Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety35#10,091/15,637
Economy57#6,749/15,631
Housing18#12,343/14,977
Health80#3,098/15,609
Healthcare82#2,796/15,650
Environment20#12,327/15,453
Education52#7,440/15,649
Infrastructure74#4,134/15,650
Community90#1,587/15,651
Leisure & amenities91#1,386/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Tukwila, Washington ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “King County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Average weekly wage · high$2,632
99/100Washington $1,917United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsKing County value
Hot days · low1 days
97/100Washington 13 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationKing County value
Dentists · high118 /100k
96/100Washington 88 /100kUnited States 75 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteKing County value
Mental health providers · high662 /100k
95/100Washington 568 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteKing County value
Public transit commuters · high6.5%
95/100Washington 3.5%United States 3.2%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08301
Primary care physicians · high122 /100k
93/100Washington 85 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteKing County value

Weaknesses

Property crime rate · high2,714 /100k
3/100Washington 1,975 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationKing County value
Drug overdose deaths · high32.0 /100k
7/100Washington 32.7 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataKing County value
Home price to income ratio · high6.2×
9/100Washington 5.8×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
New homes permitted · low0.0 /1k
13/100Washington 4.9 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · high8.9 µg/m³
14/100Washington 8.4 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyKing County value
Students per teacher · high17.8×
15/100Washington 17.9×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsKing County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationRising
20,196 (2015-2019) → 21,451 (2020-2024)
+6.2%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
New homes permittedWorsening
0.7 /1k (2021) → 0.0 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−100%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Child poverty rateImproving
32.8% (2015-2019) → 17.9% (2020-2024)
−15 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Median household incomeImproving
$58,097 (2015-2019) → $78,381 (2020-2024)
+35%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Public transit commutersWorsening
12.9% (2015-2019) → 6.5% (2020-2024)
−6.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B08301US 5.0% → 3.2%
Poverty rateImproving
17.2% (2015-2019) → 13.0% (2020-2024)
−4.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Tukwila, Washington improved on 2 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 12 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved2

Child poverty−15 points32.8% → 17.9%
Household income+35%$58,097 → $78,381

Declined1

Transit use−6.4 points12.9% → 6.5%

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Tukwila, Washington between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	26.8 min2015-2019	24.6 min2020-2024	−2.2 min	Within the margin of error	72%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.0%2015-2019	25.3%2020-2024	+1.4 points	Within the margin of error	37%
Broadband subscriptions	88.3%2015-2019	90.8%2020-2024	+2.5 points	Within the margin of error	17%
Child poverty rate	32.8%2015-2019	17.9%2020-2024	−15 points	Improved	89%
Effective property tax rate	1.01%2015-2019	0.91%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	36%
High school diploma or higher	80.5%2015-2019	82.2%2020-2024	+1.7 points	Within the margin of error	55%
Home price to income ratio	5.4×2015-2019	6.2×2020-2024	+0.8×	Within the margin of error	30%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.5002015-2019	0.4082020-2024	−0.092	Within the margin of error	94%
Median household income	$58,0972015-2019	$78,3812020-2024	+35%	Improved	65%
Poverty rate	17.2%2015-2019	13.0%2020-2024	−4.1 points	Within the margin of error	76%
Public transit commuters	12.9%2015-2019	6.5%2020-2024	−6.4 points	Declined	4%
Rent as share of income	31.6%2015-2019	33.3%2020-2024	+1.7 points	Within the margin of error	42%
Rent-burdened households	54.5%2015-2019	54.4%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	57%
Unemployment rate	7.6%2015-2019	6.4%2020-2024	−1.2 points	Within the margin of error	72%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	12.3%2015-2019	13.3%2020-2024	+1 points	Within the margin of error	35%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Tukwila, Washington five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Tukwila, Washington in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Tukwila, Washington itself moved +3.4 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

21,451 residents (±47)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†
50–59
40–49
30–39
20–29
10–19
Under 10†

Share of all residents, each sex

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Under 10 women (−2.8 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B01001View table on data.census.gov

Race and Hispanic origin

21,451 residents (±47)

Tukwila, Washington
Washington share

White26%5,597
Black18%3,806
Hispanic or Latino24%5,145

Education

15,525 residents (±605)

Tukwila, Washington
Washington share

No high school diploma18%2,765
High school or GED27%4,165
Some college19%2,888

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

7,934 households (±417)

Tukwila, Washington
Washington share

Under $25k10%811
$25k–50k14%1,115
$50k–75k22%1,727
$75k–100k18%1,430
$100k–150k18%1,450
$150k–200k10%816
$200k or more7.4%585

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: $25k–50k (−10.5 points).

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B19001View table on data.census.gov

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

7,934 households (±417)

Tukwila, Washington
Washington share

Own40%3,208
Rent60%4,726

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B25003View table on data.census.gov

Rent paid

4,547 households (±404)

Tukwila, Washington
Washington share

Under $7501.8%†80
$750–1,0000.4%†17
$1,000–1,50013%†607

Home values

3,208 homes (±407)

Tukwila, Washington
Washington share

Under $150k2.8%†90
$150k–250k11%†363
$250k–400k20%†635

Age of homes

8,522 homes (±462)

Tukwila, Washington
Washington share

2010 or later13%1,147
2000–20097.0%596
1980–199931%2,666

Size of homes

8,522 homes (±462)

Tukwila, Washington
Washington share

Studio7.8%†668
1 bedroom20%1,693
2 bedrooms42%3,592

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

11,446 workers (±666)

Tukwila, Washington
Washington share

Drive alone66%7,577
Carpool11%†1,223
Public transit6.5%†741
Walk0.5%†52
Bike0.0%0
Work from home13%1,462
Other3.4%†391

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Work from home (+10.0 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B08301View table on data.census.gov

Time to get to work

9,984 workers (±564)

Tukwila, Washington
Washington share

Under 15 min22%2,164
15–29 min41%4,114
30–44 min23%2,248

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of King County, the county holding most of Tukwila's residents.

King County has 70,376 employer establishments, 308 for every 10,000 residents (1.24× the US rate of 248; 1.20× Washington's), with 1,305,947 paid employees at an average annual pay of $110,043. The Census Bureau also counts 202,770 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 70,376; 202,770 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 308; US 248 · Washington 258
Paid employees: 1,305,947
Average annual pay: $110,043; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of King County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	5,715	25	1.20×About typical	68,816	$77,202	10,245
Restaurants and other eating places	5,403	23.7	1.29×More than typical	84,390	$34,554	762
Lessors of real estate	5,152	22.6	1.83×More than typical	27,321	$83,981	21,973
Specialty trade contractors	3,739	16.4	1.06×About typical	46,610	$89,054	6,017
Construction of buildings	2,825	12.4	1.64×More than typical	23,074	$97,452	3,804
Management, scientific and technical consulting	2,644	11.6	1.73×More than typical	29,439	$141,081	13,433
Full-service restaurants	2,618	11.5	1.49×More than typical	44,749	$39,294	313
Offices of other health practitioners	2,317	10.1	1.67×More than typical	10,665	$51,767	6,189
Real estate agents and brokers	2,276	10	2.05×More than typical	7,330	$99,042	5,709
Computer systems design and related services	2,117	9.3	2.14×More than typical	41,208	$141,132	4,743
Limited-service restaurants	1,771	7.8	0.97×About typical	27,274	$29,501	293
Services to buildings and dwellings	1,700	7.4	1.10×About typical	14,246	$49,924	6,666

Rank places for an industry Open King County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 2,283,086 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $963.1M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Tukwila, Washington: $44,900 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $963.1M; +99% vs FY2025
Per resident: $44,900; US $1,994
Sole-source: 72%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.3%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Department of the Air Force$580.2M60%
Defense Contract Management Agency$350.1M36%
Department of the Navy$16.4M1.7%
Department of Veterans Affairs$7.5M0.8%
National Aeronautics and Space Administration$3.5M0.4%
Defense Logistics Agency$2.6M0.3%
Environmental Protection Agency$1.5M0.2%
Federal Prison System / Bureau of Prisons$339.6K0.0%

Top recipients

THE BOEING COMPANY$909.1M94%
STARFISH SPACE INC.$27.6M2.9%
THE BOEING COMPANY$12.3M1.3%
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION$1.4M0.1%
THE BOEING COMPANY$929.6K0.1%

Spending by fiscal year

621.4MFY2017
660.9MFY2018
767.3MFY2019
366.9MFY2020
771.7MFY2021
420.1MFY2022
373.8MFY2023
541.7M

Top industries (NAICS)

Aerospace product and parts manufacturing · 3364$921.1M96%
Nonscheduled air transportation · 4812$24.9M2.6%
Scientific research and development services · 5417$3.5M0.4%
Nonresidential building construction · 2362$1.6M0.2%
Navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments manufacturing · 3345$1.2M0.1%
Computer systems design and related services · 5415

Part of this section could not be loaded in time.

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Tukwila, Washington, so they do not add up across cities.

Tukwila, Washington's figures are part of those of King County, WA ($11.1B in FY2026), never added to them: 8.7% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Tukwila is mostly in King County.

See federal money in King County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Tukwila, Washington is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

King County83100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA82

Other cities and towns in King County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/5372625

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends