Spokane County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

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 A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Spokane, the second largest city in the state after

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 county is named after the Spokane people. Spokane County is part of the Spokane metropolitan area, which is also part of the greater Spokane–Coeur d'Alene combined statistical area that includes nearby Kootenai County, Idaho.

History

The first humans to arrive in what is now Spokane County arrived between 12,000 and 8,000 years ago and were

hunter-gatherer A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived Lifestyle, lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, esp ...

societies who lived off the plentiful game in the area. Initially, the settlers hunted predominantly

bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...

and

antelope The term antelope refers to numerous extant or recently extinct species of the ruminant artiodactyl family Bovidae that are indigenous to most of Africa, India, the Middle East, Central Asia, and a small area of Eastern Europe. Antelopes do ...

, but after the game migrated out of the region, the native people became dependent on gathering various roots, berries, and nuts, and harvesting fish.Ruby et al. (2006) pp. 5–6 The Spokane tribe, after which the county is named, means "Children of the Sun" or "sun people" in SalishanPhillips (1971), pp. 134–135 Explorer-geographer David Thompson, working as head of the North West Company's Columbia Department, became the first European to explore what is now the Inland Northwest.Stratton (2005), p. 19 After establishing the Kullyspell House and Saleesh House fur trading posts in what are now Idaho and Montana, Thompson then attempted to expand further west. He sent out two trappers, Jacques Raphael Finlay and Finan McDonald, to construct a fur-trading post on the Spokane River in Washington and trade with the local Indians. This post was established in 1810, at the confluence of the Little Spokane and Spokane Rivers, becoming the first enduring European settlement of significance in Washington. Known as the Spokane House, or simply "Spokane", it was in operation from 1810 to 1826. Spokane County was established by the Washington Territorial Legislature effective January 29, 1858, from a portion of Walla Walla County, which originally encompassed most of eastern

Washington Territory The Washington Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...

between the Cascades and Rockies. The new county was bound to the west by the Columbia and

Snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

rivers and to the east by the Rockies; it included portions of modern-day

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

and

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

. The territorial legislature designated the farm of Angus McLeod as the temporary

and appointed officials to several positions for Spokane County, but they never took office and did not organize a government. In late 1859, a group of settlers in the Bitterroot Valley petitioned to create their own county, which was not granted at that time; the territorial legislature reorganized Spokane County on January 17, 1860, with a seat on a land claim near Fort Colville. The first county government met on May 8, 1860, and began conducting business. The eastern and southern portions of Spokane County were partitioned several times as new counties were created, beginning with Missoula County in December 1860 and followed by Shoshone County and Nez Perce County in 1861. These areas became part of the new Idaho Territory, which was organized by the U.S. Congress on March 3, 1863, and reduced the size of Spokane County even further. On January 19, 1864, the county was annexed into neighboring Stevens County, which had been created a year earlier from the northern portions of Walla Walla County. The seat of Stevens County was Pinkney City (now Colville) until it was temporarily relocated to the town of Spokane Falls (now Spokane) in 1875. Spokane County was re-established on October 30, 1879, from the portions of Stevens County south of the Columbia, Spokane, and Wenatchee rivers. The western portion of the county was used to create Lincoln County, which was established on November 23, 1883. The first post office in the county was located at Spokane Bridge. The selection of a permanent county seat was to be decided in an election in November 1880 between the growing cities of Cheney and Spokane Falls, both candidates for a major Northern Pacific Railway hub. The unofficial returns showed a 14-vote margin in favor of Cheney, but the result was disputed by county officials from Spokane Falls based on "irregularities" in the ballots. The official result had a margin of two or three votes for Spokane Falls, but Cheney residents demanded a recount, which was granted by a court order that was ignored by county officials in Spokane Falls. On March 21, 1881, a group of armed Cheney residents forcibly took custody of the county auditor, recount ballots, and other county records during a nighttime raid. After declaring their own recount had been in favor of Cheney as county seat, the records and the county auditor were moved from Spokane Falls; other government officials also moved to Cheney after a court order upheld the Cheney recount. A new ballot question in 1886 resulted in Spokane becoming the permanent county seat.

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 county has a total area of , of which (0.9%) are covered by water. The lowest point in the county is the Spokane River behind Long Lake Dam (boundary of Stevens County) at

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. (Virtually no change in

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

occurs between the dam and the mouth of the Little Spokane River inside Riverside State Park.) The highest point in the county is the summit of Mount Spokane at . Spokane County has a complex geologic history and varied topography. To the west is the barren landscape of the Columbia Basin and to the east are the foothills of the Rockies—the

Coeur d'Alene Mountains The Coeur d'Alene Mountains are the northwesternmost portion of the Bitterroot Range, part of the Rocky Mountains, located in northern Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mount ...

, which rise to the east in northern Idaho. Spokane County lies in a transition area between the eastern edge of the basaltic

Channeled Scablands The Channeled Scablands are a relatively barren and soil-free region of interconnected relict and dry flood channels, coulees and cataracts eroded into Palouse loess and the typically flat-lying basalt flows that remain after cataclysmic floods ...

steppe plains to the west and the rugged, timbered Rocky Mountain foothills to the east. The area exhibits signs of the prehistoric geologic events that shaped the area and region such as the Missoula Floods, which ended 12,000 to 15,000 years ago. The geography to the southeast, such as the Saltese Flats and Saltese Uplands is characterized as a shrub–steppe landscape with grassy hills and ravines. In ecology, as with the topography, the county is also in a transition area, roughly split between the Columbia Plateau ecoregion in the southwest portion, where it is at the eastern edge of the basaltic

steppe plain and the Northern Rockies ecoregion in the northwest portion, which is the rugged and forested

Selkirk Mountains 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 Mic ...

Rivers and streams

* Spokane River ** Cable Creek ** Latah Creek *** Marshall Creek *** Garden Springs Creek ** Little Spokane River ** Deep Creek *** Coulee Creek * Saltese Creek

Lakes and reservoirs

* Eloika Lake * Liberty Lake * Medical Lake * West Medical Lake * Newman Lake * Shelley Lake

Notable summits and peaks

* Mount Spokane * Mount Kit Carson * Mica Peak * Krell Hill

Notable parks

* Dishman Hills Natural Conservation Area * Riverside State Park * Riverfront Park * Manito Park * Mount Spokane State Park

National protected area

* Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge

Major highways

* Interstate 90 * U.S. Route 2 * U.S. Route 195 * U.S. Route 395 * State Route 27 * State Route 206 * State Route 290 * State Route 291 * State Route 902 * State Route 904

Adjacent counties

* Stevens County – northwest * Pend Oreille County – north *

Bonner County, Idaho Bonner County is a County (United States), county in the northern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 47,110. The county seat and largest city is Sandpoint, Idaho, Sandpoint. Par ...

– northeast * Kootenai County, Idaho – east * Benewah County, Idaho – southeast * Whitman County – south * Lincoln County – west

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 539,339 people, 212,470 households, and 132,324 families residing in the county. 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 averaging 2.46 persons per household. There were 224,019 housing units had an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 82.1%

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 ...

, 2.0%

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 ...

, 1.5% Native American, 2.3% Asian, 0.8%

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 ...

, 2.2% from some other races and 9.0% 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 6.6% of the population. 21.3% of residents were under the age of 18, 5.5% were under 5 years of age, and 17.5% were 65 and older. Females consisted of 50.1% of the county. 5.3% of the county consist of foreign born persons. Of those 25 years or older, 94.2% people in the county hold a high school diploma, GED, or higher; and 31.5% obtaining a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

or higher. Of those below the age of 65 years, 10.% have a disability and 6.3% are without health insurance. The median household income was $64,079 (in 2021 dollars) and 11.2% of the county are living in poverty.

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 471,221 people, 187,167 households, and 118,212 families were residing in the county. The population density was . The 201,434 housing units had an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 89.2% White, 2.1% Asian, 1.7% African American, 1.5% American Indian, 0.4% Pacific Islander, 1.2% from other races, and 3.8% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 4.5% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 27.0% were German, 15.4% were Irish, 13.5% were English, 6.9% were Norwegian, and 4.4% were American. Of the 187,167 households, 30.9% had children under 18 living with them, 47.2% were married couples living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.8% were not families; 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.44, and the average family size was 2.99. The median age was 36.8 years. The median income for a household in the county was $47,250 and for a family was $59,999. Males had a median income of $44,000 versus $33,878 for females. The per capita income for the county was $25,127. About 9.1% of families and 14.1% 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 17.0% of those under age 18 and 8.5% of those age 65 or over.

2000 census

As of the 2000 census, there were 417,939 people, 163,611 households, and 106,019 families were in the county. The

was . The 175,005 housing units had an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 88.62% White, 2.00% African American, 1.40% Native American, 1.88% Asian, 0.16% Pacific Islander, 0.82% from other races, and 2.76% from two or more races; 2.77% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race. About 22.0% were of German, 10.7% Irish, 9.9% English, 7.6% American, and 6.4% Norwegian ancestry. Of the 163,611 households, 32.4% had children under 18 living with them, 49.9% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.2% were not families. About 28.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.6% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.46, and the average family size was 3.02. In the county, the age distribution was 25.7% under 18, 10.6% from 18 to 24, 28.9% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females. there were 96.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.60 males. The median income for a household in the county was $37,308, and for a family was $46,463. Males had a median income of $35,097 versus $25,526 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 county was $19,233. About 8.30% of families and 12.30% of the population were below the

, including 14.20% of those under age 18 and 8.10% of those age 65 or over.

Law and government

Spokane County is governed by a partisan board of county commissioners, one from each of five districts. They run in a partisan primary election within their own district, then compete countywide in the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

. Other elected officials include the

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting an ...

(who is also responsible for elections), assessor,

treasurer A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization. Government The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...

, and

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

, which are also partisan offices. Spokane County has an appointed medical examiner. In 2023, Spokane County expanded the number of County Commissioner seats from 3 to 5. As of January 2023, the current commissioners for Spokane County are Chris Jordan ( Democrat), Amber Waldref ( Democrat), Josh Kerns ( Republican), Mary Kuney ( Republican), and Al French ( Republican), from the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth county districts, respectively. The previous

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

was Ozzie D. Knezovich, who was appointed on April 11, 2006, and retired on December 31, 2022. The current elected Sheriff of Spokane County is John Nowels, whose term began on January 1, 2023. Transportation planning within the county is handled by the Spokane Regional Transportation Council, a metropolitan planning organization that was created in 1962. It distributes federal and state funds for transportation projects and updates the long-range transportation plan for Spokane County.

Politics

Spokane County is rather conservative for an urban county, voting Republican for president all but three times since 1948. Democratic strength is concentrated in Spokane itself and in Cheney, which is home to Eastern Washington University, while the suburban areas are heavily Republican. The Republican edge has narrowed somewhat since the turn of the century. In the last five elections, the margin has been under 9% each time. The county was one of two in Eastern Washington to vote for 2018 Washington Initiative 1639, which strengthened gun laws, along with neighboring Whitman County.

Flag and symbols

The county government adopted an official flag in 1988 following a public design contest sponsored by the Spokane County Centennial Commission. The winning entry from Stephanie Bumgarner-Ott, the daughter of state legislator Gary Bumgarner, depicts the ceremonial headdress of the Spokane people against a yellow sun; the background is green with a diagonal blue stripe to represent the Spokane River. The flag was sent for display at the Washington State Capitol for the state centennial in 1989 and 25 copies were made at a cost of $1,751.75; it was used for official events, including the funeral of a county commissioner, but was not on permanent display in Spokane County buildings. One copy of the flag was stored in a vault in the county courthouse until 1995 and later lost again. The county government announced plans to decommission the design in 2002 and hold a new public contest due to the original flag's appearance, which was deemed potentially offensive to Native Americans. A new county seal was adopted in 2005 that depicts the county courthouse.

Communities

Cities

* Airway Heights * Cheney * Deer Park * Liberty Lake * Medical Lake * Millwood * Spangle * Spokane (county seat) * Spokane Valley

Towns

* Fairfield * Latah * Rockford * Waverly

Census-designated places

* Country Homes * Fairchild Air Force Base * Fairwood * Four Lakes *

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 ...

* Otis Orchards-East Farms * Town and Country

Unincorporated communities

Amber Amber is fossilized tree resin. Examples of it have been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since the Neolithic times, and worked as a gemstone since antiquity."Amber" (2004). In Maxine N. Lurie and Marc Mappen (eds.) ''Encyclopedia ...

* Buckeye * Chattaroy * Colbert * Deep Creek * Denison * Duncan *

Dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern German ...

* Elk * Espanola * Freeman * Garden Springs * Geiger Heights * Glenrose * Greenacres * Green Bluff * Hazard *

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

* Manito * Marshall *

Mica Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into fragile elastic plates. This characteristic is described as ''perfect basal cleavage''. Mica is co ...

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

Moab Moab () was an ancient Levant, Levantine kingdom whose territory is today located in southern Jordan. The land is mountainous and lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by ...

* Mount Hope * Newman Lake * Nine Mile Falls * Orchard Prairie * Peone * Plaza * Riverside * Seven Mile * Silver Lake * Spokane Bridge * Spring Valley * Stringtown * Tyler * Valleyford * Veradale

Ghost towns/neighborhoods

* Babb * Coey * Darknell *

Dragoon Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat wi ...

Freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

* Geib * Hite * Lyons * Mock * North Pine * Rahm * Rodna * Saxby * Scribner * Wallner

Education

School districts in the county include:
Text list
/ref> * Central Valley School District * Cheney School District * Deer Park School District * East Valley School District (Spokane) * Freeman School District * Great Northern School District * Liberty School District * Mead School District * Medical Lake School District * Newport School District * Nine Mile Falls School District * Orchard Prairie School District * Reardan-Edwall School District * Riverside School District * Rosalia School District * Spokane Public Schools * St. John School District * Tekoa School District * West Valley School District (Spokane) Community colleges include: * Spokane Community College *

Spokane Falls Community College Spokane Falls Community College (SFCC) is a Public college, public community college in Spokane, Washington. Established in 1967, it is a part of the Community Colleges of Spokane. SFCC enrolls approximately 3,805 students and has an open admis ...

Universities include: * Eastern Washington University *

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) ( ) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington, United States. It is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges ...

* Washington State University * Whitworth University *

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 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spokane, Washington 1858 establishments in Washington Territory Populated places established in 1858 Eastern Washington Washington (state) placenames of Native American origin Spokane County