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An editorial illustration of Pacific, Washington
King|Pierce County · Washington

Pacific, WA

Workplaces are expanding faster than the resident base in Pacific.

Population
7,285
0% more from 2021 to 2026
Family households
—
±10 points at 90% confidence · too uncertain for ranking or interpretation
Local jobs
3,827
21% more from 2018 to 2023
Median income
$115,625
±$22,316 at 90% confidence
City overview

The forces shaping Pacific now.

01
The trajectory

Workplaces are expanding faster than the resident base in Pacific.

Pacific’s population rose <1% from 2021–2026; its workplace job count rose 21% from 2018–2023. The source periods differ because the two series are released on different schedules.

Pacific’s faster-growing workplace base gives local businesses more daytime customers. It also makes inbound travel—including the resident connection to Seattle and nearby housing part of the city’s labor strategy.

Population: 2021–2026 · jobs: 2018–2023
02
The local economic engine

Construction / Real Estate supplies 35% of the jobs inside Pacific.

Pacific contains 3,827 workplace jobs. Construction / Real Estate accounts for 35% of them. Logistics / Industrial is next at 34%.

Land development, interest rates, and the construction pipeline connect Pacific’s job story directly to its housing and commercial growth.

Workplace jobs: 2023
03
The commute that shapes the city

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

17% of observed resident job destinations are in Seattle, followed by Auburn at 14%.

Current GTFS schedules 225 weekday stop departures at 8 stops inside Pacific; 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
People

Who lives here—and which households shape demand?

7,285 residents are counted in the latest official state estimate, 0% more than in 2021. Survey measures appear here only when their uncertainty is small enough to describe the city confidently.

Average household size
3.1

±0.2 people at 90% confidence

Median age
38.0

±3.1 years at 90% confidence

Living alone
15%

±7 points at 90% confidence

Bachelor’s degree+
23%

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

Population composition

Who lives here

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

White, non-Hispanic51% ±7 pts
Hispanic / Latino, any race22% ±8 pts
Black, non-Hispanic6.7% ±5 pts
Two or more races, non-Hispanic5.2% ±3 pts
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic3.4% ±4 pts
Afghan2.7% ±5 pts
Two or more Asian groups2.5% ±2 pts
Laotian2.2% ±2 pts
Vietnamese1.1% ±1 pts
Cambodian1.0% ±0.7 pts
Filipino0.9% ±1 pts
American Indian / Alaska Native, non-Hispanic0.3% ±0.5 pts
Japanese0.2% ±0.3 pts
Another race, non-Hispanic0.0% ±0.3 pts

0% published estimate: Chinese, except Taiwanese, Hmong, Korean, Mongolian, Okinawan, Taiwanese, Other East Asian, Burmese, Indonesian, Malaysian, Mien, Singaporean, Thai, Other Southeast Asian, Asian Indian, Bangladeshi, Bhutanese, Nepalese, Pakistani, Sikh, Sri Lankan, Other South Asian, Kazakh, Uzbek, Other Central Asian, Other Asian, specified, Other Asian, not specified. 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
Pacific 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?

Construction / Real Estate accounts for 35% of jobs located in Pacific. 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.

Construction / Real Estate35%
Logistics / Industrial34%
Professional Services (partial technology proxy)7%
Administrative & Support Services7%
Other4%

Historical employer snapshot

Approximate full-time jobs in a historical City of Pacific major-employer table · Historical employer snapshot · Historical table retained in the city comprehensive plan. The profile has no verifiable reference year; headcounts cannot be presented as current.

Gordon Truckingabout 1,015 (historical) · Historical table retained in the city comprehensive plan
Valley Freightlinerabout 130 (historical) · Historical table retained in the city comprehensive plan
UPS distribution centerabout 120 (historical) · Historical table retained in the city comprehensive plan
Fire Systems Westabout 100 (historical) · Historical table retained in the city comprehensive plan
TruGreen / Chemlawnabout 75 (historical) · Historical table retained in the city comprehensive plan
Auburn School Districtabout 50 (historical) · Historical table retained in the city comprehensive plan
Apply-A-Lineabout 45 (historical) · Historical table retained in the city comprehensive plan
City of Pacificabout 45 (historical) · Historical table retained in the city comprehensive plan

City of Pacific Comprehensive Plan economic-development element ↗. 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: 2 homes were authorized in 2025, versus a recent pace of about 5 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$489k±37886.0 at 90% confidence
Middle half of homes$422k–$630kLower to upper quartile of owner estimates
Luxury-home concentration0%≈0 homes · estimated at $2M+
Under $500k54%
$500–749k40%
$750–999k3%
$1–1.49M1%
$1.5–1.99M1%
$2M+0%

These estimates are useful as a distribution, but the survey intervals are too wide to rank Pacific 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.

5+ unit buildings16%
Other2%
Homes authorized, 2025
2

Permit authorizations—not construction starts or completed homes.

Residential buildings, 2025
2

One building can contain one home or many housing units.

2023–2025 annual pace
5 homes

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

Recent pace vs prior 3 years
+43%

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 8 stops and 225 weekday stop departures inside Pacific. The 2020–2024 ACS separately estimates how workers usually commuted; it does not count every transit trip or describe today's schedule.

Weekday departures
225

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

Transit stops
8

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

Top outside workplace
Seattle

17% of observed resident job destinations in 2023 LODES.

Where resident workers go

Top observed workplace destinations.

Seattle17%
Peak drive: 50–90 min
Auburn14%
Peak drive: 10–30 min
Kent11%
Peak drive: 20–40 min
Tacoma6%
Peak drive: 20–40 min
Renton6%

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

Use public transit
0.6%

Usual commute mode—not all transit trips. ±1 points at 90% confidence

Households without a vehicle
3.8%

Households, rather than workers. ±2 points at 90% confidence

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

Starting area
Downtown Seattle employment core

Seattle is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Pacific, representing 15% of matched resident jobs from this city.

50–90 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.

Auburn employment area

Auburn is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Pacific, representing 12% 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.

Kent employment area

Kent is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Pacific, representing 10% 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.

Tacoma employment area

Tacoma is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Pacific, representing 6% 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 Pacific; 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 Pacific

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

Hospitals0 in cityFind nearby
Explore all hospitals near PacificOpen
Coffee3 listedView all
Bigfoot JavaMapCowgirls EspressoMapGravity CoffeeMapExplore all coffee in MapsOpen
Fitness2 listedView all
Alpha AthleticsMapCity of Pacific Community Center GymMapExplore all fitness in MapsOpen
Groceries2 listedView all
Friendly Lsd, IncMapGiu's MarketMapExplore all groceries in MapsOpen
Convenience5 listedView all
7-ElevenMapampmMapChevron Station PacificMapPacific Mini Mart LlcMapPacific Pitstop ExpressMapExplore all convenience in MapsOpen
Restaurants2 listedView all
Trimark Property GroupMapWok & TeriyakiMapExplore all restaurants 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

Algona-Pacific 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
5,250 sq ft

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

Physical checkouts
51,637

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

Algona-Pacific LibraryKing County Library System
5,250 sq ft51,637 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 Pacific.

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 elementary1
  • Alpac Elementary SchoolAuburn School District
Public middle0

None in the current OSPI city-boundary match.

Public high0

None in the current OSPI city-boundary match.

Other public programs0

None in the current OSPI city-boundary match.

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

Pacific records relatively little retail activity for its population.

Retail sales per resident fall below 64% 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
$7,956

Higher than 36% of 82 tracked cities.

Change from 2023
−2%

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

See the underlying sales totals
Retail trade, 2024
$58.0M

Sales reported by businesses classified in retail trade.

All taxable sales
$158.3M

Includes taxable activity outside retail trade.

Retail share
37%

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 Pacific, voters directly choose who runs City Hall.

Pacific 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
Vic Kave

The separately elected chief executive.

Council representatives listed
7

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

Incorporated
1909

Code city under Washington law.

Where decisions happen

When does the Pacific council meet?

Regular meeting schedule listed in the current municipal directory:

2nd & 4th Mon - 6:00pm2nd & 4th Mon - Workshops after Council Meeting

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 Pacific 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
7,285

0% more from 2021 to 2026

Local jobs
3,827

21% more from 2018 to 2023

Retail trade, 2023–2024
−2%

Nominal taxable-sales change; not adjusted for inflation.

Data & details — selected comparable metrics across 82 places
Local jobs
LODES
3,827
1,506656,821
Higher than only 8% of places
Long-run job change
LODES
+35%
−3%+166%
Higher than 52% of places
Weekday transit departures
GTFS snapshot
225
19256,385
Higher than only 6% 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
$2,307
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
Construction / Real Estate35% (1,354)
Logistics / Industrial34% (1,309)
Professional Services (partial technology proxy)7% (259)
Administrative & Support Services7% (255)
Other4% (167)
Retail4% (163)
Hospitality3% (124)
Manufacturing (includes, but is not limited to, aerospace)3% (111)
Government (Public Administration)1% (54)
Healthcare & Social Assistance0% (18)
Information (partial technology proxy)0% (10)
Finance0% (3)
Education (includes academia/research)0% (0)
Where Pacific's workforce lives (inbound)
LODES OD — commuting flows into local jobs
Tacoma
16.4%
Auburn
8.4%
Kent
7.8%
Federal Way
6.9%
Puyallup
6.7%