Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Spanaway is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C overall, 180th of 285 graded towns in Washington, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is incomes: the median household earns $98K. Expect to pay for it: the typical home is worth about $501K, 4.4 years of the Seattle metro’s $115K median household income. Spanaway’s average trip to work is 37 minutes, above both the Washington town median (27 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes). The biggest place to walk is Spanaway Park, 66 acres with 3 miles of trail. Spanaway is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns.
Where Spanaway beats most towns.
27,227 counted in 2010 and 35,476 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Washington), ordered by how far Spanaway is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 5,768 in 1970, 35,476 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1895 and 5 maps from 1941 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Spanaway. Close and well known come first.
Big draw36 mi LookoutSpace Needle
Big draw35 mi Stadium & arenaLumen Field
Big draw36 mi Stadium & arenaClimate Pledge Arena
10 mi Stadium & arenaTacoma Dome
34 mi Stadium & arenaT-Mobile Park
13 mi Theme parkWild Waves Theme ParkSpace Needle: Another Believer, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Lumen Field: "Smart Destinations", GoSeattleCard.com, and Go Seattle Card Blog, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Climate Pledge Arena: Sea Cow, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tacoma Dome: Broran28, Public domain · T-Mobile Park: MyName (Cacophony), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wild Waves Theme Park: Jessica Spengler from Hove, United Kingdom, CC BY 2.0
Spanaway is unincorporated, so Pierce County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 30, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Spanaway.
Spanaway has cooler summers than nearly all U.S. towns, but it trails even towns with similar incomes on health and has commutes longer than most of Washington.
8.5 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves. The trail density in Spanaway is 0.9 miles per square mile.
| Spanaway | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.9 miles per square mile | 0.8 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 5.8% | 4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Spanaway Park | 3 mi | 66 |
| 2. Coffie Creek Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Bethel School District. Two of its 14 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spanaway Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 766 | – |
| Spanaway Lake High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,787 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within WA on state tests and graduation
The average commute for its 14,529 working residents takes 37.3 minutes, against 26.6 across Washington. Jobs based here grew from 4,786 in 2013 to 6,266.
Most working residents leave Spanaway for work: only 4% work in town. Since 2013, Spanaway has added 1,480 jobs, to 6,266 in 2023. The top destinations are Tacoma (16%), Seattle (9%) and Lakewood (7%).
| Spanaway | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 11% | 15% | 11% |
| Median household income | $98,000 | $98,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.3% | 5% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
July afternoons average 77°, cooler than in 97% of U.S. towns; January nights average 35.3°.
Spanaway has mild winters and pleasant summers. Spanaway’s July high is 77°F. About 6 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Spanaway | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 77°F | 77°F | 85°F |
| January low | 35°F | 35°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 63% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Spanaway since 2006.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical Spanaway home is worth about $501,000, about the same as a year ago, 15% below the Washington typical home.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Against the 8,824 U.S. towns with household incomes like Spanaway’s, it is less healthy than 79%, so it trails even them.
41% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Spanaway. Spanaway beats the Washington average on 1 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 19. 22% of adults get no exercise outside work in Spanaway.
| Spanaway | Washington towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 69% | 71% | 79% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 33% | 36% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 17% | 17% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 33% | 35% |
| What stands out | Spanaway | WA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 6.3% | 7.9% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 16.4% | 10.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
9 within 15 miles of the center of Spanaway
About 6 of every 100 Spanaway residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Washington.
Where Spanaway’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
3 notable people were born in Spanaway.
Census-designated place in Washington, United States
Spanaway is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 35,476 at the 2020 census, and was estimated at 34,322 in 2023. Spanaway is an unincorporated area near Tacoma, and is often identified together with the more urban, less wealthy Parkland. Spanaway's main business thoroughfare is Pacific Avenue South, which is a north–south road that coincides with State Route 7 through the Spanaway area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Spanaway.
| Town | WA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spanaway | #180 | C | C | — | C+ | C+ |
| Frederickson | #178 | C | C− | — | C+ | B |
| Parkland | #216 | C− | C | — | C+ | C+ |
| Elk Plain | #231 | C− | C− | — | C+ | B− |
| McChord AFB | #218 | C− | D− | — | C+ | A− |
Spanaway, Frederickson, Parkland, Elk Plain and McChord AFB report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Spanaway with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Spanaway grades C overall, better than 33% of U.S. towns and #180 of 285 in Washington. It grades C+ for health and C+ for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
3 notable people were born here, including Isaac Jones and Ezra Cleveland.
