Auburn (Lushootseed: sladə) is a city in King County, Washington, United States (with a small portion crossing into neighboring Pierce County). The population was 87,256 at the 2020 Census, and was estimated at 85,513 in 2024. Auburn is a suburb in the Seattle metropolitan area, and is currently ranked as the 15th most populous city in the state of Washington.
The Muckleshoot Indian Reservation lies to the south and southeast.
History
Before the first European arrived in the Green River Valley in the 1850s, the area was home to the Muckleshoot people, who were temporarily driven out by Indian wars later that decade. Several settler families arrived in the 1860s, including Levi Ballard, who set up a homestead between the Green River and White River. Ballard filed for a plat to establish a town in February 1886, naming it Slaughter for an officer slain during the Indian wars in 1855.
Slaughter was incorporated on June 13, 1891, but its name was changed two years later to Auburn on February 21, 1893, by an action of the state legislature. Newer residents had disliked the name and its connection to the word "", especially after the town's hotel was named the Slaughter House. The name Auburn was chosen in honor of Auburn, New York, for the areas' shared reliance on hops farming.
The White and Green Rivers have been a major part of the history and culture of Auburn since the area was settled with multiple locations in the city being named after either of the two rivers. Frequent flooding from the rivers caused numerous problems for the people living in the community with one outcome being the creation of Mountain View Cemetery over on one of the hills overlooking the valley. It was not until the completion of the Mud Mountain Dam and the Howard A. Hanson Dam, along the White River and Green River respectively, that the flooding would cease and allow the city to grow without the aforementioned hurdle impeding the growth.
In 1917 the city, in response to the growing of the Japanese community, donated some of the land in Pioneer Cemetery to the White River Buddhist Church. A little over ten years later, Rev. Giryo Takemura, minister of the church at the time, and his future son-in-law, Chiyokichi Natsuhara, raised money to replace the old wooden sticks and columns that had been in use as gravestones at the cemetery with more durable concrete markers. The interwar period saw several Japanese-American baseball teams from the area compete in the courier league with the White River All-Stars enjoying particularly large success winning four of the July 4th tournaments. In 1930, a Japanese bath house was constructed outside of Neely Mansion by the then current tenants.
With the Attack on Pearl Harbor during the Second World War, Japanese immigrants and the Japanese-American community as a whole were largely seen with unwarranted distrust by the majority white population, including in Auburn. Executive Order 9066, issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, led to the city's Japanese-American population being relocated to internment camps. After the war, of about 300 Japanese families living in Auburn only around 25 returned. In 1980, the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians found that this detainment was an unjust act in its report.
A local real estate developer announced plans for a large planned community in the hills southeast of Auburn in 1979, using of assembled plots. The neighborhood was named Lakeland Hills and began construction in 1985, growing to 80 homes in its first three years. Auburn and Bonney Lake competed to annex the entirety of Lakeland Hills in the late 1990s, with Auburn voting in 1997 to become the third King County city to annex portions of Pierce County. The two cities reached a compromise on water utility rights in the Pierce County portion of the neighborhood that allowed Auburn to complete its annexation of Lakeland Hills by the end of the decade. By 2007, the development had 3,600 homes with 6,000 residents, a new elementary school, and a shopping center.
In 2008, Auburn annexed the West Hill and Lea Hill neighborhoods of unincorporated King County, adding 15,000 residents and expanding its land area by 26 percent. A exclave of Kent, the Bridges neighborhood, was annexed by Auburn on January 1, 2024, after the two cities agreed to the transfer to simplify municipal services in the area. The neighborhood had originally been annexed by Kent in 1987 for use as a water reservoir, which was never built and instead developed into residential use. It was then surrounded by Lea Hill, later annexed into Auburn.
Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (0.96%) is water.
Historically, the Stuck River ran through the settlement of Stuck, which is now a small pocket of unincorporated King County within southern Auburn. In 1906, the flow of the White River was diverted into the Stuck's channel near today's Game Farm Park.
References to the Stuck River still appear in some property legal descriptions and place names (e.g., Stuck River Drive) within Auburn, but today it is essentially indistinguishable from the southern White River.
Neighborhoods
Downtown—Historic buildings with a traditional main street and also many Craftsman-style houses from the 1920s. North Auburn—A mix of commercial and single-family housing separated by Auburn Way North. River's Bend—A small residential neighborhood nestled along the Green River, located at the bottom of Lea Hill in North Auburn. Christopher/Thomas—An area in North Auburn roughly bordered by the Valley Drive Inn and 227th Street. Both are former farming towns annexed into the city in the 1960s. Lea Hill—A mainly residential neighborhood east of the valley, annexed into the city in 2007. Green River College is located here. Hazelwood—The area on Lea Hill between Green River Community College, and Auburn Mountainview High School. Once a town in the late 19th century. West Valley—A commercial and industrial area on the west side of SR 167, located on the bottom of West Hill. West Hill—Located on the West Hill, bordered by the city of Federal Way to the west. South Auburn—A general area located south of downtown, once a low-income area but becoming a commercial zone. Terminal Park—An area of middle class housing near the end of the rail yard named for the railroad workers who lived there. Forest Villa—Mainly residential area located in the Game Farm Park area. Lakeland Hills—A master-planned community sprawling on a large hillside at the southern end of the city on both sides of King and Pierce counties. Hidden Valley—A planned development located East of Lakeland Hills overlooking North Lake Tapps.
Climate
Demographics
As of the 2024 American Community Survey, there are 31,425 estimated households in Auburn with an average of 2.74 persons per household.
Racial and ethnic composition +Auburn, Washington – racial and ethnic composition Race / ethnicity (NH = non-Hispanic) Pop. 1980 Pop. 1990 Pop. 2000 Pop. 2010 White alone (NH) 24,806(93.90%) 30,044(90.76%) 32,220(79.92%) 45,954(65.48%) 42,367(48.55%) Black or African American alone (NH) 144(0.55%) 434(1.31%) 956(2.37%) 3,338(4.76%) 6,576(7.54%) Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) — 643(1.94%) 953(2.36%) 1,413(2.01%) 1,492(1.71%) Asian alone (NH) — 954(2.88%) 1,389(3.45%) 6,178(8.80%) 11,312(12.96%) Pacific Islander alone (NH) — — 197(0.49%) 1,137(1.62%) 2,719(3.12%) Other race alone (NH) 952(3.60%) 17(0.05%) 52(0.13%) 99(0.14%) 469(0.54%) Mixed race or multiracial (NH) — — 1,528(3.79%) 3,029(4.32%) 6,096(6.99%) Hispanic or Latino (any race) 515(1.95%) 1,010(3.05%) 3,019(7.49%) 9,032(12.87%) 16,225(18.59%) Total 26,417(100.00%) 33,102(100.00%) 40,314(100.00%) 70,180(100.00%) 87,256(100.00%)
2020 census As of the 2020 census, there were 87,256 people, 30,806 households, and 20,850 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 31,947 housing units at an average density of .
The median age was 35.6 years, with 25.3% of residents under the age of 18 and 12.6% aged 65 years or older. For every 100 females there were 97.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 96.1 males age 18 and over.
There were 30,806 households, of which 35.9% had children under the age of 18 living in them, 47.0% were married-couple households, 18.9% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 25.5% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 24.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
Of the 31,947 housing units, 3.6% were vacant, the homeowner vacancy rate was 0.6%, and the rental vacancy rate was 4.3%.
99.6% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.4% lived in rural areas.
+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent White 45,020 51.6% Black or African American 6,801 7.8% American Indian and Alaska Native 1,996 2.3% Asian 11,438 13.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 2,767 3.2% Some other race 9,009 10.3% Two or more races 10,225 11.7%
2010 census As of the 2010 census, there were 70,180 people, 26,058 households, and 17,114 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 27,834 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup was 70.46% White, 4.94% African American, 2.29% Native American, 8.91% Asian, 1.64% Pacific Islander, 6.31% from some other races and 5.44% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race were 12.87% of the population.
There were 26,058 households, of which 36.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.7% were married couples living together, 13.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 34.3% were non-families. 25.6% 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 2.67 and the average family size was 3.22.
The median age in the city was 34.4 years. 25.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 10.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 27.9% were from 25 to 44; 25.5% were from 45 to 64; and 10.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.4% male and 50.6% female.
American Community Survey The city has a median household income of $94,603. Approximately 9.6% of the city's population lives at or below the poverty line. Auburn has an estimated 62.6% employment rate, with 25.5% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 88.9% holding a high school diploma.
There were 32,597 housing units at an average density of .
The top nine reported languages (people were allowed to report up to two languages, thus the figures will generally add to more than 100%) were German (11.6%), English (9.3%), Irish (5.9%), Norwegian (3.2%), French (except Basque) (2.3%), Italian (2.2%), Polish (1.7%), Subsaharan African (1.1%), and Scottish (0.9%). Economy Employment As of August 31, 2025, 69.2% of the population is in the labor force with a 4.7% unemployment rate.
The Auburn Boeing Plant, opened in 1966, is the largest airplane parts plant in the world, with and 1.265 million parts being manufactured each year.
Auburn is the site for the Northwest headquarters of United States General Services Administration.
Top employers According to the city's 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, the largest employers in the city are: