All places > Pierce County > Orting
An editorial illustration of Orting, Washington
Pierce County · Washington

Orting, WA

Workplaces are expanding faster than the resident base in Orting.

Population
9,160
2% more from 2021 to 2026
Family households
78.7%
±6 points at 90% confidence
Local jobs
1,447
13% more from 2018 to 2023
Median income
$132,877
±$10,138 at 90% confidence
City overview

The forces shaping Orting now.

01
The trajectory

Workplaces are expanding faster than the resident base in Orting.

Orting’s population rose 2% from 2021–2026; its workplace job count rose 13% from 2018–2023. The source periods differ because the two series are released on different schedules.

With jobs moving 12 points faster than population, Orting 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
02
The city’s regional role

Orting is principally a home base, with 1,447 jobs for 9,160 residents.

Orting has 0.16 workplace jobs per resident—1,447 jobs for 9,160 people. Seattle is the largest observed outside destination for resident workers.

Orting can prosper without a large local employment base. Changes to regional commute corridors toward Seattle and outside employers can reach households faster than changes in its own commercial districts.

Jobs and workplace flows: 2023 · population: 2026
03
The local economic engine

Education supplies 25% of the jobs inside Orting.

Orting contains 1,447 workplace jobs. Education accounts for 25% of them. Healthcare is next at 17%.

Enrollment, public budgets, and campus growth are part of Orting’s economic outlook—not just its education story.

Workplace jobs: 2023
04
The commute that shapes the city

Seattle matters more to Orting’s workday than its own city line does.

13% of observed resident job destinations are in Seattle, followed by Tacoma at 12%.

Current GTFS schedules 0 weekday stop departures at 0 stops inside Orting; that supply still needs to be tested against the route to Seattle, the largest outside job destination. Schedule supply is not ridership.

Workplace flows: 2023 · commute modes: ACS 2024
05
The family infrastructure

Families are 79% of households, making Orting’s 5 public-school sites consequential infrastructure.

79% of households are estimated to be families. Orting contains 5 public-school locations, but attendance boundaries may also send resident students across the city line.

Orting’s 5 public-school locations cannot measure quality or available seats. They do make enrollment change, grade-level capacity, safe routes, and the location of new homes part of the same local question.

Households: ACS 2024 · public-school locations: OSPI 2025–26
People

Who lives here—and which households shape demand?

The typical household estimate is 3.0 people. 79% are estimated to be family households, while 14% are estimated to be people living alone.

Average household size
3.0

±0.2 people at 90% confidence

Median age
34.1

±2.8 years at 90% confidence

Living alone
14%

±4 points at 90% confidence

Bachelor’s degree+
24%

Among residents age 25 and older. ±6 points at 90% confidence

Population composition

Who lives here

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

White, non-Hispanic77% ±6 pts
Hispanic / Latino, any race9.6% ±4 pts
Two or more races, non-Hispanic7.0% ±4 pts
Black, non-Hispanic1.5% ±1.0 pts
Filipino1.2% ±1 pts
Other Asian, not specified0.8% ±1.0 pts
Vietnamese0.8% ±1 pts
American Indian / Alaska Native, non-Hispanic0.7% ±0.8 pts
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic0.5% ±0.6 pts
Chinese, except Taiwanese0.3% ±0.3 pts
Japanese<0.1% ±0.2 pts
Another race, non-Hispanic0.0% ±0.2 pts

0% published estimate: Hmong, Korean, Mongolian, Okinawan, Taiwanese, Other East Asian, Burmese, Cambodian, Indonesian, Laotian, Malaysian, Mien, Singaporean, Thai, Other Southeast Asian, Asian Indian, Bangladeshi, Bhutanese, Nepalese, Pakistani, Sikh, Sri Lankan, Other South Asian, Afghan, Kazakh, Uzbek, Other Central Asian, Other Asian, 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
Orting 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 25% of jobs located in Orting. The city’s job base changed +28% between 2010 and 2023.

Jobs by sector

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

Education (includes academia/research)25%
Healthcare & Social Assistance17%
Hospitality13%
Professional Services (partial technology proxy)13%
Administrative & Support Services13%

Historical employer snapshot

Official city economic baseline and business-development finding; no ranked employer table · Historical employer snapshot · 2021 commute data in the 2024 comprehensive plan. The source is older than the current employer publication window; headcounts are historical, not current.

The city documents a commuter economy and its local-business strategy, but does not publish a verified ranked employer list or company headcounts.

City of Orting Comprehensive Plan economic baseline and economic-development element ↗. Headcounts change faster than Census employment totals.

Housing

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

83% of occupied homes are estimated to be owner-occupied and 17% rented. The firmer current signal is construction intent: 21 homes were authorized in 2025, versus a recent pace of about 11 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$493k±21777.0 at 90% confidence
Middle half of homes$423k–$621kLower to upper quartile of owner estimates
Luxury-home concentration0%≈6 homes · estimated at $2M+
Under $500k52%
$500–749k47%
$750–999k1%
$1–1.49M0%
$1.5–1.99M0%
$2M+0%

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 houses3%
2–4 unit buildings1%
5+ unit buildings2%
Other3%
Owner-occupied
83%

±7 points at 90% confidence

Owner cost-burdened
19%

Spending 30% or more on selected owner costs. ±6 points at 90% confidence

Homes authorized, 2025
21

Permit authorizations—not construction starts or completed homes.

Residential buildings, 2025
21

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?

The current covered GTFS feeds matched no scheduled stop inside Orting’s boundary. That does not rule out service just outside the city or service absent from the covered feeds. The 2020–2024 ACS separately estimates how workers usually commuted; it does not count every transit trip or describe today's schedule.

Weekday departures
0

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

Transit stops
0

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

Top outside workplace
Seattle

13% of observed resident job destinations in 2023 LODES.

Where resident workers go

Top observed workplace destinations.

Seattle13%
Peak drive: 75–130 min
Tacoma12%
Peak drive: 30–60 min
Puyallup9%
Peak drive: 25–50 min
Auburn9%
Peak drive: 25–50 min
Kent8%

The strongest outside connection is Seattle. Employer or corridor changes there can alter everyday life in Orting, 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
13%

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

Use public transit
0.5%

Usual commute mode—not all transit trips. ±0.5 points at 90% confidence

For someone choosing a home in Orting, 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 Orting—not live-traffic or door-to-door predictions.

Starting area
Downtown Seattle employment core

Seattle is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Orting, representing 10% 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.

Tacoma employment area

Tacoma is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Orting, representing 9% of matched resident jobs from this city.

30–60 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.

Puyallup employment area

Puyallup is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Orting, representing 7% 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.

Auburn employment area

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

25–50 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 Orting; 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 Orting

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

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

Orting 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
2,700 sq ft

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

Physical checkouts
61,239

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

Orting LibraryPierce County Library System
2,700 sq ft61,239 physical checkouts50 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 Orting.

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
  • Orting Elementary SchoolOrting School District
  • Ptarmigan Ridge Elementary SchoolOrting School District
Public middle1
  • Orting Middle SchoolOrting School District
Public high1
  • Orting High SchoolOrting School District
Other public programs1
  • Orting Special EducationOrting 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

Orting records relatively little retail activity for its population.

Retail sales per resident fall below 80% 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
$6,345

Higher than 20% of 82 tracked cities.

Change from 2023
+5%

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

See the underlying sales totals
Retail trade, 2024
$58.1M

Sales reported by businesses classified in retail trade.

All taxable sales
$121.7M

Includes taxable activity outside retail trade.

Retail share
48%

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 Orting, voters directly choose who runs City Hall.

Orting voters elect the mayor separately from the council. The mayor leads city administration, while the council adopts laws, policy, and the budget—so executive accountability sits directly with an elected office.

Government form
Mayor–Council

The mayor is separately elected to lead administration.

Mayor listed
Scott Drennen

The separately elected chief executive.

Council representatives listed
7

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

Incorporated
1889

Code city under Washington law.

Where decisions happen

When does the Orting council meet?

Regular meeting schedule listed in the current municipal directory:

2nd & Last Wed - 7:00pm

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

Election record

Where to check Orting 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
9,160

2% more from 2021 to 2026

Local jobs
1,447

13% more from 2018 to 2023

Retail trade, 2023–2024
+5%

Nominal taxable-sales change; not adjusted for inflation.

Data & details — selected comparable metrics across 82 places
Local jobs
LODES
1,447
1,506656,821
Higher than only 0% of places
Long-run job change
LODES
+28%
−3%+166%
Higher than only 32% of places
Weekday transit departures
GTFS snapshot
0
19256,385
Higher than only 0% 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
$2,064
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)25% (356)
Healthcare & Social Assistance17% (246)
Hospitality13% (195)
Professional Services (partial technology proxy)13% (192)
Administrative & Support Services13% (190)
Construction / Real Estate6% (89)
Government (Public Administration)4% (53)
Retail4% (51)
Other3% (47)
Finance1% (11)
Logistics / Industrial1% (9)
Information (partial technology proxy)0% (6)
Manufacturing (includes, but is not limited to, aerospace)0% (2)
Where Orting's workforce lives (inbound)
LODES OD — commuting flows into local jobs
Orting
31.7%
Tacoma
10.6%
Puyallup
7.7%
Bonney Lake
5.3%
Kent
4.0%