Most African American cities in Washington research summary. We used Saturday Night Science to analyze Washington’s most recent Census data to determine the cities with the largest Black population, based on the percentage of Black residents.
The city with the largest African American population in Washington is SeaTac (24.4% Black); the least is North Bend (0.0%). Statewide, Washington is 3.8% Black — the 34th blackest state in the country.
Roughly 42 million people identifying as Black or African American live in the United States, about 12% of the total population. In Washington, the Black population is 300,646, at 3.8% of the state total.
We broke down the most recent Census data to determine the cities in Washington with the largest African American population in 2026.
#1 most African American in Washington
Located in
King County, Washington
SeaTac or Seatac is a city in southern King County, Washington, United States, and an outlying suburb of Seattle, Washington. The name SeaTac is a combination of the first syllables of Seattle and Tacoma.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#2 most African American in Washington
Located in
King County, Washington
Federal Way is a city in King County, Washington, United States. It is a coastal city inside the Seattle metropolitan area. Its southwestern boundary is NE Tacoma Puget Sound, to the south is the cities of Milton, then Fife, then Tacoma. It is bordered by Des Moines and Kent on the northeast, Auburn as well as the town of Lakeland North and Lakeland South in unincorporated King County on the east, Milton on the south, and Tacoma as well as Fife Heights and Dash Point in unincorporated Pierce County on the southwest. The population was 95,171 at the 2015 United States Census. Federal Way is currently the 9th largest city in Washington State and the 5th largest in King County, according to the Census Bureau’s 2015 population estimate.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#3 most African American in Washington
Located in
King County, Washington
Tukwila is a suburban city in King County, Washington, United States. The northern edge of Tukwila borders the city of Seattle. The population was 19,107 at the 2010 census. The population was 20,018 at the 2015 Estimate from Office of Financial Management. The City of Tukwila is a community of communities: residents of many diverse origins make Tukwila their home, a large commercial center draws workers and consumers to the city daily, and industry thrives with the confluence of rivers, freeways, railroads, and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#4 most African American in Washington
Located in
Pierce County, Washington
Lakewood is a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 58,163 at the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#5 most African American in Washington
Located in
Pierce County, Washington
Fife is a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States and a suburb of Tacoma. The population was 9,173 at the 2010 census. The population was 9,970 at 2015 Estimate from Office of Financial Management.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#6 most African American in Washington
Located in
King County, Washington
Kent is a city located in King County, Washington, United States. It is the sixth largest city in the state and third largest in the county. Kent is in the heart of the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area, located 19 miles south of Seattle and 19 miles northeast of Tacoma. Incorporated in 1890, it is the second oldest incorporated city in King County, after Seattle. Kent’s population as of April, 2010 was 92,411 according to the 2010 census. The total grew to an estimated 126,952 as of July 1, 2015, owing primarily to annexation.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#7 most African American in Washington
Located in
King County, Washington
Des Moines is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 29,673 as of the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#8 most African American in Washington
Located in
Snohomish County, Washington
Lynnwood is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The city is part of the Seattle metropolitan area and is located 16 miles north of Seattle and 13 miles south of Everett, near the junction of Interstate 5 and Interstate 405. It is the fourth-largest city in Snohomish County, with a population of 36,485 in the 2010 U.S. census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#9 most African American in Washington
Located in
Pierce County, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city in and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington’s Puget Sound, 32 miles southwest of Seattle, 31 miles northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and 58 miles northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to the 2010 census. Tacoma is the second-largest city in the Puget Sound area and the third largest in the state. Tacoma also serves as the center of business activity for the South Sound region, which has a population of around 1 million.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#10 most African American in Washington
Located in
King County, Washington
Renton is a city in King County, Washington, United States. Situated 11 miles southeast of downtown Seattle, Washington, Renton straddles the southeast shore of Lake Washington, at the mouth of the Cedar River. While long an important salmon fishing area for Native Americans, Renton was first settled by people of European descent in the 1860s, and its early economy was based on coal mining, clay production, and timber export. Today, Renton is best known as the final assembly point for the Boeing 737 family of commercial airplanes, but it is also home to a growing number of well known manufacturing, technology, and healthcare organizations, including Boeing Commercial Airplanes Division, Paccar, Kaiser Permanente, IKEA, Providence Health & Services, and Wizards of the Coast. As of 2016, the population in Renton is 101,300, up from 90,927 at the 2010 census. Renton currently is the 8th largest city in Washington State, and is the 4th largest in King County. The National Football League’s Seattle Seahawks have a training facility in Renton. It is the second-largest facility in the NFL at 200,000 square feet.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Washington’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Washington’s Black communities live
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How We Determined The Cities In Washington With The Largest Black Population For 2026
We still believe in the accuracy of data — especially from the Census. So that’s where we went to get the race breakdown across Washington.
That leads us to the Census’s most recently available data, the 2020-2024 American Community Survey data from the US Census.
Specifically, we looked at table B03002: Hispanic OR LATINO ORIGIN BY RACE. Here are the category names as defined by the Census:
- Hispanic or Latino
- White alone*
- Black or African American alone*
- American Indian and Alaska Native alone*
- Asian alone*
- Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone*
- Some other race alone*
- Two or more races*
Our particular column of interest was the number of people who identified as Black or African American.
We limited our analysis to non-CDPs with a population greater than 6,000 people in Washington. That left us with 115 cities.
We then calculated the percentage of residents that are Black or African American. The percentages ranked from 24.4% to 0.0%.
Finally, we ranked each city based on the percentage of the Black population, with a higher score being more Black than a lower score. SeaTac took the distinction of being the most Black, while North Bend was the least African American city.
We updated this article for 2026. This is our eleventh time ranking the cities in Washington with the largest African American population.
The full plate
African American Population By City In Washington
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | African American Population | % African American |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SeaTac | 32,414 | 7,900 | 24.4% |
| 2 | Federal Way | 99,493 | 17,751 | 17.8% |
| 3 | Tukwila | 21,451 | 3,806 | 17.7% |
| 4 | Lakewood | 62,937 | 8,398 | 13.3% |
| 5 | Fife | 10,949 | 1,459 | 13.3% |
| 6 | Kent | 135,603 | 17,266 | 12.7% |
| 7 | Des Moines | 32,823 | 4,164 | 12.7% |
| 8 | Lynnwood | 40,110 | 4,031 | 10.0% |
| 9 | Tacoma | 222,758 | 20,698 | 9.3% |
| 10 | Renton | 105,317 | 9,477 | 9.0% |
| 11 | Covington | 21,233 | 1,716 | 8.1% |
| 12 | Burien | 51,513 | 3,914 | 7.6% |
| 13 | University Place | 34,911 | 2,495 | 7.1% |
| 14 | Brier | 6,545 | 448 | 6.8% |
| 15 | Pacific | 7,066 | 473 | 6.7% |
| 16 | Shoreline | 61,431 | 4,061 | 6.6% |
| 17 | Auburn | 85,676 | 5,621 | 6.6% |
| 18 | Seattle | 754,195 | 48,376 | 6.4% |
| 19 | Everett | 111,845 | 6,802 | 6.1% |
| 20 | Airway Heights | 11,245 | 677 | 6.0% |
| 21 | Lacey | 57,737 | 3,320 | 5.8% |
| 22 | Fircrest | 7,069 | 398 | 5.6% |
| 23 | Lake Forest Park | 13,335 | 690 | 5.2% |
| 24 | Yelm | 11,102 | 530 | 4.8% |
| 25 | Tumwater | 26,956 | 1,240 | 4.6% |
| 26 | DuPont | 9,931 | 451 | 4.5% |
| 27 | Steilacoom | 6,686 | 294 | 4.4% |
| 28 | Mountlake Terrace | 23,104 | 970 | 4.2% |
| 29 | Oak Harbor | 24,362 | 958 | 3.9% |
| 30 | Milton | 8,894 | 342 | 3.8% |
| 31 | Puyallup | 42,746 | 1,591 | 3.7% |
| 32 | Newcastle | 12,989 | 459 | 3.5% |
| 33 | Marysville | 73,002 | 2,460 | 3.4% |
| 34 | Mill Creek | 20,956 | 674 | 3.2% |
| 35 | Monroe | 19,755 | 628 | 3.2% |
| 36 | Vancouver | 195,300 | 6,124 | 3.1% |
| 37 | Bremerton | 44,830 | 1,399 | 3.1% |
| 38 | Edgewood | 13,032 | 387 | 3.0% |
| 39 | Kenmore | 23,741 | 673 | 2.8% |
| 40 | Spokane | 230,293 | 6,361 | 2.8% |
| 41 | Olympia | 55,951 | 1,528 | 2.7% |
| 42 | Moses Lake | 26,083 | 693 | 2.7% |
| 43 | Bellevue | 151,847 | 3,915 | 2.6% |
| 44 | Lake Stevens | 40,253 | 1,010 | 2.5% |
| 45 | Walla Walla | 33,925 | 807 | 2.4% |
| 46 | Clarkston | 7,191 | 165 | 2.3% |
| 47 | Poulsbo | 12,165 | 275 | 2.3% |
| 48 | Edmonds | 42,735 | 962 | 2.3% |
| 49 | Kennewick | 85,295 | 1,914 | 2.2% |
| 50 | Issaquah | 39,591 | 887 | 2.2% |
| 51 | Redmond | 77,353 | 1,707 | 2.2% |
| 52 | Bonney Lake | 22,090 | 476 | 2.2% |
| 53 | Ellensburg | 20,874 | 431 | 2.1% |
| 54 | Sequim | 8,161 | 160 | 2.0% |
| 55 | Kelso | 12,684 | 246 | 1.9% |
| 56 | Pasco | 79,575 | 1,468 | 1.8% |
| 57 | Kirkland | 92,621 | 1,651 | 1.8% |
| 58 | Mukilteo | 21,323 | 380 | 1.8% |
| 59 | Burlington | 10,003 | 165 | 1.6% |
| 60 | Pullman | 32,229 | 511 | 1.6% |
| 61 | Maple Valley | 28,287 | 443 | 1.6% |
| 62 | Woodinville | 13,438 | 209 | 1.6% |
| 63 | Orting | 8,978 | 131 | 1.5% |
| 64 | Arlington | 21,095 | 296 | 1.4% |
| 65 | Camas | 27,007 | 374 | 1.4% |
| 66 | Mount Vernon | 35,377 | 479 | 1.4% |
| 67 | Sammamish | 66,463 | 885 | 1.3% |
| 68 | Bellingham | 93,438 | 1,212 | 1.3% |
| 69 | Port Orchard | 17,149 | 220 | 1.3% |
| 70 | Aberdeen | 17,088 | 218 | 1.3% |
| 71 | Spokane Valley | 106,365 | 1,345 | 1.3% |
| 72 | Normandy Park | 6,659 | 83 | 1.2% |
| 73 | Centralia | 18,830 | 206 | 1.1% |
| 74 | Cheney | 12,804 | 135 | 1.1% |
| 75 | Richland | 62,753 | 656 | 1.0% |
| 76 | Chehalis | 7,587 | 75 | 1.0% |
| 77 | Yakima | 96,961 | 956 | 1.0% |
| 78 | Port Angeles | 20,118 | 187 | 0.9% |
| 79 | Snohomish | 10,239 | 94 | 0.9% |
| 80 | Woodland | 6,487 | 58 | 0.9% |
| 81 | College Place | 9,854 | 85 | 0.9% |
| 82 | Mercer Island | 25,307 | 216 | 0.9% |
| 83 | Battle Ground | 21,886 | 176 | 0.8% |
| 84 | Bothell | 49,610 | 393 | 0.8% |
| 85 | West Richland | 17,586 | 131 | 0.7% |
| 86 | Gig Harbor | 12,424 | 92 | 0.7% |
| 87 | East Wenatchee | 14,199 | 96 | 0.7% |
| 88 | Snoqualmie | 13,798 | 88 | 0.6% |
| 89 | Longview | 38,069 | 227 | 0.6% |
| 90 | Duvall | 8,526 | 50 | 0.6% |
| 91 | Ferndale | 15,999 | 89 | 0.6% |
| 92 | Quincy | 7,998 | 43 | 0.5% |
| 93 | Port Townsend | 10,438 | 56 | 0.5% |
| 94 | Anacortes | 17,966 | 95 | 0.5% |
| 95 | Wenatchee | 35,484 | 186 | 0.5% |
| 96 | Liberty Lake | 12,737 | 64 | 0.5% |
| 97 | Enumclaw | 12,798 | 61 | 0.5% |
| 98 | Ephrata | 8,560 | 40 | 0.5% |
| 99 | Washougal | 17,490 | 76 | 0.4% |
| 100 | Sumner | 10,733 | 44 | 0.4% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 115 cities with more than 6,000 residents.
Summary
Summary: Black Populations Across Washington
If you’re looking for a breakdown of African American populations across Washington according to the most recent data, this is an accurate list.
The blackest cities in Washington are SeaTac, Federal Way, Tukwila, Lakewood, Fife, Kent, Des Moines, Lynnwood, Tacoma, and Renton. Not sold on Washington? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
