Welcome to Spokane County!
Spokane County and environs form the 97th largest MSA by population, but combines the best of both a large and small city environment. A large, rushing river runs through the County, with lakes and mountains within a half an hour drive. The community is home for four universities, a diversifying economy, significant sports and cultural events.
Recent Updates:
In ECONOMIC VITALITY:
The total contribution to County GDP by the 5 largest sectors has stayed stable over the decade.
For the most recent year of data (2023), Spokane County’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was about $30.8 billion in 2017 dollars. GDP is one of two dollar-denominated measures of the size and structure of an economy. This indicator tracks the contributions of the five largest sectors (out of 20) compiled by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
For 2023, the GDP contribution of the five largest sectors summed to nearly $18 billion (2017 dollars). That’s about 57% of the total. In 2017, the same five sectors amounted to 56% of total county GDP.
Leading the parade of largest sectors in 2023, as in every year, was real estate. In second place was government – federal, state and local (including school districts). Rounding out the top 5 were, ranked: healthcare & social assistance, retail trade and manufacturing.
Annual taxable retail sales eked out a small gain in 2024.
Annual taxable retail sales offer insights into consumer spending and construction activities among Washington state jurisdictions. This indicator presents aggregate sales but the data provider, Washington Department of Revenue, breaks down the total by sectors. The taxes from these retail sales are a lifeblood to both state and municipal budgets.
For 2024, the total reached $15.2 billion. That was $200 million greater than in 2023, or a gain of 1.2%. This ties the state gain, and the 2024 results represent an all-time high for the county. The pandemic lifted taxable retail sales here and in the state considerably above the trendline prior to 2020. For example, sales increased nearly one third between 2024 and 2023 in the county.
In EDUCATION:
Students enrolled in alternative high school programs have surged since the pandemic.
Over the years, many options for a high school education have emerged in Spokane County’s public-school districts. This indicator tracks four: alternative high school, homeschooling, online and charter school. It calculates the shares of each of the four.
As the graph makes clear, the pandemic ushered in a large increase in county public school students choosing an alternative to a traditional high school. In school year 2018-2019, the total share of the programs claimed 8.7% of students among the districts in the county. In school year 2023-2024, the total share was 13.2%. (In 2021-2022, the total shot up to 18.4%!) Alternative high schools, the largest category, showed the highest gain pre- to post-pandemic, while homeschooling placed second in growth.
National earnings data are quite clear: the average college degree holder claims an earnings premium that is substantial when tallied over a lifetime of work. Furthermore, recent evidence from New York Fed economists shows that the return on investment (direct and opportunity costs) for the average student who receives a degree is still in the low double-digits. This indicator follows the share of seniors who are enrolled in a non-for-profit higher educational institution, two- or four-year, anywhere in the country, within one year of graduation.
As the graph clearly shows, the pandemic brought about a steep drop in the share of seniors pursuing post-secondary education, both in Spokane County and the state. For the Spokane County senior class of 2019, 45% were in some form of post-secondar education within a year of graduation. For the Spokane County senior class of 2022, that share dropped to 33%. The average Washington share remains a bit higher than for Spokane County students.
A college degree, whether bachelor’s, graduate or professional, typically affords the degree holder with higher wages and income as well as better health outcomes. From a community perspective, time spent in post-secondary education often leads to a higher rate of civic involvement.
This indicator measures both the shares of the population with a bachelor’s degree and with a post-baccalaureate degree. For 2023, Census estimated those shares for Spokane County to be 19.4% and 13%, respectively. While these shares show an increase to 2005, there is little difference of the 2023 estimates to the immediately prior few years. A large gap persists between Spokane County’s estimates and its benchmarks (Washington and the U.S.)
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In ENVIRONMENT:
The Washington Department of Ecology keeps tabs on surface water quality in many ways. A summary measured is the water quality index. It includes several components, such as temperature, turbidity, heavy metals, fecal coliform bacteria and phosphorous levels. The index is scored so that 100 is optimal, 80 and above is of “lowest concern”, 40-79 is of “marginal” concern while below 40 implies of “highest concern.”
As the graph makes clear, there has been little improvement over the past 25 years at the Ecology station at Stateline. In contrast, there has been some improvement at the station at Riverside State Park. The index values in 2022 (latest year with data) were 72 and 58, respectively.
The annual average of daily PM2.5 concentration levels in Spokane County has strongly declined.
Air quality and certain respiratory diseases go hand in hand, in a negative way. Particulate matter the size of PM2.5 is microscopic and can embed itself deeply into our lungs. This indicator tracks the number of micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter, expressed in an annual average from daily readings in the county.
The average for 2024 in Spokane County was the lowest on record: 3.83 micrograms per cubic meter. Twenty years ago, the value was 8.99. Boise shows an identical result for 2024.
In HEALTH:
The shares of the population without medical insurance, by age group, have plummeted since 2013.
One doesn’t access healthcare services without some form of medical insurance. (Other constraints to receive service depend on the availability of various types of providers, transportation and time off.) This indicator tracks Census estimates of residents who do not have insurance.by two age groups. They are: less than19 and 19- 64 years.
The estimated rates for Spokane County (and the benchmarks) peaked in 2013, at 7.4% and 21.1%, respectively. Fast forward to 2023 and the estimates for the county are 1.8% and 7.6%. They simply plummeted once the Affordable Care Act was implemented. Note that for both age groups, county estimates are and have been below the rates for both the state and the U.S.
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Local life expectancy, by race & ethnicity, shows great variation.
Perhaps the indicator that reveals the most about the state of public health is life expectancy. This is the calculation of how many years a baby born today would live if the current age-based mortality rates stay in place. This indicator displays life expectancy over five groups of People of Color (POC) as well as overall population life expectancy.
For the latest data point (2022), only one POC group lies above the all-population life expectancy in Spokane County. It is Asian Americans, at 83 years. Close but still one year below the overall rate (78) are Hispanic/Latinos. In descending order, current life expectancies of the remaining POC groups are: Blacks (71), American Indian (70) and Pacific Islander (65). For nearly all groups for all years, life expectancy for county POC groups lies below their counterparts statewide.
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In TRANSPORTATION:
Boardings at Spokane International Airport exceeded 2 million again in 2024.
A critical component to the infrastructure of any mid- to large-sized community is its passenger airport. Among the several measures of airport activity, the number of passengers boarding (enplanements) is featured here.
As the indicator reveals, it wasn’t until 2023 that the number of boardings at Spokane International surpassed that of pre-pandemic 2019. The number in 2020 plunged to less than half of the prior year. 2024 marks the second year that enplanements at Spokane International breached two million. The year-over-year growth rate was modest, however, at 3%.
Expressing boardings as a percentage of population indicates, to some degree, how intensively residents utilize their airport. In Spokane’s case, the population employed consists of Spokane, Kootenai, Pend Oreille and Stevens Counties. As a benchmark, a per capita calculation for Boise’s airport covers the five counties in its metro area: Ada, Boise, Canyon, Gem and Owyhee. For 2024, enplanements were 2.9 per capita in the Boise area versus 2.6 in the Spokane market. For nearly a decade, the Boise area’s use of its airport has been more intensive than for Spokane’s.
list updated 06.25.2025
The complete list of Spokane Trends can be found here.
About The Institute
The Institute for Public Policy and Economic Analysis is a research institute for applied regional research that provides easily accessible community indicator data. The Institute publishes nine community trend sites for thirteen Washington counties, all of which cover a variety of factors like economic vitality, health, housing, and more. The Institute’s work is aimed to promote data-based decision making and provide readily available and extensive data for communities across Washington state.
