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An editorial illustration of Roy, Washington
Pierce County · Washington

Roy, WA

Roy’s working identity still comes from agriculture and the land around it.

Population
820
1% more from 2021 to 2026
Family households
—
±38 points at 90% confidence · too uncertain for ranking or interpretation
Local jobs
96
49% fewer from 2018 to 2023
Median income
$98,750
±$17,735 at 90% confidence
City overview

The forces shaping Roy now.

01
The employers behind the economy

Roy’s working identity still comes from agriculture and the land around it.

Roy contains 96 workplace jobs. Retail accounts for 53% of them. Construction / Real Estate is next at 26%.

The city names Wilcox Farms and Silvaseed as important local employers and the twice-yearly rodeo as a visitor draw. Its plan channels additional commercial development toward SR 507, so the question is whether growth strengthens this rural production-and-events economy or simply adds roadside activity for people commuting elsewhere.

Workplace jobs: 2023
02
The commute that shapes the city

Roy sends its largest stream of resident workers to Tacoma.

25% of observed resident job destinations are in Tacoma, followed by Seattle at 17%.

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

Workplace flows: 2023 · commute modes: ACS 2024
03
The trajectory

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

Roy’s population rose 1% from 2021–2026; its workplace job count fell 49% from 2018–2023. The source periods differ because the two series are released on different schedules.

Roy is small enough that one development or employer can swing both rates. Treat this as a change to investigate, not yet a durable trend.

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

Who lives here—and which households shape demand?

820 residents are counted in the latest official state estimate, 1% more than in 2021. Survey measures appear here only when their uncertainty is small enough to describe the city confidently.

Residents, 2026
820

Official annual city estimate from Washington OFM.

Population change, 2021–2026
+1%

Change in official annual city estimates; boundary changes can contribute.

Population composition

Who lives here

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

White, non-Hispanic75% ±38 pts
Two or more races, non-Hispanic13% ±8 pts
Black, non-Hispanic4.8% ±5 pts
Hispanic / Latino, any race4.5% ±6 pts
Filipino1.4% ±2 pts
Vietnamese0.7% ±2 pts
American Indian / Alaska Native, non-Hispanic0.4% ±0.8 pts
Japanese0.3% ±0.6 pts
Korean0.1% ±0.3 pts
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic0.0% ±2 pts
Another race, non-Hispanic0.0% ±2 pts

0% published estimate: Chinese, except Taiwanese, Hmong, 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, 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
Roy 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 53% of jobs located in Roy. The city’s job base changed +140% between 2010 and 2023.

Jobs by sector

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

Retail53%
Construction / Real Estate26%
Healthcare & Social Assistance14%
Government (Public Administration)5%
Hospitality2%

Verified employer anchors

Official city employment strategy and named economic anchors; no headcounts or ranking · Current or recent profile · 2024 comprehensive plan. The stated employer vintage is within the current two-year publication window.

The city names Wilcox Farms and Silvaseed as important local employers and the twice-yearly rodeo as a visitor draw. Its plan channels additional commercial development toward SR 507, so the question is whether growth strengthens this rural production-and-events economy or simply adds roadside activity for people commuting elsewhere.

Wilcox FarmsHeadcount not published locally
Silvaseed Tree and Seed CompanyHeadcount not published locally
Roy Pioneer Rodeo AssociationSeasonal visitor anchor; headcount not published

City of Roy Comprehensive Plan and official city history ↗. 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 0 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$443k±56027.0 at 90% confidence
Middle half of homes$296k–$582kLower to upper quartile of owner estimates
Luxury-home concentration1%≈2 homes · estimated at $2M+
Under $500k64%
$500–749k35%
$750–999k0%
$1–1.49M1%
$1.5–1.99M0%
$2M+1%

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

What builders are proposing now

0 housing units across 0 residential buildings were authorized in 2025. 0 were in buildings with five or more units.

Authorizations are not starts or completions, but they are a more current signal of intended construction than an uncertain housing-mix estimate.

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
0 homes

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

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 Roy’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
Tacoma

25% of observed resident job destinations in 2023 LODES.

Where resident workers go

Top observed workplace destinations.

Tacoma25%
Peak drive: 35–70 min
Seattle17%
Peak drive: 90–160 min
Kent5%
Peak drive: 60–110 min
Bellevue5%
Peak drive: 100–180 min
Renton4%

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

Households without a vehicle
0.8%

Households, rather than workers. ±1 points at 90% confidence

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

Starting area
Tacoma employment area

Tacoma is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Roy, representing 15% 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 Roy, representing 10% of matched resident jobs from this city.

90–160 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.

Bellevue employment area

Bellevue is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Roy, representing 3% of matched resident jobs from this city.

100–180 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.

Kent employment area

Kent is a LODES-selected resident workplace destination for Roy, representing 3% of matched resident jobs from this city.

60–110 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 Roy; 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 Roy

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

Hospitals0 in cityFind nearby
Explore all hospitals near RoyOpen
Convenience1 listedView all
Roy Market DeliMapExplore all convenience in MapsOpen
Restaurants2 listedView all
The Place In Roy Bar & GrillMapTeriyaki To GoMapExplore 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.

Education footprint

The schools inside Roy.

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
  • Roy Elementary SchoolBethel 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

Roy supports more retail activity per resident than most regional cities.

Retail sales per resident rank among the 79% highest of the cities tracked by Metroscope. The city appears to play more than a purely neighborhood retail role, but the sales records cannot identify who made the purchases.

Retail sales per resident, 2024
$18,608

Higher than 79% of 82 tracked cities.

Change from 2023
+8%

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

See the underlying sales totals
Retail trade, 2024
$15.3M

Sales reported by businesses classified in retail trade.

All taxable sales
$30.6M

Includes taxable activity outside retail trade.

Retail share
50%

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 Roy, voters directly choose who runs City Hall.

Roy 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
Ryan Muller

The separately elected chief executive.

Council representatives listed
5

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

Incorporated
1908

Code city under Washington law.

Where decisions happen

When does the Roy council meet?

Regular meeting schedule listed in the current municipal directory:

2nd 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 Roy 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
820

1% more from 2021 to 2026

Local jobs
96

49% fewer from 2018 to 2023

Retail trade, 2023–2024
+8%

Nominal taxable-sales change; not adjusted for inflation.

Data & details — selected comparable metrics across 82 places
Local jobs
LODES
96
1,506656,821
Higher than only 0% of places
Long-run job change
LODES
+140%
−3%+166%
Higher than 98% 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
Retail53% (51)
Construction / Real Estate26% (25)
Healthcare & Social Assistance14% (13)
Government (Public Administration)5% (5)
Hospitality2% (2)
Professional Services (partial technology proxy)0% (0)
Administrative & Support Services0% (0)
Education (includes academia/research)0% (0)
Other0% (0)
Manufacturing (includes, but is not limited to, aerospace)0% (0)
Logistics / Industrial0% (0)
Information (partial technology proxy)0% (0)
Finance0% (0)
Where Roy's workforce lives (inbound)
LODES OD — commuting flows into local jobs
Eatonville
18.2%
Puyallup
18.2%
Lakewood
9.1%
University Place
9.1%
Buckley
9.1%