Auburn is a city in King County, Washington, United States (with a small portion crossing into neighboring Pierce County). The population was 87,256 at the 2020 Census. Auburn is a suburb in the

Seattle metropolitan area The Seattle metropolitan area is an urban conglomeration in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington that comprises Seattle, its surrounding Satellite city, satellites and suburbs. The United States Census Bureau defines the Seattle–T ...

, and is currently ranked as the 15th most populous city in the state of Washington. The Muckleshoot Indian Reservation lies to the south and southeast.

History

Before the first European arrived in the Green River Valley in the 1850s, the area was home to the

Muckleshoot The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe ( ; ), also known as the Muckleshoot Tribe, is a federally-recognized tribe located in Auburn, Washington. The tribe governs the Muckleshoot Reservation and is composed of descendants of the Duwamish, Stkamish, ...

people, who were temporarily driven out by

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 ...

later that decade. Several settler families arrived in the 1860s, including Levi Ballard, who set up a homestead between the Green and White rivers. Ballard filed for a

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...

to establish a town in February 1886, naming it Slaughter for an officer slain during the Indian wars in 1855. Slaughter was incorporated on June 13, 1891, but its name was changed two years later to Auburn on February 21, 1893, by an action of the state legislature. Newer residents had disliked the name and its connection to the word "", especially after the town's hotel was named the Slaughter House. The name Auburn was chosen in honor of

Auburn, New York Auburn is a city in Cayuga County, New York, United States. Located at the north end of Owasco Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in Central New York, the city had a population of 26,866 at the 2020 census. It is the largest city of Cayuga County, the ...

, for the areas' shared reliance on

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whic ...

farming. The White and Green Rivers have been a major part of the history and culture of Auburn since the area was settled with multiple locations in the city being named after either of the two rivers. Frequent flooding from the rivers caused numerous problems for the people living in the community with one outcome being the creation of Mountain View Cemetery over on one of the hills overlooking the valley. It was not until the completion of the Mud Mountain Dam and the Howard A. Hanson Dam, along the White River and Green River respectively, that the flooding would cease and allow the city to grow without the aforementioned hurdle impeding the growth. In 1917 the city, in response to the growing of the Japanese community, donated some of the land in Pioneer Cemetery to the White River Buddhist Church. A little over ten years later, Rev. Giryo Takemura, minister of the church at the time, and his future son-in-law, Chiyokichi Natsuhara, raised money to replace the old wooden sticks and columns that had been in use as gravestones at the cemetery with more durable concrete markers. The interwar period saw several Japanese-American baseball teams from the area compete in the courier league with the White River All-Stars enjoying particularly large success winning four of the July 4th tournaments. In 1930, a Japanese bath house was constructed outside of Neely Mansion by the then current tenants. With the

Attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Territory of ...

during the Second World War, Japanese immigrants and the Japanese-American community as a whole were largely seen with unwarranted distrust by the majority white population, including in Auburn.

Executive Order 9066 Executive Order 9066 was a President of the United States, United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. "This order authorized the fo ...

, issued by President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

on February 19, 1942, led to the city's Japanese-American population being relocated to internment camps. After the war, of about 300 Japanese families living in Auburn only around 25 returned. In 1980, the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians found that this detainment was an unjust act in its report. A local real estate developer announced plans for a large

planned community A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

in the hills southeast of Auburn in 1979, using of assembled plots. The neighborhood was named Lakeland Hills and began construction in 1985, growing to 80 homes in its first three years. Auburn and Bonney Lake competed to annex the entirety of Lakeland Hills in the late 1990s, with Auburn voting in 1997 to become the third King County city to annex portions of Pierce County. The two cities reached a compromise on water utility rights in the Pierce County portion of the neighborhood that allowed Auburn to complete its annexation of Lakeland Hills by the end of the decade. By 2007, the development had 3,600 homes with 6,000 residents, a new

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

, and a

shopping center A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...

. In 2008, Auburn annexed the West Hill and Lea Hill neighborhoods of unincorporated King County, adding 15,000 residents and expanding its land area by 26 percent. A

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

of Kent, the Bridges neighborhood, was annexed by Auburn on January 1, 2024, after the two cities agreed to the transfer to simplify municipal services in the area. The neighborhood had originally been annexed by Kent in 1987 for use as a water reservoir, which was never built and instead developed into residential use. It was then surrounded by Lea Hill, later annexed into Auburn.

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 city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Two rivers, the White River and, to a greater extent, the Green River flow through Auburn. Historically, the Stuck River ran through the settlement of Stuck, which is now a small pocket of unincorporated King County within southern Auburn. In 1906, the flow of the White River was diverted into the Stuck's channel near today's Game Farm Park. References to the Stuck River still appear in some property legal descriptions and place names (e.g., Stuck River Drive) within Auburn, but today it is essentially indistinguishable from the southern White River.

Neighborhoods

* Downtown—Historic buildings with a traditional main street and also many Craftsman-style houses from the 1920s. * North Auburn—A mix of commercial and single-family housing separated by Auburn Way North. * River's Bend—A small residential neighborhood nestled along the Green River, located at the bottom of Lea Hill in North Auburn. * Christopher/Thomas—An area in North Auburn roughly bordered by the Valley Drive Inn and 227th Street. Both are former farming towns annexed into the city in the 1960s. * Lea Hill—A mainly residential neighborhood east of the valley, annexed into the city in 2007. Green River College is located here. * Hazelwood—The area on Lea Hill between Green River Community College, and Auburn Mountainview High School. Once a town in the late 19th century. * West Valley—A commercial and industrial area on the west side of SR 167, located on the bottom of West Hill. * West Hill—Located on the West Hill, bordered by the city of Federal Way to the west. * South Auburn—A general area located south of downtown, once a low-income area but becoming a commercial zone. * Terminal Park—An area of middle class housing near the end of the rail yard named for the railroad workers who lived there. * Forest Villa—Mainly residential area located in the Game Farm Park area. * Lakeland Hills—A master-planned community sprawling on a large hillside at the southern end of the city on both sides of King and Pierce counties. * Hidden Valley—A planned development located East of Lakeland Hills overlooking North Lake Tapps.

Climate

Demographics

As of the 2023

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 30,938 estimated households in Auburn with an average of 2.74 persons per household. The city has a median household income of $92,824. Approximately 9.6% 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 ...

. Auburn has an estimated 63.5% employment rate, with 26.2% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 88.9% 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 German (11.6%), English (9.3%), Irish (5.9%), Norwegian (3.2%), French (except Basque) (2.3%), Italian (2.2%), Polish (1.7%), Subsaharan African (1.1%), and Scottish (0.9%). The median age in the city was 36.6 years.

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 87,256 people, 30,806 households, and 20,850 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 31,947 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup was 51.60%

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 ...

, 7.79%

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 ...

, 2.29% Native American, 13.11% Asian, 3.17%

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 ...

, 10.32% from some other races and 11.72% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 18.59% of the population. 24.9% of residents were under the age of 18, 6.5% were under 5 years of age, and 12.4% were 65 and older.

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 70,180 people, 26,058 households, and 17,114 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 27,834 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup was 70.46%

, 4.94%

, 2.29% Native American, 8.91% Asian, 1.64%

, 6.31% from some other races and 5.44% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 12.87% of the population. There were 26,058 households, of which 36.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.7% 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, 13.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 34.3% were non-families. 25.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.22. The median age in the city was 34.4 years. 25.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 10.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 27.9% were from 25 to 44; 25.5% were from 45 to 64; and 10.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.4% male and 50.6% female.

Crime

According to the Uniform Crime Report 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 663 violent crimes and 4,829 property crimes per 100,000 residents. Of these, the violent crimes consisted of 8 murders, 55 forcible rapes, 368 robberies and 232 aggravated assaults, while 955 burglaries, 2,214 larceny-thefts, 1,643 motor vehicle thefts and 17 acts of arson defined the property offenses.

Economy

Employment

As of August 31, 2024, 69.2% of the population is in the labor force with a 5.2% unemployment rate. The Auburn

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 ...

Plant, opened in 1966, is the largest airplane parts plant in the world, with and 1.265 million parts being manufactured each year. With over 5,000 employees, the Boeing plant is the third major employer in Auburn. Auburn is the site for the Northwest headquarters of United States General Services Administration.

Top employers

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

Shopping

The Outlet Collection Seattle, formerly SuperMall of the Great Northwest, is an

outlet mall An outlet store, factory outlet or factory store is a brick and mortar or online store where manufacturers sell their merchandise directly to the public. Products at outlet stores are usually sold at reduced prices compared to regular stores du ...

that opened in 1995.

Arts and culture

The White River Valley Museum's exhibits feature Auburn, from Native American history to the 1920s. They focus on the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, pioneer life, immigration from Europe and Japan, truck farming, railroading and the building of towns throughout the area. Visitors can visit a recreation of a pioneer cabin, climb aboard a

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 ...

caboose, and investigate a recreation of the shops in 1924 downtown Auburn. As part of the

King County Library System The King County Library System (KCLS) is a public library system serving most residents of King County, Washington, United States. It has 49 locations in the areas of the county around Seattle, which has a separate Seattle Public Library, city l ...

, there is a facility built in 2000 and expanded in 2012 having replaced an earlier, nearby location. It is part of the Les Gove Park, a community campus south of State Route 164 including the White River Valley Museum, a senior center, and other recreational services. Fourth of July and other celebrations such as Auburn Good Ol' Days are also held in Les Gove annually. The sculpture '' Crow with Fries'' is installed in Les Gove Park. Auburn is designated by the Veterans Day National Committee and the US Department of Veterans Affairs as a Regional Site for celebration of Veterans Day.

Landmarks

The City of Auburn has designated the following landmarks:

Sports

Emerald Downs is a six-level stadium and

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

racetrack. The racetrack is operated on land purchased by the Muckleshoot in 2002.

Parks and recreation

Auburn has an extensive system of parks, open space and urban trails: 28 developed parks, over of trails (including Auburn's portion of the Inter-urban Trail for bikers, walkers, runners and skaters), and almost of open space for passive and active recreation.

Government

The city of Auburn has a mayor–council form of government, meaning that the mayor is a full-time, separately elected position. As of 2025, the current mayor is Nancy Backus, who was first elected to the post in 2013 and re-elected in 2017 and 2021. She is the first woman to serve in the office since Auburn was incorporated in 1891.

Mayors

* Virgil R. Bissell, 1891-1892 * Arthur H. Meade, 1892-1896, 1904-1908 * E. Bronson Smith, 1896-1897 * Samuel Cavanaugh, 1898 * T.J. Kerr, 1899-1901 * George W. Hart, 1902-1903 * Robert B. Neilson, 1908 * Lou C. Smith, 1909-1911 * John B. Waugh, 1911-1914 * Clarence E. West, 1915 * Martin J. Lacey, 1916 * William E. Ester, 1917-1920, 1925-1927, 1932-1933 * Otto P. Bertsch, 1921-1925, 1927-1929 * John W. McKee, 1929-1931 * Edward E. Harvey, 1933-1935 * Frank H. McLaskey, 1935-1936 * Leslie J. Gove, 1936-1947, 1955 * Blaine H. Elwell, 1947-1951 * Dayton A. Witten, 1951-1955 * Harold L. Clark, 1955-1958 * John S. Denice Sr., 1958-1960 * James N. Shaughnessy, 1960-1964 * Robert E. Gaines, 1964-1969 * Stanley Paul Kersey, 1969-1981 * Robert A. Roegner, 1982-1993 * Charles A. Booth, 1994-2001 * Pete Lewis, 2002-2013 * Nancy Backus, 2014-present

Education

Public schools are administered by the Auburn School District. The district is larger than the city itself, serving the neighboring towns of Algona and

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

, as well as some unincorporated areas around Auburn and

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. Portions of northern Auburn are served by the Federal Way and

school districts and a portion of Auburn in Pierce County is within the Dieringer School District.

High schools

* Auburn High School * Auburn Mountainview High School * Auburn Riverside High School * Auburn Adventist Academy * West Auburn High School

Elementary and middle schools

* Arthur Jacobsen Elementary * Bowman Creek Elementary * Cascade Middle School * Chinook Elementary * Dick Scobee Elementary * Evergreen Heights Elementary * Gildo Rey Elementary * Hazelwood Elementary * Ilalko Elementary * Lake View Elementary * Lakeland Hills Elementary * Lea Hill Elementary * Mt. Baker Middle School * Olympic Middle School * Pioneer Elementary * Rainier Middle School * Terminal Park Elementary * Washington Elementary * Willow Crest Elementary

Private and alternative schools

* Auburn Adventist Academy * Rainier Christian High School * Valley Christian School * Holy Family School * Auburn Online

College

* Green River College

Infrastructure

Transportation

Auburn has many large roads nearby and within city limits, including State Route 167 (commonly referred as the "Valley Freeway") and State Route 18. Auburn also has its own transit center, Auburn station in downtown, that serves as a major hub for southern King County. Sound Transit buses connect the Auburn Transit Center directly to Federal Way, Sumner, and Kent, while King County Metro buses connect it to Green River Community College, the Super Mall, and Auburn Way. Sounder commuter trains travel from Auburn to

Downtown Seattle Downtown is the central business district of Seattle, Washington. It is fairly compact compared with other city centers on the U.S. West Coast due to its geographical situation, being hemmed in on the north and east by hills, on the west by ...

in approximately 30 minutes, and to Lakewood station in less than 35 minutes. Until 1987, Auburn was home to a steam locomotive roundhouse and diesel engine house of the

, the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

of today. BNSF maintains a rail yard and small car repair facility, along with maintenance-of-way facilities at the former NP yard. The Auburn Municipal Airport serves the general aviation community.

Police

The Auburn Police Department is located within the Justice Building, along with the Municipal Court and jail.

Notable people

* Eric Barone, video game designer known professionally as ConcernedApe * Nate Cohn, journalist and polling expert for ''

The Upshot ''The Upshot'' is a website published by ''The New York Times'' which spreads articles combining data visualization with conventional journalistic analysis of news. History ''The Upshot'' was first announced in March 2014 and was officially laun ...

'' at ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' * Janna Crawford, gold medal Paralympic athlete * Phil Fortunato, member of the state senate and state representative *

Cam Gigandet Cameron Joslin Gigandet (; born August 16, 1982) is an American actor whose credits include a recurring role on '' The O.C.'' and appearances in feature films ''Twilight'', '' Pandorum'', '' Never Back Down'', ''Burlesque'', '' Easy A'', ''Pries ...

, actor *

Christine Gregoire Christine Gregoire (; née O'Grady; born March 24, 1947) is an American attorney and politician who served as the List of governors of Washington, 22nd governor of Washington, from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), D ...

, 22nd governor of Washington * Kevin Hagen, former MLB baseball player * Greg Haugen, professional boxer * Gordon Hirabayashi, civil rights activist * Ariana Kukors, Olympic swimmer and world record holder * Chris Lukezic, middle-distance runner * Harrison Maurus, bronze medal weightlifter * Evan McMullin, CIA officer and former presidential candidate * Onision, Youtuber * Blair Rasmussen, NBA basketball player * Dave Reichert, former King County sheriff and U.S. Congressman * Diane Schuur, jazz singer and pianist * Francis R. "Dick" Scobee, NASA astronaut * Danny Shelton, NFL football player * D. C. Simpson, comic artist *

Sir Mix-A-Lot Anthony L. Ray (born August 12, 1963), better known by his stage name Sir Mix-a-Lot or his CB handle Prime Minista, is an American rapper. He is best known for his 1992 hit song " Baby Got Back", which peaked at number one on the ''Billboard'' ...

, hip hop artist * Misty Upham, actress *

Minoru Yamasaki was an American architect, best known for designing the original World Trade Center in New York City and several other large-scale projects. Yamasaki was one of the most prominent architects of the 20th century. He and fellow architect Edward ...

, architect

Sister cities

Auburn has five sister cities: * Tamba, Japan * Pyeongchang, South Korea * Guanghan, China * Yuhang, China * Mola di Bari, Italy The relationship with Tamba is commemorated with an annual student exchange program between the two cities and neighboring Kent.

References

External links

City of Auburn, WA – official website
{{authority control Cities in King County, Washington Cities in the Seattle metropolitan area Cities in Pierce County, Washington Populated places established in 1891 1891 establishments in Washington (state) Cities in Washington (state)