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An editorial illustration of Granite Falls, Washington
Snohomish County · Washington

Granite Falls, WA

Granite Falls is being asked to roughly double its job base without losing its natural setting.

Population
4,765
6% more from 2021 to 2026
Family households
—
±10 points at 90% confidence · too uncertain for ranking or interpretation
Local jobs
953
6% more from 2018 to 2023
Median income
$105,136
±$14,965 at 90% confidence
City overview

The forces shaping Granite Falls now.

01
The employers behind the economy

Granite Falls is being asked to roughly double its job base without losing its natural setting.

Granite Falls contains 953 workplace jobs. Education accounts for 35% of them. Hospitality is next at 16%.

The city had about 1,083 jobs in 2024 and a 2044 target of 2,126. Its industrial land can support resource-linked manufacturing, while recreation and visitor services build on the Mountain Loop setting; the challenge is adding enough infrastructure and employers to make those opportunities real without turning the landscape that draws people here into a casualty of growth.

Workplace jobs: 2023
02
The commercial pulse

Granite Falls’ taxable sales rose 26% to $110.1M.

Taxable sales totaled $110.1M, 26% higher than the previous year. Retail trade produced 38% of that total.

Granite Falls’ increase can support city revenue and storefront demand, but inflation or a one-time project may explain part of the $110.1M total. Another year will clarify it.

Washington taxable sales, 2024
03
The commute that shapes the city

Everett matters more to Granite Falls’ workday than its own city line does.

22% of observed resident job destinations are in Everett, followed by Seattle at 15%. Only 6% are inside Granite Falls.

Current GTFS schedules 271 weekday stop departures at 16 stops inside Granite Falls; that supply still needs to be tested against the route to Everett, the largest outside job destination. Schedule supply is not ridership.

Workplace flows: 2023 · commute modes: ACS 2024
04
The trajectory

Granite Falls is not simply adding households—it is adding workplaces too.

Granite Falls’ population rose 6% from 2021–2026; its workplace job count rose 6% from 2018–2023. The source periods differ because the two series are released on different schedules.

The opportunity in Granite Falls is to connect the two gains: more residents can support local commerce, while more nearby jobs can shorten some trips now led outside the city by Everett. Housing and mobility decide whether that happens.

Population: 2021–2026 · jobs: 2018–2023
People

Who lives here—and which households shape demand?

4,765 residents are counted in the latest official state estimate, 6% more than in 2021. Survey measures appear here only when their uncertainty is small enough to describe the city confidently.

Average household size
2.8

±0.3 people at 90% confidence

Median age
36.6

±1.8 years at 90% confidence

Bachelor’s degree+
25%

Among residents age 25 and older. ±7 points at 90% confidence

Below poverty line
3%

Income alone does not describe wealth or local costs. ±2 points at 90% confidence

Population composition

Who lives here

Estimated share of all Granite Falls residents. Each percentage uses the city’s total population as its denominator.

White, non-Hispanic63% ±8 pts
Two or more races, non-Hispanic13% ±6 pts
Filipino11% ±9 pts
Hispanic / Latino, any race6.4% ±4 pts
Nepalese3.1% ±5 pts
American Indian / Alaska Native, non-Hispanic1.9% ±2 pts
Pakistani0.8% ±1 pts
Japanese0.6% ±0.6 pts
Chinese, except Taiwanese0.2% ±0.4 pts
Hmong0.2% ±0.4 pts
Black, non-Hispanic0.0% ±0.3 pts
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic0.0% ±0.3 pts
Another race, non-Hispanic0.0% ±0.3 pts

0% published estimate: Korean, Mongolian, Okinawan, Taiwanese, Other East Asian, Burmese, Cambodian, Indonesian, Laotian, Malaysian, Mien, Singaporean, Thai, Vietnamese, Other Southeast Asian, Asian Indian, Bangladeshi, Bhutanese, Sikh, Sri Lankan, Other South Asian, Afghan, Kazakh, Uzbek, Other Central Asian, Other Asian, specified, Other Asian, not specified, Two or more Asian groups. Zero is not proof that no residents identify with that group.

Some ranges are wide, which is common for smaller populations. Treat small differences as uncertain rather than as a precise ordering.

ACS 2020–2024 · 5-year estimates
Dataset
U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates · tables B03002 and B02015
Period
2020–2024
Geography
Granite Falls Census place
Definition
Race and Hispanic/Latino origin are self-reported Census concepts. Hispanic/Latino may be of any race; the broad display uses non-Hispanic race categories plus Hispanic/Latino of any race.
Method
Every percentage is shown with its 90% margin of error. Detailed Asian estimates use the Asian-alone universe and are divided by the city population for display.
Open the official source ↗
Work

What powers the local economy—and how dependent is it?

Education (includes academia/research) accounts for 35% of jobs located in Granite Falls. The city’s job base changed +155% between 2010 and 2023.

Jobs by sector

Workplace jobs inside the city—not the industries of residents who commute elsewhere.

Education (includes academia/research)35%
Hospitality16%
Retail14%
Manufacturing (includes, but is not limited to, aerospace)10%
Healthcare & Social Assistance6%

Verified employer anchors

Official city and county employment totals and development strategy; no ranked employer table · Current or recent profile · 2024 jobs; 2044 target. The stated employer vintage is within the current two-year publication window.

The city had about 1,083 jobs in 2024 and a 2044 target of 2,126. Its industrial land can support resource-linked manufacturing, while recreation and visitor services build on the Mountain Loop setting; the challenge is adding enough infrastructure and employers to make those opportunities real without turning the landscape that draws people here into a casualty of growth.

Official plans describe industrial land, small-firm conditions, and the employment target, but do not publish a current verified ranking of employers.

Snohomish County Countywide Planning Policies and Granite Falls comprehensive-plan review ↗. Headcounts change faster than Census employment totals.

Housing

What kinds of homes exist—and where is pressure showing?

The firmer current signal is construction intent: 0 homes were authorized in 2025, versus a recent pace of about 1 per year.

Home value profile

What owner-occupied homes are worth

Owner estimates from the 2020–2024 American Community Survey—not listings, recorded sales, or appraisals. The final Census band is open-ended: $2 million and above.

Median estimate$563k±40849.0 at 90% confidence
Middle half of homes$455k–$691kLower to upper quartile of owner estimates
Luxury-home concentration2%≈26 homes · estimated at $2M+
Under $500k38%
$500–749k49%
$750–999k12%
$1–1.49M0%
$1.5–1.99M0%
$2M+2%

These estimates are useful as a distribution, but the survey intervals are too wide to rank Granite Falls or identify one definitive value range.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-year tables B25075–B25078. Values cover owner-occupied homes only and do not measure current asking prices or recent purchase prices.

The housing mix we can estimate confidently

This describes the existing stock. It does not imply that one building type is preferable.

Attached houses1%
Homes authorized, 2025
0

Permit authorizations—not construction starts or completed homes.

Residential buildings, 2025
0

One building can contain one home or many housing units.

2023–2025 annual pace
1 homes

Average housing units authorized per year across the latest three final annual estimates.

Recent pace vs prior 3 years
−99%

2023–2025 average compared with 2020–2022.

Permit activity: U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey, final annual estimate for 2025. Housing units authorized are not starts or completions.

Mobility

Where do residents need to go—and who has a real alternative to driving?

Current transit schedules include 16 stops and 271 weekday stop departures inside Granite Falls. The 2020–2024 ACS separately estimates how workers usually commuted; it does not count every transit trip or describe today's schedule.

Weekday departures
271

Scheduled stop departures in the current covered-feed snapshot—not riders.

Transit stops
16

Matched inside city limits; nearby cross-border stops are separate.

Top outside workplace
Everett

22% of observed resident job destinations in 2023 LODES.

Work inside the city
6%

Share of observed resident job destinations located in the same city in 2023 LODES.

Where resident workers go

Top observed workplace destinations. 6% work inside Granite Falls.

Everett22%
Peak drive: 35–70 min
Seattle15%
Peak drive: 75–140 min
Marysville5%
Peak drive: 20–40 min
Bellevue5%

The strongest outside connection is Everett. Employer or corridor changes there can alter everyday life in Granite Falls, even when nothing changes inside the city boundary.

How residents usually get to work

Citywide ACS 2020–2024 estimates describe workers’ usual commute—not every trip made today.

Work from home
12%

Share of workers usually working from home. ±6 points at 90% confidence

For someone choosing a home in Granite Falls, the practical test is the trip to Everett, the leading outside workplace destination in the published flows. These citywide shares cannot show whether that trip works from a particular address.

Typical drive times

About how long does it take to get where people go?

Work destinations are selected from observed resident job flows. These are broad, reviewed planning ranges from representative parts of Granite Falls—not live-traffic or door-to-door predictions.

Starting area
Everett employment area

Everett is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Granite Falls, representing 18% of matched resident jobs from this city.

35–70 minWeekday morning peak
Details

Highway-dominant corridor: distance converted with a reviewed 1.25x circuity factor and an assumed 45 km/h peak-effective / 70 km/h off-peak effective speed, then widened and rounded to a broad band. The morning inbound peak is shown; the evening outbound return is assumed to fall within the same broad band.

Downtown Seattle employment core

Seattle is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Granite Falls, representing 13% of matched resident jobs from this city.

75–140 minWeekday morning peak
Details

Highway-dominant corridor: distance converted with a reviewed 1.25x circuity factor and an assumed 45 km/h peak-effective / 70 km/h off-peak effective speed, then widened and rounded to a broad band. The morning inbound peak is shown; the evening outbound return is assumed to fall within the same broad band.

Granite Falls employment area

Granite Falls is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Granite Falls, representing 5% of matched resident jobs from this city.

5–20 minWeekday morning peak
Details

Local arterial-dominant corridor: distance converted with a reviewed 1.40x circuity factor and an assumed 28 km/h peak-effective / 42 km/h off-peak effective speed, then widened and rounded to a broad band. The morning inbound peak is shown; the evening outbound return is assumed to fall within the same broad band.

Marysville employment area

Marysville is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Granite Falls, representing 4% of matched resident jobs from this city.

20–40 minWeekday morning peak
Details

Highway-dominant corridor: distance converted with a reviewed 1.25x circuity factor and an assumed 45 km/h peak-effective / 70 km/h off-peak effective speed, then widened and rounded to a broad band. The morning inbound peak is shown; the evening outbound return is assumed to fall within the same broad band.

Method, review date, and sources

Planning estimate; actual time varies by departure time, route, traffic, weather, incidents, and closures.

Estimates are derived from reviewed origin/destination coordinates using a documented distance-to-time heuristic (circuity factor and assumed effective speed by corridor type and period), then deliberately widened and rounded to a broad band. No live routing or traffic API was called.

Estimates reviewed 2026-09-10. Starting point: selected representative area.

City boundary and regional context● nearby   ● work destinations
Daily life

Community institutions and local activity

Public schools, libraries, pharmacies, and listed everyday places show part of the local inventory inside Granite Falls; taxable sales show the scale and direction of local commercial activity. Residents also use places across city lines, so a boundary count is not the same as access.

Local field guide

Places for everyday needs in Granite Falls

Care, errands, food, fitness, and personal services gathered into one browsable directory.

Hospitals0 in cityFind nearby
Explore all hospitals near Granite FallsOpen
Clinics and urgent care1 listedView all
Skagit Regional Health - Granite Falls Family MedicineMapExplore all clinics and urgent care in MapsOpen
Pharmacies1 listedView all
Rite Aid Pharmacy 06539608 WEST STANLEY STREET · GRANITE FALLS, WA 98252-8476MapExplore all pharmacies in MapsOpen
Coffee5 listedView all
Convergence CoffeeMapEspresso LocoMapHanky PiesMapHook Line & EspressoMapPilchuck EspressoMapExplore all coffee in MapsOpen
Fitness2 listedView all
Golds gymMapWildwood Yoga StudioMapExplore all fitness in MapsOpen
Groceries2 listedView all
Granite Falls IGAMapMexico Lindo Mexican StoreMapExplore all groceries in MapsOpen
Convenience1 listedView all
Mark's Country StoreMapExplore all convenience in MapsOpen
Restaurants12 listedView 8 places
Alfy's PizzaMapBella CaffeMapBuzz Inn Steakhouse - Granite FallsMapKrispy Krunchy ChickenMapMarco's TaqueriaMapMarcos TaqueriaMapOmega Pizza and PastaMapPlaya BonitaMapExplore all restaurants in MapsOpen
Salons and barbers3 listedView all
A Sunlight Hair & SpaMapThe NestMapRouge Beauty BarMapExplore all salons and barbers in MapsOpen

Counts reflect current directory records associated with the city, not a complete business census or a measure of access. Large categories show a sample.

Sources: U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), snapshot 2026-08-13; Overture Maps Foundation, release 2026-08-19.0; U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (NPPES NPI Registry), snapshot 2026-09-09.

Public library footprint

Granite Falls Library

Floor area shows the scale of the physical branches. Physical circulation is 2024 checkouts—not visits, unique users, or digital borrowing—and people routinely use libraries across city lines.

Branch floor area
6,534 sq ft

All matched branches must report floor area before a city total is shown.

Physical checkouts
104,749

Annual branch activity; not limited to city residents. All matched branches must report before a city total is shown.

Granite Falls LibrarySno-Isle Libraries
6,534 sq ft104,749 physical checkouts56 scheduled hours/week

Source: Washington State Library public-library statistics, 2024. System-wide visits, digital circulation, and program attendance cannot be assigned honestly to one branch, so they are not folded into these city totals.

Education footprint

The schools inside Granite Falls.

Institution counts and enrollment will remain separate. A school can serve students from outside the city, and residents may attend a school across the boundary or elsewhere in their district.

Public elementary2
  • Monte Cristo Elementary SchoolGranite Falls School District
  • Mountain Way Elementary SchoolGranite Falls School District
Public middle1
  • Granite Falls Middle SchoolGranite Falls School District
Public high3
  • Crossroads High SchoolGranite Falls School District
  • Granite Falls High SchoolGranite Falls School District
  • Granite Falls Open DoorsGranite Falls School District
Other public programs1
  • Early Learning Center (Granite Falls)Granite Falls School District

Public-school names and levels come from OSPI. Private schools, complete IPEDS college coverage, enrollment by level, and graduate destinations are active additions; absence here should not yet be read as “none.”

Retail role

Granite Falls sits near the regional middle for retail activity per resident.

The sales total does not point strongly toward either a major regional shopping role or an unusually small local retail base.

Retail sales per resident, 2024
$8,712

Higher than 42% of 82 tracked cities.

Change from 2023
+4%

Nominal retail-sales change; inflation can account for some or all of an increase.

See the underlying sales totals
Retail trade, 2024
$41.5M

Sales reported by businesses classified in retail trade.

All taxable sales
$110.1M

Includes taxable activity outside retail trade.

Retail share
38%

Retailing industries’ share of all taxable sales.

Tracked-city median
$10,670

Median retail sales per resident across cities with comparable data.

Civic life

In Granite Falls, the council—not the mayor—hires the person who runs City Hall.

Granite Falls voters elect the council, which hires a professional city manager to run administration. The mayor is selected from the council, so executive oversight works through the council rather than a separately elected chief executive.

Government form
Council–Manager

The elected council hires and oversees the city manager.

Mayor listed
Matt Hartman

Generally selected from the council—not a separately elected executive.

Council representatives listed
4

Current directory entries; vacancies or updates can make this differ from authorized seats.

Incorporated
1903

Code city under Washington law.

Where decisions happen

When does the Granite Falls council meet?

Regular meeting schedule listed in the current municipal directory:

1st & 3rd Wed - 7:00pm2nd Tue - 6:30pm Planning Commission

Schedules change and special meetings are separate. Check the city site for the live agenda, staff reports, public-comment rules, and video.

Official city site ↗Current officials directory ↗
Election record

Where to check Granite Falls election results.

Regular municipal offices generally return in 2027. Special measures can appear earlier, and charter provisions can differ.

The next data step is city-specific turnout, contested-seat share, ballot measures, and campaign money. Until those are normalized, Metroscope links the official record instead of guessing from partisan elections.

Structure, meetings, and current officials: Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington (MRSC), checked 2026-09-08. Election administration and certified results: the county election offices listed above. Confirm live agendas and officeholders at the source.

Change

What is changing the city’s trajectory?

Population and jobs do not always move together. Reading both helps distinguish a growing employment center from a city whose households are increasingly tied to opportunities elsewhere.

Residents
4,765

6% more from 2021 to 2026

Local jobs
953

6% more from 2018 to 2023

Retail trade, 2023–2024
+4%

Nominal taxable-sales change; not adjusted for inflation.

Data & details — selected comparable metrics across 82 places
Local jobs
LODES
953
1,506656,821
Higher than only 0% of places
Long-run job change
LODES
+155%
−3%+166%
Higher than 98% of places
Weekday transit departures
GTFS snapshot
271
19256,385
Higher than only 8% of places
Multifamily permitting
Census BPS
Near a 15-year low
Recent annual pace compared with this city's own 2010–2025 record
2BR Fair Market Rent
HUD, county-level
$2,549
FY2027 HUD program benchmark; chart shows FY2020–FY2027 history. Shared across this HUD metro area—not a place-specific market rent.
Work — sector breakdown
Share of local jobs by sector · LODES · workplace location, not resident industry
Education (includes academia/research)35% (331)
Hospitality16% (156)
Retail14% (135)
Manufacturing (includes, but is not limited to, aerospace)10% (96)
Healthcare & Social Assistance6% (60)
Government (Public Administration)5% (45)
Other4% (39)
Construction / Real Estate3% (33)
Administrative & Support Services2% (15)
Logistics / Industrial2% (15)
Professional Services (partial technology proxy)1% (12)
Finance1% (8)
Information (partial technology proxy)1% (8)
Where Granite Falls's workforce lives (inbound)
LODES OD — commuting flows into local jobs
Granite Falls
28.3%
Marysville
22.2%
Lake Stevens
15.0%
Everett
9.1%
Arlington
4.7%