Familypedia
Advertisement
This article is based on the corresponding article in another wiki. For Familypedia purposes, it requires significantly more historical detail on phases of this location's development. The ideal article for a place will give the reader a feel for what it was like to live at that location at the time their relatives were alive there. Also desirable are links to organizations that may be repositories of genealogical information..
Please help to improve this page yourself if you can.


Thurston County, Washington
Map of Washington highlighting Thurston County
Location in the state of Washington (state)
Map of the U.S
Washington's location in the U.S.
Founded January 12, 1852
Seat Olympia
Area
 - Total
 - Land
 - Water

774 sq mi (2,005 km²)
727 sq mi (1,883 km²)
47 sq mi (122 km²), 6.03%
Population
 - (2020)
 - Density

294,793
347/sq mi (133.9/km²)
Website www.co.thurston.wa.us

Thurston County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. It is named after Samuel R. Thurston, the Oregon Territory's first delegate to Congress. The population was 294,793 at the 2020 census. The county seat is at Olympia, the state capital and also the county's largest city.

Thurston County was created out of Lewis County by the government of Oregon Territory on January 12, 1852. At that time, it covered all of the Puget Sound region and the Olympic Peninsula. On December 22 of the same year, Pierce, King, Island, and Jefferson Counties were split off from Thurston County.[1][2]

Geography[]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 774 square miles (2,004 km²), of which 727 square miles (1,883 km²) is land and 47 square miles (121 km²) (6.03%) is water.

Major watersheds: Black River, Budd/Deschutes, Chehalis River, Eld Inlet, Henderson Inlet, Nisqually River, Skookumchuck River, Totten Inlet and West Capitol Forest.

Geographic features[]

  • Alder Lake
  • Bald Hill Lake
  • Barnes Lake
  • Bass Lake
  • Bigelow Lake
  • Black Lake
  • Black River
  • Budd Inlet
  • Capitol Lake
  • Capitol Peak
  • Capitol State Forest
  • Chambers Lake
  • Chehalis River
  • Clear Lake
  • Coopers Pothole
  • Deep Lake
  • Deschutes River
  • Elbow Lake
  • Eld Inlet
  • Fifteen Lake
  • Gehrke Lake
  • Grass Lake
  • Henderson Inlet
  • Hewitt Lake
  • Hicks Lake
  • Lake Lawrence - One of nineteen basins in the Budd/Deschutes Watershed.
  • Lois Lake
  • Long Lake
  • McIntosh Lake
  • Mima Mounds
  • Munn Lake
  • Nisqually River
  • Offut Lake
  • Patterson Lake
  • Puget Sound
  • Reichel Lake
  • Saint Clair Lake
  • Scott Lake
  • Simmons Lake
  • Skookumchuck River
  • Smith Lake
  • Southwick Lake
  • Springer Lake
  • Summit Lake
  • Susan Lake
  • Totten Inlet
  • Trails End Lake
  • Trosper Lake
  • Ward Lake

Major highways[]

  • I-5 Interstate 5
  • WA-507 SR 507
  • WA-510 SR 510
  • US 12 U.S. 12
  • US 101 U.S. 101

Adjacent counties[]

National protected areas[]

  • Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge (part)
  • Snoqualmie National Forest (part)

Demographics[]

Historical populations
Census Pop.
1860 1,507
1870 2,246 49.0%
1880 3,270 45.6%
1890 9,675 195.9%
1900 9,927 2.6%
1910 17,581 77.1%
1920 22,366 27.2%
1930 31,351 40.2%
1940 37,285 18.9%
1950 44,884 20.4%
1960 55,049 22.6%
1970 76,894 39.7%
1980 124,264 61.6%
1990 161,238 29.8%
2000 207,355 28.6%
2010 252,264 21.7%

At the 2000 census,[3] there were 207,355 people, 81,625 households and 54,933 families residing in the county. The population density was 285 per square mile (110/km²). There were 86,652 housing units at an average density of 119 per square mile (46/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 85.66% White, 2.35% Black or African American, 1.52% Native American, 4.41% Asian, 0.52% Pacific Islander, 1.69% from other races, and 3.85% from two or more races. 4.53% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 17.1% were of German, 10.2% English, 9.8% Irish, 6.9% United States or American and 5.5% Norwegian ancestry according to Census 2000.

There were 81,625 households of which 33.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.10% were married couples living together, 10.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.70% were non-families. 25.10% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 2.99.

Age distribution was 25.30% under the age of 18, 9.30% from 18 to 24, 29.30% from 25 to 44, 24.60% from 45 to 64, and 11.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 96.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.70 males.

The median household income was $46,975, and the median family income was $55,027. Males had a median income of $40,521 versus $30,368 for females. The per capita income for the county was $22,415. About 5.80% of families and 8.80% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.80% of those under age 18 and 5.00% of those age 65 or over.

Politics[]

Thurston County leans Democratic. The county has consistently voted for the Democratic presidential candidate since 1988 and the candidates have consistently received majority of the vote in the county.

United States presidential election results for Thurston County, Washington[4]
Year Republican Democratic Third party
No.  % No.  % No.  %
2020 65,277 38.82% 96,608 57.46% 6,249 3.72%
2016 48,624 36.23% 68,798 51.27% 16,769 12.50%
2012 49,287 38.58% 74,037 57.96% 4,416 3.46%
2008 48,366 37.97% 75,882 59.57% 3,142 2.47%
2004 47,992 42.55% 62,650 55.55% 2,147 1.90%
2000 39,924 40.98% 50,467 51.80% 7,031 7.22%
1996 29,835 34.18% 45,522 52.16% 11,923 13.66%
1992 25,643 30.32% 38,293 45.28% 20,633 24.40%
1988 31,980 47.78% 33,860 50.59% 1,090 1.63%
1984 34,442 55.51% 26,840 43.26% 763 1.23%
1980 26,369 48.10% 20,508 37.41% 7,946 14.49%
1976 21,000 47.67% 21,247 48.23% 1,809 4.11%
1972 22,297 57.48% 14,596 37.63% 1,899 4.90%
1968 13,742 45.06% 14,228 46.65% 2,529 8.29%
1964 9,351 34.61% 17,578 65.05% 92 0.34%
1960 13,921 54.37% 11,620 45.38% 65 0.25%
1956 14,093 58.70% 9,897 41.22% 19 0.08%
1952 13,904 58.32% 9,764 40.96% 172 0.72%
1948 9,511 45.72% 10,461 50.28% 832 4.00%
1944 7,900 44.47% 9,708 54.64% 158 0.89%
1940 7,275 39.17% 11,092 59.72% 206 1.11%
1936 4,425 28.05% 10,647 67.49% 703 4.46%
1932 4,241 30.91% 6,308 45.97% 3,173 23.12%
1928 7,203 69.59% 3,013 29.11% 135 1.30%
1924 5,125 57.77% 943 10.63% 2,803 31.60%
1920 3,899 52.77% 1,367 18.50% 2,122 28.72%
1916 3,223 47.76% 2,658 39.39% 867 12.85%
1912 1,937 30.69% 1,456 23.07% 2,918 46.24%
1908 1,940 57.28% 964 28.46% 483 14.26%
1904 2,121 68.51% 668 21.58% 307 9.92%
1900 1,298 54.56% 978 41.11% 103 4.33%
1896 1,052 42.27% 1,415 56.85% 22 0.88%
1892 1,043 41.70% 810 32.39% 648 25.91%



Media[]

The Weekly Volcano has covered Thurston County entertainment since 2001.

Census-recognized communities[]

  • Bucoda
  • Grand Mound
  • Lacey
  • Nisqually Indian Community
  • North Yelm
  • Olympia

  • Rainier
  • Rochester
  • Tanglewilde-Thompson Place
  • Tenino
  • Tumwater
  • Yelm

Other communities[]

  • Boston Harbor
  • Driftwood
  • East Olympia
  • Five Corners
  • Gate
  • Griffin
  • Indian Summer
  • Kellys Corner
  • Lake Lawrence
  • Littlerock
  • Maytown

  • Mushroom Corner
  • Offutt Lake
  • Saint Clair
  • Schneiders Prairie
  • South Bay
  • South Sound
  • Steamboat Island
  • Union Mills
  • Vail

Ghost Towns[]

  • Tono

School districts[]

School Districts in Thurston County:

  • North Thurston
  • Olympia
  • Rainier
  • Rochester

  • Tenino
  • Tumwater
  • Yelm
  • Griffin

See also[]

  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Thurston County, Washington

References[]

External links[]

Coordinates: 46°56′N 122°50′W / 46.93, -122.83


This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Thurston County, Washington. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.
Advertisement