Tukwila ( ) is a suburban city in

King County King County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 12th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle ...

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 ...

, United States, located immediately to the south of

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 population was 21,798 at the 2020 census. A large commercial center draws workers and consumers to the city daily; industry thrives with the confluence of rivers, freeways, railroads, and

Seattle–Tacoma International Airport Seattle–Tacoma International Airport is the primary international airport serving Seattle and its surrounding metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It is in the city of SeaTac, which was named after the airport's nickname Se ...

History

The earliest people in Tukwila were the

Duwamish Duwamish may refer to: People * Duwamish people, a Lushootseed-speaking Indigenous people in Washington state * Duwamish Tribe, an unrecognized tribe of Duwamish descendants Places * Duwamish Head, a promontory jutting into Elliott Bay * Duw ...

, who made their homes along the

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

and

rivers. The name "Tukwila" is the

Chinook Jargon Chinook Jargon (' or ', also known simply as ''Chinook'' or ''Jargon'') is a language originating as a pidgin language, pidgin trade language in the Pacific Northwest. It spread during the 19th century from the lower Columbia River, first to othe ...

word for "nut" or "

hazelnut The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus '' Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according to ...

", referring to the hazelnut trees that grew in the area. The Duwamish lived in

cedar Cedar may refer to: Trees and plants *''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae * Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar Places United States * Cedar, Arizona ...

longhouse A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America. Many were built from lumber, timber and ...

s, hunted and fished, picked wild berries, and used the river for trade with neighboring peoples. In 1853, the first white settler was Joseph Foster, a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

pioneer who had traveled to the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (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. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

from

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. Foster would become known as the "Father of Tukwila" and represented King County in the Washington Territorial Assembly for 22 years. Today, the site of Foster's home on the banks of the Duwamish River is part of

Fort Dent Fort Dent is a historic fort and present-day park in Tukwila, Washington. History Fort Dent was a blockhouse built on the orders of Territorial Governor, Isaac Stevens, in approximately 1860. It was located southeast of the confluence of the ...

Park, which also served as a military base during the

Indian Wars The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, was a conflict initially fought by European colonial empires, the United States, and briefly the Confederate States of America and Republic of Texas agains ...

of the 1850s. Foster's name is memorialized in the Foster neighborhood of Tukwila, where Foster High School is located. In the early years, the small village grew into an agricultural center and remained a trading point in the upper Duwamish River Valley. Population began to grow and industry followed, largely farm-oriented commerce. Early electric trains traveled along Interurban Avenue in Tukwila, connecting to Renton and a line to

Tacoma Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, northwest of Mount ...

. The Interurban Railroad operated a commuter line from 1902 to 1928, making it possible to travel from Seattle to Tacoma in less than an hour. A post office was established in 1904 at Riverton, uphill from the interurban line and directly west of Foster. Centered around Marginal Way and South 130th Street, it is Tukwila's most historically intact neighborhood. The original Tukwila was also settled in 1904, further south along the interurban line where a station was established. The first

macadam Macadam is a type of road construction pioneered by Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam , in which crushed stone is placed in shallow, convex layers and compacted thoroughly. A binding layer of stone dust (crushed stone from the original mat ...

paved road in Washington state was in Tukwila and bears the name of this new method of street paving. One of the earliest paved military roads in the state passes through the city. With the main goal of establishing better fire protection and water service, better access to schools and safer roads, Tukwila was incorporated as a fourth-class city on June 14, 1908, with a population of around 450. The original city limits consisted of a single square mile centered around the local interurban depot; Riverton and Foster would be annexed later. The city's first

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, 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 responsibilitie ...

was Joel Shomaker, a newspaperman who gave Tukwila its name soon after his arrival in 1904. Among the city's first council members was Del Adelphia, a famous magician.

Geography

Tukwila is located in western King County, south of

and between the cities of SeaTac to the west and Renton to the east. It lies along the Green River and

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...

, which bisect the city from south to north. 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 city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. The city's tallest building is the Airmark Apartments and Hotel Interurban, a 19-story residential and hotel building near Southcenter that opened in July 2018. It is the tallest habitable building between Seattle and

Neighborhoods

Tukwila is divided into several neighborhoods by the city government for

planning Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. Some researchers regard the evolution of forethought - the cap ...

purposes. The 2015 Comprehensive Land Use Plan identifies them as: *

Allentown Allentown may refer to: Places * Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California * Allentown, Georgia, a city in four counties in Georgia * Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Tazewell County * Allentown, New Jersey, a boroug ...

* Cascade View * Duwamish * Foster * Foster Point * McMicken * Riverton * Ryan Hill * Southcenter (Urban Center) * Thorndyke * Tukwila Hill

Demographics

As of the 2022

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...

, there are 8,098 estimated households in Tukwila with an average of 2.64 persons per household. The city has a median household income of $76,331. Approximately 13.3% of the city's population lives at or 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 ...

. Tukwila has an estimated 72.4% employment rate, with 25.8% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 82.1% holding a high school diploma. The top nine reported ancestries (people were allowed to report up to two ancestries, thus the figures will generally add to more than 100%) were Subsaharan African (8.3%), German (6.0%), English (4.3%), Irish (3.4%), Norwegian (2.2%), Scottish (1.7%), French (except Basque) (1.4%), Italian (1.2%), and Polish (0.5%). The median age in the city was 36.0 years.

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 21,798 people, 8,168 households, and 4,783 families residing in the city. 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 . There were 8,742 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup was 30.03%

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 ...

, 19.02%

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 ...

, 1.08%

Native American Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

, 26.19% Asian, 2.45%

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 ...

, 11.32% from some other races and 9.91% from two or more races.

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While many use the terms interchangeably, for example, the United States Census Bureau ...

people of any race were 18.70% of the population. 18.0% of residents were under the age of 18, 4.7% were under 5 years of age, and 11.2% were 65 and older.

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 19,107 people, 7,157 households, and 4,124 families living in the city. The population density was . There were 7,755 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup was 43.92%

, 17.89%

, 1.12%

, 19.04% Asian, 2.76%

, 9.27% from some other races and 5.99% from two or more races.

people of any race were 17.53% of the population. There were 7,157 households, of which 33.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.6% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 13.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 7.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 42.4% were non-families. 32.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.42. The median age in the city was 33.8 years. 24.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 10.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 32.7% were from 25 to 44; 25.1% were from 45 to 64; and 8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 51.9% male and 48.1% female. The median income for a household is $40,718, and the median income for a family of $42,442. Males had a median income of $35,525 versus $28,913 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 city was $22,354. About 8.8% of families and 12.7% of the population were below the

, including 18.0% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those ages 65 or over.

2000 census

As of the 2000 census, there were 17,181 people, 7,186 households, and 3,952 families living in the city. The

was 1,927.0 people per square mile (743.7/km²). There were 7,725 housing units at an average density of 866.4 per square mile (334.4/km²). The racial makeup was 58.63%

, 12.79%

, 1.30%

, 10.88% Asian, 1.82%

, 8.06% from some other races and 6.51% from two or more races.

people of any race were 13.56% of the population. There were 7,186 households, out of which 28.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.4% were

living together, 12.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.0% were non-families. 34.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 3.09. In the city the population was spread out, with 24.0% under the age of 18, 10.4% from 18 to 24, 37.3% from 25 to 44, 20.5% from 45 to 64, and 7.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 109.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 108.9 males. Tukwila is the most diverse city in King County. Tukwila is the 11th-most diverse city in the United States. The Tukwila School District consists of one of the most diverse range of students in Washington.

Crime

According to the

Uniform Crime Report The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program compiles official data on crime in the United States, published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). UCR is "a nationwide, cooperative statistical effort of nearly 18,000 city, university and co ...

statistics compiled by the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

(FBI) in 2023, there were 224 violent crimes and 4,003 property crimes per 100,000 residents. Of these, the violent crimes consisted of 2 murders, 24 forcible rapes, 140 robberies and 58 aggravated assaults, while 324 burglaries, 2,764 larceny-thefts, 913 motor vehicle thefts and 2 acts of arson defined the property offenses. Tukwila is rated as the most dangerous city in Washington state due to its high crime rate.

Economy

Tukwila's location at the confluence of rivers, freeways and railroads has made it an important center of commerce. Approximately 45,000 people work in Tukwila.

Westfield Southcenter Westfield Southcenter, formerly known as Southcenter Mall, is a shopping mall located in Tukwila, Washington, United States. Owned by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, it is the largest shopping center in Washington state and the Pacific Northwest. Th ...

(formerly Southcenter Mall), Puget Sound's largest shopping complex, is located in the city, as are a number of

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

corporate facilities. Tukwila is also the location of corporate datacenters, including those of

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

, Internap, the

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 ...

Savvis Savvis is a subsidiary of Lumen Technologies (formerly CenturyLink) that sells managed hosting and colocation services headquartered in Town and Country, Missouri. The company owns more than 50 data centers spread across North America, Europe ...

AboveNet AboveNet was a provider of high Bandwidth (computing), bandwidth telecommunication circuits primarily for large corporate enterprises and communications carriers in 17 markets in the United States and 4 markets in Europe. Its private optical networ ...

, digital.forest, HopOne, and Fortress Colocation. Most of these are located at Sabey Corporation's Intergate Seattle campus near

Boeing Field King County International Airport , commonly Boeing Field, is a public airport owned and operated by King County, Washington, King County, south of downtown Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. The airport is sometimes r ...

. In 2021, Seagle Properties announced sales for the Prato District, a mixed-use office, manufacturing, and retail area south of Southcenter. Preparations for the development, which began in 2009 as Tukwila South, included an extension of Southcenter Parkway built by the city government in 2012.

Top employers

According to the city's 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, the largest employers in the city are:

Government and politics

The city of Tukwila leans overwhelmingly Democratic like its neighbor Seattle and King County as a whole. It cast nearly three-quarters of its ballots for

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

in the

2020 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala H ...

and more than two-thirds of its ballots for

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...

in the

2024 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 2024. The Republican Party (United States), Republican Party's Ticket (election), ticket—Donald Trump, who was the 45th president of ...

Education

Tukwila School District, which covers the vast majority of the city, has five schools: Cascade View Elementary School, Thorndyke Elementary School, Tukwila Elementary School, Showalter Middle School, and Foster High School. Foster High School is among the most racially diverse schools in the United States, with students from 50 countries speaking 45 languages . Also in the city is Raisbeck Aviation High School, a public technical school operated by the

Highline Public Schools Highline Public Schools (HPS) is a public school district in King County, headquartered in Burien, Washington. As of October 2007, it served 17,331 students and had 997 teachers, and served the cities of Burien, much of Des Moines, Normandy ...

that opened in 2004. Other portions of the city are in the boundaries of the Highline Public Schools,

Renton School District Renton School District 403 is a public school district headquartered in Renton, Washington, USA. The district boundaries include the vast majority of Renton, all of Bryn Mawr-Skyway, and portions of the adjacent cities and communities of Bellev ...

Kent School District The Kent School District #415 is a public school district in the U.S. state of Washington, headquartered in Kent. Covering , the Kent School District has 44 schools (29 elementary schools, 7 middle schools, 2 academy schools, and 4 high schoo ...

, and

Seattle Public Schools Seattle Public Schools is the largest Public school (government funded), public school district in the state of Washington (state), Washington. The school district serves almost all of Seattle. Additionally it includes sections of Boulevard Par ...

Sports

The

Seattle Seawolves The Seattle Seawolves are an American professional rugby union team based in the Seattle metropolitan area that competes in Major League Rugby (MLR). The team was founded in 2017. The Seawolves won two MLR championships in 2018 and 2019, and los ...

, two-time champions of

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR) is a professional rugby union competition in the United States. The league comprises 11 teams. While operating outside of the governance and oversight of the national governing body, the league is officially sanctioned ...

, had played their home games at the

Starfire Sports Starfire Sports is a multi-purpose stadium and sporting facility in Tukwila, Washington, United States. It is located on the banks of the Green River (Duwamish River), Green River, just south of Seattle. The stadium is operated by the nonprofit ...

complex since 2018. The complex also served as the administrative and training home of the

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The club was established on ...

, and the main ground of their affiliate the

Tacoma Defiance The Tacoma Defiance, formerly Seattle Sounders FC 2, are an American professional soccer team based in the Puget Sound region in Tukwila, Washington, United States. The team competes in MLS Next Pro, a league in the third tier of the United Sta ...

, until their move to

Longacres Longacres was a Thoroughbred racing, Thoroughbred horse racetrack in Renton, Washington, Renton, Washington (U.S. state), Washington, United States. Owned by the Gottstein/Alhadeff family and operated by the Washington Jockey Club for the va ...

in 2024.

Seattle Reign FC Seattle Reign FC is an American professional soccer team based in Seattle, Washington, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2012, it is one of eight inaugural members of the NWSL. Since June 2024, the Reign ar ...

moved their training facilities to Starfire in 2023 and will expand in the former Sounders space.

Culture

The

Museum of Flight The Museum of Flight is a private Nonprofit organization, non-profit Aircraft, air and Spacecraft, space museum in the Seattle metropolitan area. It is located at the southern end of Boeing Field, King County International Airport (Boeing Fi ...

is an air and space museum located in the extreme northern part of Tukwila, adjacent to

. Tukwila is also home to the Rainier Symphony, which conducts several performances each year at the Foster Performing Arts Center in Tukwila. In the 1990s and 2000s, "visiting Tukwila" was used as a euphemism for marital intercourse by ''Seattle Times'' columnist Erik Lacitis.

Transportation

The city is served by

Amtrak Cascades The Amtrak ''Cascades'' is a passenger train route in the Pacific Northwest, operated by Amtrak in partnership with the U.S. states of Washington (state), Washington and Oregon. It is named after the Cascade Range, Cascade mountain range that ...

and

Sound Transit Sound Transit (ST), officially the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, is a public transit agency serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It manages the Link light rail system in Se ...

Sounder commuter rail Sounder is a commuter rail system that serves the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. Managed by Sound Transit, it uses of tracks, primarily owned by operator BNSF Railway, and runs with equipment maintained by Amtra ...

Tukwila station Tukwila station is a train station in Tukwila, Washington, United States. The station was built by Sound Transit to serve its Sounder commuter rail service on the S Line, as well as Amtrak's intercity ''Cascades'' line. It includes 390 ...

, while Sound Transit's

Link light rail Link light rail is a light rail system with some rapid transit characteristics that serves the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It is managed by Sound Transit in partnership with local transit pro ...

service serves

Tukwila International Boulevard station Tukwila International Boulevard station is a light rail station in Tukwila, Washington, United States. It is located between SeaTac/Airport and Rainier Beach stations on the 1 Line from Seattle–Tacoma International Airport to Downto ...

Notable residents

* Jacob Castro, soccer player * William Cumming, artist and political activist * Zack Hudgins, former member of the Washington House of Representatives * Jim North,

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

player for the

Washington Commanders The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) East division ...

* Mario Segale, real estate developer and namesake of video game character

Mario Mario (; ) is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Ja ...

References

External links

City of Tukwila – Official website

Seattle Southside Regional Tourism Authority

"Visiting Tukwila" takes on a whole new meaning"
''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

'' {{Authority control Cities in King County, Washington Cities in the Seattle metropolitan area Populated places established in 1853 1853 establishments in Washington Territory Cities in Washington (state) Washington (state) placenames of Native American origin