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King County · Washington

Sammamish, WA

A family-heavy, homeowner city whose residents are far more connected to jobs elsewhere than to a large employment base at home.

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What defines Sammamish?

Four differences explain more than a wall of city statistics. Each is measured against the same 82 incorporated places across the four-county region.

Families are the norm, not just common.

That household mix helps explain why schools, larger homes, and family-oriented services loom especially large in local decisions.

ACS 2024 · 5-year estimate

Dataset: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, 2020–2024 5-year estimates
Period: 2024 vintage, representing survey responses collected across 2020–2024
Geography: Sammamish city and an aggregate of 82 incorporated places in King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish counties
Definition: Family households contain at least two people related by birth, marriage, or adoption. Owner occupancy and housing structure describe occupied housing units.
Method: Regional benchmarks aggregate the underlying repository counts across the 82 places; they are not averages of city percentages.

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Sammamish86.7%

Four-county cities58.0%

Buying, rather than renting, defines the housing market.

Renters have a much smaller foothold here than across the region, narrowing the ways a new household can move into the city.

ACS 2024 · 5-year estimate

Dataset: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, 2020–2024 5-year estimates
Period: 2024 vintage, representing survey responses collected across 2020–2024
Geography: Sammamish city and an aggregate of 82 incorporated places in King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish counties
Definition: Family households contain at least two people related by birth, marriage, or adoption. Owner occupancy and housing structure describe occupied housing units.
Method: Regional benchmarks aggregate the underlying repository counts across the 82 places; they are not averages of city percentages.

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Sammamish82.6%

Four-county cities55.1%

The physical form is overwhelmingly detached homes.

Sammamish offers far less variety in building types than the region overall, linking housing choice closely to the supply of detached houses.

ACS 2024 · 5-year estimate

Dataset: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, 2020–2024 5-year estimates
Period: 2024 vintage, representing survey responses collected across 2020–2024
Geography: Sammamish city and an aggregate of 82 incorporated places in King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish counties
Definition: Family households contain at least two people related by birth, marriage, or adoption. Owner occupancy and housing structure describe occupied housing units.
Method: Regional benchmarks aggregate the underlying repository counts across the 82 places; they are not averages of city percentages.

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Sammamish81.4%

Four-county cities50.9%

This is primarily a residential city, not an employment center.

The local job base is small for the number of residents, so the city’s daily rhythm is closely tied to employment elsewhere.

LODES 2023 · workplace jobs

Dataset: U.S. Census Bureau LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics
Period: 2023
Geography: Jobs geocoded to workplaces inside each city; regional benchmark covers the same 82 incorporated places
Definition: Local jobs per resident divides workplace jobs located inside the city by total population. It is a measure of city role, not an employment rate.
Method: LODES is administrative employment data and does not include every worker or job.

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Sammamish0.11

Four-county cities0.61

Where residents work

The city is connected to several job centers—not just one.

Seattle, Redmond, and Bellevue account for most of the leading destinations in the published flows, while only a small share of represented residents work inside Sammamish. That makes access beyond the city central to understanding daily life here.

LODES OD 2023 · resident-to-workplace flows

Dataset: U.S. Census Bureau LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics
Period: 2023
Geography: Employed residents geocoded to Sammamish and their workplace city
Definition: The share of represented Sammamish resident jobs located in each destination. Direction is home in Sammamish → workplace city.
Method: LODES is administrative employment data, excludes some workers, and describes job locations rather than a trip made every day.

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Seattle

30.5%

Redmond

23.7%

Bellevue

14.3%

Places like this

Start with shared traits—not a mystery score.

Matches use household composition, homeownership, income, housing form, local job density, and work-from-home patterns. The score stays behind the scenes; the reasons do not.

King County

Snoqualmie

Similar because both have family-heavy households, high homeownership, a similarly affluent household profile.

Explore Snoqualmie →King County

Duvall

Similar because both have family-heavy households, high homeownership, a similarly affluent household profile.

Explore Duvall →King County

Medina

Similar because both have family-heavy households, high homeownership, a similarly affluent household profile.

Explore Medina →

Want the contrast?See what separates Sammamish, Kirkland, and Redmond.

Compare the three →

People

Who lives here—and which households shape demand?

The typical household estimate is 3.0 people. 87% are estimated to be family households, while 10% are estimated to be people living alone.

Average household size

3.0

±0.1 people at 90% confidence

Median age

39.9

±0.6 years at 90% confidence

Living alone

10%

±1 points at 90% confidence

Bachelor’s degree+

77%

Among residents age 25 and older. ±3 points at 90% confidence

Population composition

Who lives here

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

White, non-Hispanic49% ±2 pts

Asian Indian18% ±2 pts

Chinese, except Taiwanese11% ±1 pts

Two or more races, non-Hispanic5.9% ±0.9 pts

Hispanic / Latino, any race5.6% ±1 pts

Korean2.4% ±0.8 pts

Black, non-Hispanic1.3% ±0.6 pts

Japanese1.0% ±0.3 pts

Taiwanese0.8% ±0.4 pts

Two or more Asian groups0.8% ±0.3 pts

Pakistani0.7% ±0.4 pts

Filipino0.7% ±0.4 pts

Vietnamese0.5% ±0.2 pts

Another race, non-Hispanic0.4% ±0.2 pts

American Indian / Alaska Native, non-Hispanic0.3% ±0.3 pts

Laotian0.3% ±0.4 pts

Burmese0.2% ±0.2 pts

Nepalese0.1% ±0.1 pts

Other Asian, not specified0.1% ±0.1 pts

Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic<0.1% ±0.1 pts

Thai<0.1% ±0.1 pts

Sikh<0.1% ±0.1 pts

Indonesian<0.1% ±0.1 pts

Sri Lankan<0.1% ±0.1 pts

Malaysian<0.1% ±0.1 pts

Bangladeshi<0.1% ±0.1 pts

Singaporean<0.1% ±<0.1 pt

Afghan<0.1% ±<0.1 pt

Cambodian<0.1% ±<0.1 pt

0% published estimate: Hmong, Mongolian, Okinawan, Other East Asian, Mien, Other Southeast Asian, Bhutanese, Other South Asian, 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: Sammamish 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.

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Work

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

Professional Services (partial technology proxy) accounts for 21% of jobs located in Sammamish. The city’s job base changed +66% between 2010 and 2023.

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: 45 homes were authorized in 2025, versus a recent pace of about 39 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$1.4M±43544.0 at 90% confidence

Middle half of homes$1.0M–$1.8MLower to upper quartile of owner estimates

Luxury-home concentration18%≈3,380 homes · estimated at $2M+

Under $500k5%

$500–749k5%

$750–999k13%

$1–1.49M33%

$1.5–1.99M26%

$2M+18%

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.

Owner-occupied

83%

±3 points at 90% confidence

Owner cost-burdened

19%

Spending 30% or more on selected owner costs. ±2 points at 90% confidence

Homes authorized, 2025

Permit authorizations—not construction starts or completed homes.

Residential buildings, 2025

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 47 stops and 1,991 weekday stop departures inside Sammamish. The 2020–2024 ACS separately estimates how workers usually commuted; it does not count every transit trip or describe today's schedule.

Weekday departures

1,991

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

Transit stops

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

Top outside workplace

Seattle

30% of observed resident job destinations in 2023 LODES.

Usually drive alone

50%

Workers age 16+; ACS 2020–2024 estimate. ±3 points at 90% confidence

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 Sammamish; 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.

Civic life

Sammamish only became a city in 1999.

Sammamish 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

Josh Amato

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

Council representatives listed

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

Incorporated

1999

Code city under Washington law.

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.

What changed?

One recent shift matters in Sammamish.

Recent movement is compared with the preceding period so a long historical total does not hide a slowdown, acceleration, or reversal.

Population pace

Population growth has slowed sharply.

Sammamish still added residents, but only about one-tenth as quickly as in the previous five-year period. That changes the near-term question from accommodating rapid expansion to understanding whether growth has paused or found limits.

OFM 2026 · annual estimate

Dataset: Washington Office of Financial Management April 1 population estimates
Period: 2016–2026
Geography: Sammamish city limits
Definition: Estimated total resident population. Each five-year change uses the population at the start and end of that period.
Method: Population estimates are not a direct measure of housing demand or migration and can be revised.

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2016–2021+8.0%

2021–2026+0.8%

Data & details — selected comparable metrics across 82 places

Local jobs

LODES

7,299

Higher than only 35% of places

Long-run job change

LODES

+66%

Higher than 81% of places

Weekday transit departures

GTFS snapshot

1,991

Higher than only 41% 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

Professional Services (partial technology proxy)21% (1,541)

Hospitality12% (907)

Education (includes academia/research)11% (800)

Administrative & Support Services9% (680)

Logistics / Industrial9% (676)

Retail9% (659)

Healthcare & Social Assistance8% (612)

Other5% (398)

Construction / Real Estate5% (378)

Finance3% (220)

Manufacturing (includes, but is not limited to, aerospace)2% (148)

Government (Public Administration)2% (146)

Information (partial technology proxy)2% (134)

Where Sammamish's workforce lives (inbound)

LODES OD — commuting flows into local jobs

Sammamish

23.4%

Seattle

18.7%

Bellevue

6.6%

Issaquah

5.2%

Renton

4.7%

Sammamish, WA

What defines Sammamish?

Families are the norm, not just common.

Buying, rather than renting, defines the housing market.

The physical form is overwhelmingly detached homes.

This is primarily a residential city, not an employment center.

The city is connected to several job centers—not just one.

Start with shared traits—not a mystery score.

Snoqualmie

Duvall

Medina

Who lives here—and which households shape demand?

Who lives here

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

Jobs by sector

Historical employer snapshot

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

What owner-occupied homes are worth

The housing mix we can estimate confidently

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

Where resident workers go

How residents usually get to work

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

Community institutions and local activity

Places for everyday needs in Sammamish

Sammamish Library

The schools inside Sammamish.

Sammamish records relatively little retail activity for its population.

Sammamish only became a city in 1999.

When does the Sammamish council meet?

Where to check Sammamish election results.

What is changing the city’s trajectory?

One recent shift matters in Sammamish.

Population growth has slowed sharply.