Kittitas County Essay

The state of Washington is home to a host of different communities. Kittitas County encompasses one such populace. Located in the center of the state, Kittitas County is comprised of several small, but budding communities. The 2,297 square miles and 40,915 residents it comprises span from the top of Snoqualmie Pass in the Cascade Mountains to the Columbia River, with the Yakima River and Interstate 90 running through the heart of the region (Read, 2012). The county seat can be found in Ellensburg, the county’s largest town. Ellensburg has a population of 18,174 including more than 9,000 students attending Central Washington University (Read, 2012). With its small towns scattered throughout, Kittitas County looks vastly different from the counties that house the state’s bigger cities of Seattle, Tacoma, and Spokane, but more closely resembles the demographics of the bulk of the state. Mainly bucolic, 44% of the county’s people live in unincorporated areas relative to the

Central Washington is a medium‐sized university and has a major influence on county demographics, ranging from age composition, to income, and ethnic and racial diversity. But even with this infusion of youth, wealth has not followed. The median household income in Kittitas County is significantly lower at $41,232, when compared to the state ($57,244) and national ($51,914) numbers (Read, 2012). One major contribution to this could be the population of college students with no income to report, especially considering the geographic distribution of income. However, this also speaks to the fact Kittitas County has limited sources of income, as most jobs are more seasonal rather than year round opportunities. Despite this, Kittitas County is still growing, due in large part to the pull of the university around the