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An editorial illustration of Kenmore, Washington
King County · Washington

Kenmore, WA

A university anchors Kenmore’s job base, while small businesses give it a distinct identity.

Population
24,600
2% more from 2021 to 2026
Family households
64.4%
±4 points at 90% confidence
Local jobs
3,767
11% more from 2018 to 2023
Median income
$139,764
±$15,442 at 90% confidence
City overview

The forces shaping Kenmore now.

01
The employers behind the economy

A university anchors Kenmore’s job base, while small businesses give it a distinct identity.

Kenmore contains 3,767 workplace jobs. Retail accounts for 15% of them. Construction / Real Estate is next at 14%.

Bastyr University, Safeway, and Dollar Tree are the city’s three largest named employers. Kenmore also reports 1,793 small businesses and highlights Kenmore Air, Kenmore Camera, and its waterfront and brewing businesses—economic activity that a top-employer table alone would miss.

Workplace jobs: 2023
02
A campus city

Bastyr University puts a campus population into Kenmore’s workday.

64% of households are estimated to be families. Bastyr University adds a postsecondary population that is not visible in the public-school count.

Bastyr University bring commuters, renters, and daytime customers into Kenmore with needs unlike a conventional workforce. Student and staff counts are the next useful measure.

Households: ACS 2024 · public-school locations: OSPI 2025–26
03
The city’s regional role

Kenmore is principally a home base, with 3,767 jobs for 24,600 residents.

Kenmore has 0.15 workplace jobs per resident—3,767 jobs for 24,600 people. Seattle is the largest observed outside destination for resident workers.

Kenmore can be affluent without being job-rich. With only 0.15 workplace jobs per resident, household fortunes are unusually exposed to outside employers and the routes used to reach them.

Jobs and workplace flows: 2023 · population: 2026
04
The trajectory

Kenmore is growing faster as a workplace than as a home base.

Kenmore’s population rose 2% from 2021–2026; its workplace job count rose 11% from 2018–2023. The source periods differ because the two series are released on different schedules.

With jobs moving 9 points faster than population, Kenmore is likely to rely more on inbound workers. The practical test is whether those workers can reach—or afford to live near—the expanding workplaces.

Population: 2021–2026 · jobs: 2018–2023
05
A split geography of work

33% work from home, while Seattle is Kenmore’s largest outside job destination.

33% of workers report usually working from home. In the separate workplace-flow data, 36% of observed resident jobs are in Seattle and 11% are in Redmond.

Remote-work policy and the trip to Seattle can therefore change demand for local cafés, office space, roads, and transit even when Kenmore itself adds no new employer.

Work from home: 2024 · job destinations: 2023
People

Who lives here—and which households shape demand?

The typical household estimate is 2.5 people. 64% are estimated to be family households, while 28% are estimated to be people living alone.

Average household size
2.5

±0.1 people at 90% confidence

Median age
39.1

±2.7 years at 90% confidence

Living alone
28%

±6 points at 90% confidence

Bachelor’s degree+
62%

Among residents age 25 and older. ±5 points at 90% confidence

Population composition

Who lives here

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

White, non-Hispanic63% ±4 pts
Hispanic / Latino, any race9.8% ±3 pts
Two or more races, non-Hispanic7.6% ±2 pts
Chinese, except Taiwanese6.4% ±2 pts
Black, non-Hispanic2.8% ±2 pts
Asian Indian2.4% ±0.8 pts
Korean2.3% ±1 pts
Filipino1.6% ±0.8 pts
Vietnamese1.1% ±0.9 pts
Taiwanese0.8% ±0.7 pts
Another race, non-Hispanic0.8% ±0.8 pts
Two or more Asian groups0.6% ±0.7 pts
Other Asian, not specified0.5% ±0.6 pts
Cambodian0.2% ±0.2 pts
Japanese0.2% ±0.1 pts
Thai0.2% ±0.2 pts
American Indian / Alaska Native, non-Hispanic0.1% ±0.2 pts
Mongolian0.1% ±0.1 pts
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic<0.1% ±<0.1 pt

0% published estimate: Hmong, Okinawan, Other East Asian, Burmese, Indonesian, Laotian, Malaysian, Mien, Singaporean, Other Southeast Asian, Bangladeshi, Bhutanese, Nepalese, Pakistani, Sikh, Sri Lankan, Other South Asian, Afghan, Kazakh, Uzbek, Other Central Asian, Other Asian, specified. Zero is not proof that no residents identify with that group.

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
Kenmore 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?

Retail accounts for 15% of jobs located in Kenmore. The city’s job base changed +35% between 2010 and 2023.

Jobs by sector

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

Retail15%
Construction / Real Estate14%
Healthcare & Social Assistance12%
Hospitality11%
Professional Services (partial technology proxy)11%

Verified employer anchors

Employers and distinctive local businesses identified by the City of Kenmore · Current or recent profile · 2026. The stated employer vintage is within the current two-year publication window.

Bastyr University, Safeway, and Dollar Tree are the city’s three largest named employers. Kenmore also reports 1,793 small businesses and highlights Kenmore Air, Kenmore Camera, and its waterfront and brewing businesses—economic activity that a top-employer table alone would miss.

Bastyr UniversityHeadcount not published
SafewayHeadcount not published
Dollar TreeHeadcount not published
Kenmore AirHeadcount not published
Plywood SupplyHeadcount not published
Kenmore CameraHeadcount not published

City of Kenmore data, demographics, and economic-development pages ↗. Headcounts change faster than Census employment totals.

Housing

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

69% of occupied homes are estimated to be owner-occupied and 31% rented. The firmer current signal is construction intent: 114 homes were authorized in 2025, versus a recent pace of about 105 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$921k±28824.0 at 90% confidence
Middle half of homes$715k–$1.2MLower to upper quartile of owner estimates
Luxury-home concentration4%≈237 homes · estimated at $2M+
Under $500k12%
$500–749k15%
$750–999k34%
$1–1.49M29%
$1.5–1.99M7%
$2M+4%

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.

Detached houses63%
Attached houses4%
2–4 unit buildings4%
5+ unit buildings26%
Other3%
Owner-occupied
69%

±5 points at 90% confidence

Owner cost-burdened
23%

Spending 30% or more on selected owner costs. ±4 points at 90% confidence

Homes authorized, 2025
114

Permit authorizations—not construction starts or completed homes.

Residential buildings, 2025
62

One building can contain one home or many housing units.

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 42 stops and 2,092 weekday stop departures inside Kenmore. The 2020–2024 ACS separately estimates how workers usually commuted; it does not count every transit trip or describe today's schedule.

Weekday departures
2,092

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

Transit stops
42

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

Top outside workplace
Seattle

36% of observed resident job destinations in 2023 LODES.

Usually drive alone
53%

Workers age 16+; ACS 2020–2024 estimate. ±5 points at 90% confidence

Where resident workers go

Top observed workplace destinations.

Seattle36%
Peak drive: 20–50 min
Redmond11%
Peak drive: 20–40 min
Bellevue11%
Peak drive: 20–40 min
Kirkland8%
Peak drive: 15–30 min
Bothell7%

The strongest outside connection is Seattle. Employer or corridor changes there can alter everyday life in Kenmore, 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.

Drive alone
53%

Share of workers usually driving alone. ±5 points at 90% confidence

Work from home
33%

Share of workers usually working from home. ±4 points at 90% confidence

Use public transit
5.5%

Usual commute mode—not all transit trips. ±2 points at 90% confidence

Commute 45+ minutes
19%

Share of workers with a one-way commute of at least 45 minutes. ±5 points at 90% confidence

For someone choosing a home in Kenmore, the practical test is the trip to Seattle, 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 Kenmore—not live-traffic or door-to-door predictions.

Starting area
Downtown Seattle employment core

Seattle is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Kenmore, representing 34% 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.

Overlake employment core

Redmond is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Kenmore, representing 10% of matched resident jobs from this city.

30–60 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.

Downtown Bellevue employment core

Bellevue is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Kenmore, representing 10% of matched resident jobs from this city.

30–60 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.

Kirkland employment area

Kirkland is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Kenmore, representing 7% of matched resident jobs from this city.

10–30 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.

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 Kenmore; 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 Kenmore

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

Hospitals0 in cityFind nearby
Explore all hospitals near KenmoreOpen
Clinics and urgent care5 listedView all
Evergreen Medical GroupMapEvergreenHealth Urgent Care - KenmoreMapLakeview Family WellnessMapMilton L Curtis, MdMapRainier Valley Natural MedicineMapExplore all clinics and urgent care in MapsOpen
Pharmacies4 listedView all
Cvs Pharmacy #1168418022 68TH AVE NE · KENMORE, WA 98028-2400MapOstroms Drug & Gift6414 NE BOTHELL WAY · KENMORE, WA 98028-4819MapSafeway Pharmacy #35006850 NE BOTHELL WAY · KENMORE, WA 98028-2404MapSafeway Pharmacy #35006850 NE BOTHELL WAY · KENMORE, WA 98028-2404MapExplore all pharmacies in MapsOpen
Coffee6 listedView all
Arken Coffee RoastersMapکافه تهران Cafe TehranMapDiva EspressoMapDolce Vita EspressoMapStarbucksMapStarbucks Coffee CompanyMapExplore all coffee in MapsOpen
Fitness6 listedView all
CrossFit KenmoreMapKenmore FitnessMapLakeView YogaMapMercury Fitness Repair, Inc.MapReign FitnessMapSimply Strong GymMapExplore all fitness in MapsOpen
Groceries9 listedView 8 places
Grocery OutletMapManhattan Express IncMapRocky's Corner Food MartMapSafewayMapSelect Gourmet FoodsMapSpeedy MartMapSsi&mha CorporationMapTown MarketMapExplore all groceries in MapsOpen
Convenience4 listedView all
ExtraMileMapManhattan Express GroceryMapPlaid Pantry No 335MapRite AidMapExplore all convenience in MapsOpen
Restaurants24 listedView 8 places
11th FrameMapAcapulco Fresh Mexican GrillMapBuddha BruddahMapCedar + ElmMapDomino'sMapEmpire Bar & GrillMapFortune Inn RestaurantMapThe Guest House RestaurantMapExplore all restaurants in MapsOpen
Salons and barbers13 listedView 8 places
Beauty Hair SalonMapGazelle SalonMapGreat ClipsMapHair HarborMapKim's Friendly CutsMapLovely Nails & Beauty SalonMapNoble Hair & NailMapSalon ExodusMapExplore 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

Kenmore 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
10,000 sq ft

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

Physical checkouts
116,009

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

Kenmore LibraryKing County Library System
10,000 sq ft116,009 physical checkouts47 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 Kenmore.

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 elementary3
  • Arrowhead Elementary SchoolNorthshore School District
  • Kenmore Elementary SchoolNorthshore School District
  • Moorlands Elementary SchoolNorthshore School District
Public middle1
  • Kenmore Middle SchoolNorthshore School District
Public high1
  • Inglemoor High SchoolNorthshore School District
Other public programs0

None in the current OSPI city-boundary match.

College and university campuses
Bastyr UniversityPrivate health-sciences university

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

Kenmore records relatively little retail activity for its population.

Retail sales per resident fall below 78% of the cities tracked by Metroscope. That may mean residents rely more on nearby cities for shopping, but sales records alone cannot prove where they shop.

Retail sales per resident, 2024
$6,490

Higher than 22% of 82 tracked cities.

Change from 2023
+0.2%

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

See the underlying sales totals
Retail trade, 2024
$159.7M

Sales reported by businesses classified in retail trade.

All taxable sales
$424.5M

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

Kenmore only became a city in 1998.

Kenmore 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
Check directory

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

Council representatives listed
7

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

Incorporated
1998

Code city under Washington law.

Where decisions happen

When does the Kenmore council meet?

Regular meeting schedule listed in the current municipal directory:

2nd, 3rd & 4th Mon - 7:00pm

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 Kenmore 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
24,600

2% more from 2021 to 2026

Local jobs
3,767

11% more from 2018 to 2023

Retail trade, 2023–2024
+0.2%

Nominal taxable-sales change; not adjusted for inflation.

Data & details — selected comparable metrics across 82 places
Local jobs
LODES
3,767
1,506656,821
Higher than only 7% of places
Long-run job change
LODES
+35%
−3%+166%
Higher than 51% of places
Weekday transit departures
GTFS snapshot
2,092
19256,385
Higher than only 43% of places
Multifamily permitting
Census BPS
Near a 15-year high
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
Retail15% (547)
Construction / Real Estate14% (545)
Healthcare & Social Assistance12% (464)
Hospitality11% (427)
Professional Services (partial technology proxy)11% (422)
Logistics / Industrial11% (407)
Education (includes academia/research)7% (250)
Administrative & Support Services4% (135)
Government (Public Administration)4% (134)
Other3% (129)
Information (partial technology proxy)3% (124)
Finance3% (96)
Manufacturing (includes, but is not limited to, aerospace)2% (87)
Where Kenmore's workforce lives (inbound)
LODES OD — commuting flows into local jobs
Seattle
21.2%
Kenmore
12.5%
Kirkland
6.8%
Bothell
6.5%
Everett
4.5%