Renton is a city in King County, Washington, United States, and an inner-ring suburb of Seattle. Situated southeast of Seattle, Renton straddles the southeast shore of Lake Washington, at the mouth of the Cedar River. As of the 2020 census, the population of Renton was 106,785, up from 90,927 at the 2010 census. The city is currently the 6th most populous municipality in greater Seattle and the 8th most populous city in Washington.
After a long history as an important salmon fishing area for Native Americans, Renton was first settled by people of European descent in the 1860s. 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, Providence Health & Services, UW Medicine, and Wizards of the Coast.
History Long a cultural center for the Duwamish, European settlers arrived in the area of present-day Renton as early as 1853. First among them were Henry Tobin and his wife Diana. The town of Renton was accessed via the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad, the first railroad to be built to Seattle, and was in the vicinity of several coal mines that attracted entrepreneurs like Erasmus M. Smithers, who is credited with the founding and establishment of the town in 1875. Smithers named Renton in honor of Captain William Renton, a local lumber and shipping merchant who invested heavily in the coal trade. Smithers discovered coal there and brought in Charles D. Shattuck as the coal mine operator.
Renton was incorporated as a city on September 6, 1901, when coal mining and timber processing were the most important economic industries in the area. The town was prone to flooding from the Cedar River and Black River. In 1916 the completion of the Lake Washington Ship Canal lowered the surface of Lake Washington by several feet which consequently eliminated drainage of Lake Washington through the Black River (in favor of the Ship Canal). The Cedar River was then diverted to drain into Lake Washington instead of into the Black River. As a result, the Black River largely disappeared, leaving only a few remnants. The culmination of these actions reduced the threat of annual flooding.
The population sharply increased during World War II when Boeing built their Renton Factory to produce the B-29 Superfortress. Renton grew from a population of 4,488 in 1940 to 16,039 in 1950.
The game company Wizards of the Coast also is headquartered in Renton. Providence Health System has centralized its administrative offices in Renton, along with Group Health Cooperative.
Owing to its location at the confluence of three major freeways (I-5, I-405, and SR 167), Renton's economic development team has lured a number of specialty retailers that draw consumers from around the region, including IKEA. Some retail establishments were unwanted though, and the city successfully defended zoning restrictions on pornographic theaters before the U.S. Supreme Court in Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc.
The Renton Public Library was built directly over the Cedar River and opened in 1966. It stretches across the river, next to Liberty Park, and was the main branch of the city's independent library system until its 2010 annexation into the King County Library system.
21st-century redevelopment
The city government has encouraged redevelopment of industrial areas around Downtown Renton and near Southcenter since the 1980s. The first IKEA in the Pacific Northwest opened in Renton in 1994 at a former Boeing building; the original building was replaced by a new store on the same site in 2017. The former Longacres horse-racing track was redeveloped in the 1990s to support offices for Boeing and the Federal Reserve Bank, which moved from its Seattle building. Port Quendall, a land parcel in north Renton, is home to the Virginia Mason Athletic Center (VMAC), housing the Seattle Seahawks Headquarters and training facility that opened in August 2008; before then, the Seahawks trained in Kirkland.
In the mid-1990s, Renton undertook a major redevelopment effort to revitalize its downtown core, which had declined in commercial prominence since the opening of the Southcenter Mall in Tukwila in 1968. The many car dealerships that had previously occupied the center of downtown Renton were encouraged through economic incentives to relocate to a newly created auto sales zone close to the I-405/SR-167 interchange. In place of the old dealerships downtown, a new transit center and parking garage were built in partnership with King County Metro. The transit center is surrounded by several multi-family residential buildings and a small town square named Piazza Park, which hosts a weekly farmers' market.
Centered on former Boeing Co. property near the south shore of Lake Washington is a residential and commercial development named The Landing. To the north of the Landing, a hotel and office development on the lakefront called Southport has been developed at the site of the former Shuffleton power plant, which was demolished in 2001. A 347-room hotel operated under the Hyatt Regency brand opened in June 2017.
In 2017, Bosa Development announced plans to build five residential towers between 16 and 23 stories at Quendall Terminals, a Superfund site in Renton on the shore of Lake Washington. The proposal was never formally approved by the city government, which had permitted six-story buildings on the site, and was dropped in 2024.
Geography
Renton is located on the southeast shore of Lake Washington at the mouth of the Cedar River. The city is bordered to the north by Newcastle. Along the east side of Renton is the urban growth boundary established by King County, as such there is no incorporated city directly east of Renton. The southern border is shared with Kent, while the western border consists of the city of Tukwila and the unincorporated community of West Hill.
The geographical characteristics of Renton's eastern border are varied and include (from north to south) the south flank of Cougar Mountain descending southward merging with the community of May Valley. The terrain then elevates south of May Valley to the communities of the East Renton Plateau before descending to the north bank of the Cedar River.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water, most of which is the Cedar River.
Potential Annexation Areas (PAAs) include the communities of Fairwood southeast of Renton, the East Renton Plateau on the eastern edge of Renton, and West Hill northwest of Renton. These communities are large unincorporated urban areas that are encouraged by the King County Annexation Initiative additional text. to incorporate as cities or annex into neighboring cities. As of 2012 these three PAAs are not part of the City of Renton, and not included in its demographics or statistics.
Renton is one of the cities in the Puget Sound region with an independent street grid system. Roads names beginning with sectional divisions (N 32nd Street) generally follow a latitudinal direction, while roads names ending in a sectional direction (Duvall Ave NE) generally follow a longitudinal direction. Many of the avenues in the city are named in honor of other cities in Washington.
Areas Downtown Renton In 2015, ESRI estimated that in Downtown Renton the total population was 3,019 and the average household income was $50,809. North Renton In 2015, ESRI estimated that in North Renton the total population was 8,211 and the average household income was $79,387. Northeast Renton In 2015, ESRI estimated that in Northeast Renton the total population was 44,626 and the average household income was $93,556. Southeast Renton In 2015, ESRI estimated that in Southeast Renton the total population was 39,066 and the average household income was $78,424. Southwest Renton In 2015, ESRI estimated that in Southwest Renton the total population was 3,551 and the average household income was $64,661.
Climate Renton has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csb) with warm and dry summers mixed with cloudy, wet and cool winters, with a precipitation regime typical of the Pacific Northwest. Being located in a partial rain shadow and shielded from the coastal summers, Renton has more of a climate influenced by the interior than many other areas nearby.
Demographics
As of the 2023 American Community Survey, there are 40,968 estimated households in Renton with an average of 2.53 persons per household. The city has a median household income of $100,237. Approximately 7.9% of the city's population lives at or below the poverty line. Renton has an estimated 71.7% employment rate, with 38.4% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 86.2% holding a high school diploma.
The top five reported ancestries (people were allowed to report up to two ancestries, thus the figures will generally add to more than 100%) were English (59.2%), Spanish (12.8%), Indo-European (7.0%), Asian and Pacific Islander (16.4%), and Other (4.6%).
Racial and ethnic composition +Renton, Washington – racial and ethnic composition Race / ethnicity (NH = non-Hispanic) Pop. 2000 Pop. 2010 % 2000 % 2010 White alone (NH) 32,759 44,93742,449 65.45% 49.42%39.75% Black or African American alone (NH) 4,142 9,43510,585 8.28% 10.38%9.91% Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) 335 423463 0.67% 0.47%0.43% Asian alone (NH) 6,658 19,14827,721 13.30% 21.06%25.96% Pacific Islander alone (NH) 238 635818 0.48% 0.70%0.77% Other race alone (NH) 153 169637 0.31% 0.19%0.60% Mixed race or multiracial (NH) 1,949 4,2337,602 3.89% 4.66%7.12% Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3,818 11,94716,510 7.63% 13.14%15.46% Total 50,052 90,927106,785 100.00% 100.00%100.00%
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Renton had a population of 106,785, with 41,433 households and 25,537 families; the median age was 36.9 years. 21.0% of residents were under the age of 18, 6.5% were under the age of 5, and 12.8% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 99.0 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 97.4 males age 18 and over.
The population density was . There were 43,362 housing units at an average density of , of which 4.4% were vacant; the homeowner vacancy rate was 1.0% and the rental vacancy rate was 5.2%.
100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.
+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent White 44,704 41.9% Black or African American 10,838 10.1% American Indian and Alaska Native 984 0.9% Asian 27,917 26.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 847 0.8% Some other race 9,065 8.5% Two or more races 12,430 11.6% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 16,510 15.5%
2010 census As of the 2010 census, there were 90,927 people, 36,009 households, and 21,849 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 38,930 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 54.64% White, 10.63% African American, 0.66% Native American, 21.22% Asian, 0.75% Pacific Islander, 6.24% from some other races and 5.85% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 13.14% of the population.
There were 36,009 households, of which 32.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.2% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 39.3% were non-families. 30.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.16.