Fairwood is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in

Spokane County, Washington 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 ...

, United States. The population was 10,541 at the 2020 census.

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 CDP has a total area of 3.6 square miles (9.3 km²), of which, 3.6 square miles (9.3 km²) of it is land and 0.28% is water. Fairwood is located in a lowland setting along the banks and wetlands of the

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– ...

. The terrain falls from around 1,900 feet above sea level in the southeast to around 1,580 feet along the Little Spokane. Five Mile Prairie rises to the southwest, with a bluff climbing from the valley floor along

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

, rising almost vertically in places above Fairwood and the Little Spokane Valley before cresting at the elevation of the

Columbia Plateau The Columbia Plateau is an important geology, geologic and geography, geographic region that lies across parts of the U.S. states of Washington (state), Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. It is a wide flood basalt plateau between the Cascade Range a ...

. To the north of Fairwood rise foothills of the

Selkirk Range 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 Mica Pe ...

of the

Columbia Mountains The Columbia Mountains are a group of mountain ranges along the Upper Columbia River in British Columbia, Montana, Idaho and Washington (state), Washington. The mountain range covers 135,952 km² (52,491 sq mi). The range is bounded by th ...

. To the south the city of Spokane sprawls into Fairwood, with the terrain sloping up as it heads into the city.

Demographics

At the 2020 census, there were 10,541 people living within the CDP across 3,872 households. As of subsequent estimates by the Census Bureau from July 1, 2021, the racial makeup of the CDP was 90.9%

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 ...

alone, 0.1%

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 ...

alone, 1.5% Native American alone, 3.8% Asian alone, 0.0%

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 ...

alone, and 3.2% 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 3.7% of the population.

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 6,764 people, 2,474 households, and 1,964 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 1,883.0 people per square mile (727.5/km²). There were 2,560 housing units at an average density of 712.7/sq mi (275.3/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 94.40%

, 0.52%

, 0.93% Native American, 1.63% Asian, 0.18%

, 0.47% from other races, and 1.88% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 2.23% of the population. There were 2,474 households, out of which 37.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.8% were married couples living together, 8.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.6% were non-families. 17.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.72 and the average family size was 3.07. In the CDP, the age distribution of the population shows 27.7% under the age of 18, 7.8% from 18 to 24, 22.9% from 25 to 44, 28.7% from 45 to 64, and 12.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.6 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $59,682, and the median income for a family was $66,226. Males had a median income of $47,454 versus $31,836 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 CDP was $26,378. About 2.6% of families and 6.3% 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 9.0% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Fairwood is located in the

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, ...

and home to Brentwood Elementary School and

Mead High School Mead High School (also Mead Senior High School, MHS) is a four-year public secondary school in Fairwood, Washington, United States, on the north side of the Spokane urban area. MHS is one of two traditional high schools in the Mead School Di ...

, and students in the community attend Northwood Middle School in adjacent unincorporated Spokane County. Mead High School serves the area despite not serving the nearby community of

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 ...

, for which it was originally named. Mead High School is located on Hastings Road in the center of the Fairwood CDP. Brentwood Elementary serves the community west of Division Street and Farwell Elementary serves the area east of Division.

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 ...

is located immediately south of Fairwood, with the CDP's southern boundary running along the campus boundary.

Public Transit

Fairwood is served by the Spokane area's public transit provider, the

Spokane Transit Authority Spokane Transit Authority, more commonly Spokane Transit or STA, is the public transport authority of central Spokane County, Washington, Spokane County, Washington (state), Washington, United States, serving Spokane, Washington, and its surrou ...

, which runs two fixed-route bus lines through the CDP.

References

{{authority control Census-designated places in Spokane County, Washington Census-designated places in Washington (state)