Sammamish ( ) is a city in
King County,
Washington, United States. The population was 67,455 at the
2020 census.
Located on a plateau, the city is bordered by
Lake Sammamish to the west and the
Snoqualmie Valley to the east. Sammamish is situated 20 miles east 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 ...
, is a member of the
Eastside, and is a part of 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 ...
.
Etymology
The name "Sammamish" is an anglicization of the
Lushootseed name of the
Sammamish people, .
According to historian and writer David Buerge, the name derives from the word , meaning "
willow
Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions.
Most species are known ...
," and the suffix , meaning "people,"
meaning their name translates to "willow people."
Alternatively, according to linguist and anthropologist
T.T. Waterman, the name means "meander dwellers."
History
Lake Sammamish and the adjacent plateau has been
Duwamish,
Suquamish,
Snoqualmie,
Sammamish, and
Snohomish territory since the
last Pleistocene glaciation, before contact with European people.
They lived in longhouse villages in seven places on and near the coast of Sammamish Lake. Two of them were in present-day Sammamish.
The Sammamish Plateau was part of unincorporated
King County for most of its recorded history. The first settlers arrived in the 1870s
and established a trio of resorts by the 1930s. The community of Inglewood was established in 1889 with 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 ...
filed with the county government.
While the plateau remained predominantly rural, several other residential areas were established during the early 20th century. The Sunny Hills neighborhood was built in the 1960s and was followed by an elementary school.
Suburban homes, shopping centers, and schools were built on the plateau in the 1970s and 1980s. A vote in 1991 to join neighboring
Issaquah failed, as did a vote on incorporation the following year. A renewed movement to become a city, born of frustration with development policies set by the county government, met with voter approval in 1998. Sammamish was officially incorporated on August 31, 1999. The city annexed
Klahanie on January 1, 2016.
The city government approved plans in 2008 to develop a denser
town center with
mixed use zoning and taller buildings. The first two residential buildings and several commercial developments were completed over the following decade, but plans for the largest phase stalled into the 2020s. Construction began in 2024 on 38 townhomes in the phase, which is planned to be followed by more townhomes, 600
market rate
The market rate (or "going rate") for goods or services is the usual price charged for them in a free market. If demand goes up, manufacturers and laborers will tend to respond by increasing the price they require, thus setting a higher market rate ...
apartments, and commercial space.
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 are land and are water.
The city is situated on the shores and hilly terrain east of
Lake Sammamish. It is bordered to the south by
Issaquah, to the northwest by
Redmond, and to the west across Lake Sammamish by
Bellevue.
Beaver Lake and
Pine Lake are the two biggest lakes in Sammamish.
Yellow Lake is a major lake in Klahanie.
Sammamish is in and near the
Issaquah Alps, a westward extension of the
Cascade
Cascade, or Cascading may refer to:
Science and technology Science
* Air shower (physics), a cascade (particle shower) of subatomic particles and ionized nuclei
** Particle shower, a cascade of secondary particles produced as the result of a high ...
foothills.
Climate
The city has a
warm-summer Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
: ''Csb''), or
oceanic (
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
: ''Cfb'') if the
isohyet is used. Due to the
rain shadow effect
A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side.
Evaporated moisture from body of water, bodies of water (such as oceans and larg ...
of the
Olympic Mountains
The Olympic Mountains are a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are not especially high – Mount Olympus (Washington), Mount Olympus is the high ...
to the west, summers are much drier here than on the immediate west coast of Washington.
Winters are cool and wet; the wettest months are November, December, and January, when the area is directly affected by the
Aleutian Low, and summers are warm and dry; the driest months are July and August. Snowfall is rare; subfreezing temperatures usually occur with a
high-pressure system, which brings clear skies. Extremes range from in February 1950, to in
June 2021.
Sammamish is in
hardiness zone
A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most widely ...
8b, with small southwestern pockets as well as the immediate Lake Sammamish coast falling into type 9a.
Climate change
Sammamish is predicted to warm by 3-12 F (2-7 C) before 2100 regardless of future emissions, and around 2.5 F during the next few decades due to
climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
. Warming by any significant amount will cause Sammamish to have reduced snowfall, hotter and drier summers, and more warm-season extreme weather events.
Sammamish's climate change action plan includes, but is not limited to, tree replacement,
voluntary planting,
protecting threatened species, protecting native fish such as
Chinook salmon
The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Oncorhynchus, Pacific salmon. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other vernacular names for the species include king salmon, quinn ...
and the streams, lakes and ponds they live in,
floodplain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...
management,
wetland protection,
emission reduction,
light
Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be visual perception, perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400– ...
/
noise pollution
Noise pollution, or sound pollution, is the propagation of noise or sound with potential harmful effects on humans and animals. The source of outdoor noise worldwide is mainly caused by machines, transport and propagation systems.Senate Publi ...
reduction,
toxin (pesticide) control, and many other measures.
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 21,792 estimated households in Sammamish with an average of 2.98 persons per household. The city has a median household income of $238,750 and the per capita income was $103,748. Approximately 2.9% of the city's population lives at or below the poverty line. Sammamish has an estimated 66.7% employment rate, with 83.4% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 97.8% holding a high school diploma.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the median household income in Sammamish was $239,000 in 2022, placing it first among U.S. cities with a population greater than 65,000.
The top five reported languages spoken at home were English (56.3%), Spanish (3.4%), other Indo-European languages (14.6%), Asian and Pacific Islander (24.4%), and Other (1.2%).
The median age in the city was 41.3 years.
In 2007, CNN Money ranked Sammamish as the 11th Best Place to Live in the United States,
and subsequently ranked it as #12 in 2009 and #15 in 2011. Sammamish was also ranked the 9th Best Place to Live by
Money.com in 2018.
2020 census
As of the
2020 census, there were 67,455 people, 21,895 households, and 18,861 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 22,544 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 52.61%
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 ...
, 1.28%
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 ...
, 0.21%
Native American, 35.82%
Asian, 0.10%
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 ...
, 1.44% from some other races and 8.54% from two or more races.
Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 5.36% of the population. 29.4% of residents were under the age of 18, 6.1% were under 5 years of age, and 51.1% were 65 and older. The gender makeup of the city was 51.1% female.
2010 census
As of the
2010 census, there were 45,780 people, 15,154 households, and 12,918 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 15,736 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 74.72%
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 ...
, 0.96%
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 ...
, 0.28%
Native American, 19.34%
Asian, 0.10%
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 ...
, 0.86% from some other races and 3.74% from two or more races.
Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 3.94% of the population.
There were 15,154 households, of which 52.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 76.9% 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, 5.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 2.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 14.8% were non-families. 11.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 2.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.01 and the average family size was 3.28.
The median age in the city was 37.7 years. 32.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 4.9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 27.9% were from 25 to 44; 29.4% were from 45 to 64; and 5.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 50.1% male and 49.9% female.
Parks
Sammamish has ten parks (
Beaver Lake Park, Big Rock Park North, Big Rock Park, East Sammamish Park, Ebright Creek Park,
Evans Creek Preserve, NE Sammamish Park,
Pine Lake Park, Sammamish Commons, Sammamish Landing). Soaring Eagle Regional Park and Duthie Hill Park abut the city and are on the plateau.
East Lake Sammamish Trail runs along the eastern side of Lake Sammamish and connects to a regional trail system, like the
Sammamish River Trail to the north, and the Issaquah-Preston Trail to the south.
East Sammamish Park in the northwest of the city came with it in 1999.
Government
The Sammamish City Council is elected by the community. Of the seven council members, two members are elected as Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Council meetings are held at City Hall, part of the Sammamish Commons, which is also the site of Sammamish Library, a branch 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 ...
.
Sammamish does not have its own post office; the closest one is in
Redmond. Eastside Fire and Rescue is contracted to provide fire services. Sammamish contracts with the
King County Sheriff's Office for police services. Deputies assigned to Sammamish wear city uniforms and drive patrol cars marked with the city logo.
Education
Sammamish's public school system is primarily served by two school districts.
Everything north of Southeast 8th Street is served by
Lake Washington School District,
and has two high schools (
Eastlake,
Tesla STEM), two middle schools (Inglewood,
Renaissance School of Art and Reasoning), and five elementary schools (Elizabeth Blackwell, Rachel Carson, Christa McAuliffe, Margaret Mead, Samantha Smith).
Everything south of Southeast 8th Street is served by
Issaquah School District,
[ and has two high schools (Issaquah, ]Skyline
A skyline is the wikt:outline, outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city's overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural area, rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the ...
), three middle schools (Beaver Lake, Pacific Cascade, Pine Lake), and seven elementary schools (Cascade Ridge, Cedar Trails, Challenger, Creekside, Discovery, Endeavour, Sunny Hills).
A very small portion to the east is in the Snoqualmie Valley School District.[
Eastside Catholic School is a private school in the city.
Central Washington University is a public university that opened a Sammamish location on September 20, 2017.
]
Transportation
Sammamish is served by several major north–south roads: East Lake Sammamish Parkway along the lake shore, 228th Avenue through the business district, and Issaquah-Pine Lake Road. Southeast 4th Street connects 228th Avenue to the city's town center. To the north and east of the city is State Route 202, providing access to Redmond, and to the south is Interstate 90 in Issaquah. A regional freeway, Interstate 605, has been proposed several times since the 1960s to run through Sammamish, but has not been built.
Bus service is provided by King County Metro
King County Metro, officially the King County Metro Transit Department and often shortened to Metro, is the public transit authority of King County, Washington, which includes the city of Seattle. It is the eighth-largest transit bus agency in t ...
routes 218, 269, and Sound Transit Express route 554 to Redmond, Issaquah, and Downtown Seattle. South Sammamish Park and Ride is the city's transit center with 265 parking stalls. Metro began running dial-a-ride buses to the Sammamish Plateau in 1993, and it later extended commuter services in the early 2000s.
The King County government started construction of an bike trail on the east side of Lake Sammamish in 1998. It was completed in 2023, replacing a disused railway.
Notable people
* Hunter Bryant, professional American football player
* Blake Hawksworth, professional baseball player
* Surf Mesa, musician
* Simone Rose, professional artistic gymnast
* Kim Schrier, U.S. congresswoman
* Matisse Thybulle, professional basketball player
* Dubs, collegiate mascot
References
External links
City website
{{authority control
Cities in King County, Washington
Cities in the Seattle metropolitan area
Cities in Washington (state)
Populated places established in 1999
1999 establishments in Washington (state)
Washington (state) placenames of Native American origin
Duwamish