List of towns in Washington
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Washington is a state located in the Pacific Northwest 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 of ...
, 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 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). * ''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 Wall ...
—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 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 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 Krup ...
with 49 residents. The largest municipality by land area is Seattle, which spans , while
Beaux Arts Village Beaux Arts () is a town located in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States. It is the smallest municipality in the county, with a population of 299 as of the 2010 census and a land area of 0.1 sq mi. There is no town h ...
is the smallest at .


List of cities

File:Space Needle002.jpg, Skyline of Seattle, Washington's largest city File:SpokaneFromPalisades 20070614.jpg, Skyline of Spokane, 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, a suburb in the Portland metropolitan area and Washington's fourth largest city File:Aerial Bellevue Washington August 2009.jpg, Aerial view of Bellevue, a satellite city in the Seattle metropolitan area and the fifth largest municipality in Washington File:Kentstation.jpg, Aerial view of Kent, 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 separate ...
in the Seattle metropolitan area 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, a suburb in the Spokane metropolitan area, 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 * Washington Cities