ...

– northeast *

– east *

Benewah County, Idaho Benewah County () is a county located in the northwest part of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States census the county had a population of 9,530. The county seat and largest city is St. Maries, which has some area inside the ...

– southeast * Whitman County – south * Lincoln County – west

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 539,339 people, 212,470 households, and 132,324 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was averaging 2.46 persons per household. There were 224,019 housing units had an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 82.1%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.0%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.5% Native American, 2.3% Asian, 0.8%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 2.2% from some other races and 9.0% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

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 A high school diploma (sometimes referred to as a high school degree) is a diploma awarded upon graduation of high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary s ...

GED Ged or GED may refer to: Places * Ged, Louisiana, an unincorporated community in the United States * Ged, a village in Bichiwara Tehsil, Dungarpur District, Rajasthan, India * Delaware Coastal Airport, in Delaware, US, callsign GED People * Ged B ...

, or higher; and 31.5% obtaining a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

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 . The 201,434 housing units had an average density of . 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 American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

. 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 The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 17.0% of those under age 18 and 8.5% of those age 65 or over.

2000 census

As of the 2000 census, there were 417,939 people, 163,611 households, and 106,019 families were in the county. The

was . The 175,005 housing units had an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 88.62% White, 2.00% African American, 1.40% Native American, 1.88% Asian, 0.16% Pacific Islander, 0.82% from other races, and 2.76% from two or more races; 2.77% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race. About 22.0% were of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, 10.7% Irish, 9.9%

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

, 7.6% American, and 6.4% Norwegian ancestry. Of the 163,611 households, 32.4% had children under 18 living with them, 49.9% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.2% were not families. About 28.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.6% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.46, and the average family size was 3.02. In the county, the age distribution was 25.7% under 18, 10.6% from 18 to 24, 28.9% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females. there were 96.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.60 males. The median income for a household in the county was $37,308, and for a family was $46,463. Males had a median income of $35,097 versus $25,526 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $19,233. About 8.30% of families and 12.30% of the population were below the

, including 14.20% of those under age 18 and 8.10% of those age 65 or over.

Law and government

Spokane County is governed by a

partisan Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Ital ...

board of county commissioners, one from each of five districts. They run in a partisan

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

within their own district, then compete countywide in the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

. Other elected officials include the

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting an ...

(who is also responsible for elections), assessor,

treasurer A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization. Government The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...

, and

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

, which are also partisan offices. Spokane County has an appointed

medical examiner The medical examiner is an appointed official in some American jurisdictions who is trained in pathology and investigates deaths that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdicti ...

. In 2023, Spokane County expanded the number of County Commissioner seats from 3 to 5. As of January 2023, the current commissioners for Spokane County are Chris Jordan (

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

), Amber Waldref (

), Josh Kerns ( Republican), Mary Kuney ( Republican), and Al French ( Republican), from the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth county districts, respectively. The previous

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

was Ozzie D. Knezovich, who was appointed on April 11, 2006, and retired on December 31, 2022. The current elected Sheriff of Spokane County is John Nowels, whose term began on January 1, 2023. Transportation planning within the county is handled by the Spokane Regional Transportation Council, a

metropolitan planning organization A metropolitan planning organization (MPO) is a federally mandated and federally funded transportation policy-making organization in the United States that is made up of representatives from local government and governmental transportation authorit ...

that was created in 1962. It distributes federal and state funds for transportation projects and updates the long-range transportation plan for Spokane County.

Politics

Spokane County is rather conservative for an urban county, voting Republican for president all but three times since 1948. Democratic strength is concentrated in Spokane itself and in Cheney, which is home to

Eastern Washington University Eastern Washington University (EWU) is a public university in Cheney, Washington, United States. It shares its satellite campus in Spokane, Washington with Washington State University. Founded in 1882, the university is academically divided in ...

, while the suburban areas are heavily Republican. The Republican edge has narrowed somewhat since the turn of the century. In the last five elections, the margin has been under 9% each time. The county was one of two in

Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the H ...

to vote for

2018 Washington Initiative 1639 Initiative 1639 was a Washington (state), Washington state ballot initiative concerning firearms regulation that was passed into law on November 6, 2018. The initiative altered the Gun laws in Washington (state), gun laws in Washington by defin ...

, which strengthened gun laws, along with neighboring Whitman County.

Flag and symbols

The county government adopted an official flag in 1988 following a public design contest sponsored by the Spokane County Centennial Commission. The winning entry from Stephanie Bumgarner-Ott, the daughter of state legislator Gary Bumgarner, depicts the ceremonial

headdress Headgear, headwear, or headdress is any element of clothing which is worn on one's head, including hats, helmets, turbans and many other types. Headgear is worn for many purposes, including protection against the elements, decoration, or fo ...

of the

against a yellow sun; the background is green with a diagonal blue stripe to represent the Spokane River. The flag was sent for display at the

Washington State Capitol The Washington State Capitol (or "''Legislative Building")'' in Olympia is the home of the government of the state of Washington. It contains the chambers of the Washington State Legislature, offices for the governor, lieutenant governor, s ...

for the state centennial in 1989 and 25 copies were made at a cost of $1,751.75; it was used for official events, including the funeral of a county commissioner, but was not on permanent display in Spokane County buildings. One copy of the flag was stored in a vault in the county courthouse until 1995 and later lost again. The county government announced plans to decommission the design in 2002 and hold a new public contest due to the original flag's appearance, which was deemed potentially offensive to Native Americans. A new county seal was adopted in 2005 that depicts the county courthouse.

Communities

Cities

Airway Heights Airway Heights is a city in Spokane County, Washington, United States, just west of Spokane. It is part of the Spokane metropolitan area and had a population of 10,757 at the 2020 census. The city's name was taken from its close proximity to the ...

* Cheney * Deer Park * Liberty Lake * Medical Lake * Millwood * Spangle *

(county seat) *

Spokane Valley The Spokane Valley is a valley of the Spokane River through the southern Selkirk Mountains in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. The valley is home to the cities of Spokane and its suburbs Spokane Valley, Washington, Spokane Vall ...

Towns

* Fairfield *

Latah Latah is a condition in which abnormal behaviors result from a person experiencing a sudden shock or other external stressor almost exclusively having been observed in persons from Southeast Asia. When induced, the affected person typically enga ...

* Rockford * Waverly

Census-designated places

* Country Homes *

Fairchild Air Force Base Fairchild Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base, located in the northwest United States in eastern Washington, approximately southwest of Spokane. The host unit at Fairchild is the 92nd Air Refueling Wing (92 ARW) assigned ...

* Fairwood * Four Lakes *

Mead Mead (), also called honey wine, and hydromel (particularly when low in alcohol content), is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alco ...

* Otis Orchards-East Farms * Town and Country

Unincorporated communities

Amber Amber is fossilized tree resin. Examples of it have been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since the Neolithic times, and worked as a gemstone since antiquity."Amber" (2004). In Maxine N. Lurie and Marc Mappen (eds.) ''Encyclopedia ...

* Buckeye * Chattaroy * Colbert * Deep Creek * Denison *

Duncan Duncan may refer to: People * Duncan (given name), various people * Duncan (surname), various people * Clan Duncan * Justice Duncan (disambiguation) Places * Duncan Creek (disambiguation) * Duncan River (disambiguation) * Duncan Lake (di ...

Dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern German ...

Elk The elk (: ''elk'' or ''elks''; ''Cervus canadensis'') or wapiti, is the second largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. ...

* Espanola *

Freeman Freeman, free men, Freeman's or Freemans may refer to: Places United States * Freeman, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Freeman, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Freeman, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Freeman, South Dako ...

* Garden Springs * Geiger Heights * Glenrose * Greenacres * Green Bluff *

Hazard A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would potentially allow them to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probability of that ...

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

* Manito *

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...

Mica Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into fragile elastic plates. This characteristic is described as ''perfect basal cleavage''. Mica is co ...

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

Moab Moab () was an ancient Levant, Levantine kingdom whose territory is today located in southern Jordan. The land is mountainous and lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by ...

* Mount Hope * Newman Lake * Nine Mile Falls * Orchard Prairie * Peone *

Plaza A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Rela ...

* Riverside * Seven Mile * Silver Lake * Spokane Bridge * Spring Valley * Stringtown * Tyler * Valleyford * Veradale

Ghost towns/neighborhoods

Babb Babb is surname of mostly English origin which has been documented as far back as 1322 in Devon County, England. While the name appears to have originated in the Devon area, Y-DNA Genetic testing has revealed a number of distinct lineages throughout ...

* Coey * Darknell *

Dragoon Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat wi ...

Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

* Geib *

Hite Hite or HITE may refer to: *HiteJinro, a South Korean brewery **Hite Brewery *Hite (surname) *Hite, California, former name of Hite Cove, California *Hite, Utah Historic Hite is a flooded ghost town at the north end of Lake Powell along the Co ...

Lyons Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

* Mock * North Pine * Rahm *

Rodna Rodna (formerly ''Rodna Veche''; ; ) is a Commune in Romania, commune in Bistrița-Năsăud County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of two villages, Rodna and Valea Vinului (''Radnaborberek''). Its name is derived from a Slavic word, ''wikt ...

* Saxby * Scribner * Wallner

Education

School districts in the county include:
Text list
/ref> * Central Valley School District *

Cheney School District Cheney School District No. 360 is a public school district in Spokane County, Washington and serves the towns of Cheney, Airway Heights, and the surrounding area. The district offers classes from Kindergarten to Grade 12. As of 2018, the dis ...

* Deer Park School District *

East Valley School District (Spokane) East Valley School District encompasses approximately in the City of Spokane Valley and areas of unincorporated Spokane County. The district boundaries extend from Butler Road in Spokane Valley east to the Idaho border, and from the Spokane Ri ...

Freeman School District Freeman, free men, Freeman's or Freemans may refer to: Places United States * Freeman, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Freeman, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Freeman, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Freeman, South Dakot ...

* Great Northern School District * Liberty School District *

Mead School District Mead School District No. 354 was a public School district serving Mead and North Spokane communities for over 100 years. Over 10,000 students attend the 18 schools in the district which consists of two high schools, an alternative high school, ...

Medical Lake School District Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...

* Newport School District *

Nine Mile Falls School District Nine Mile Falls School District No. 325/179 is a public school district in the counties of Spokane and Stevens, Washington, USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primaril ...

* Orchard Prairie School District *

Reardan-Edwall School District Reardan-Edwall School District is a school district in Washington, headquartered in Reardan. It serves a large section of eastern Lincoln County including the communities of Reardan and Edwall, as well as a section of rural western Spokane C ...

* Riverside School District * Rosalia School District *

Spokane Public Schools Spokane Public Schools (District No. 81) is a public school district in Spokane County, Washington, and serves the city of Spokane. The district includes oversight and administration of seven high schools, six middle schools, and 34 elementary ...

* St. John School District * Tekoa School District *

West Valley School District (Spokane) West Valley School District (WVSD) is located in the city of Spokane Valley, Washington, United States. The district has five elementary schools, two middle schools, and three high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, ...

Community colleges include: *

Spokane Community College Spokane Community College is a Public college, public community college in Spokane, Washington. It is part of the Community Colleges of Spokane and was established in 1963. Academics SCC offers associate degree, bachelor's degrees, and certif ...

Spokane Falls Community College Spokane Falls Community College (SFCC) is a Public college, public community college in Spokane, Washington. Established in 1967, it is a part of the Community Colleges of Spokane. SFCC enrolls approximately 3,805 students and has an open admis ...

Universities include: *

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) ( ) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington, United States. It is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges ...

Washington State University Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...

Whitworth University Whitworth University is a private Christian university that is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and located in Spokane, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, Whitworth enrolls nearly 2,600 students and offers more than 100 gradua ...

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spokane, Washington 1858 establishments in Washington Territory Populated places established in 1858 Eastern Washington Washington (state) placenames of Native American origin

Spokane County 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 c ...