The King County government plays a major role in the lives of its constituents, who include all residents of the county. It is a big and diverse place, full of people, open space, cities, and rural communities, along with farmland, rivers, industry, and forests. Here is a brief summary of what King County does from the County’s official page.
King County provides certain services to all residents, including courts, public transit, sewage disposal, public health services, the county jail, records and elections, property tax appraisals and regional parks and facilities, including the King County International Airport (Boeing Field).
In many suburban cities King County provides key services like animal control. In unincorporated communities, King County provides land-use regulation, building permits, police protection, roads and local parks.
To put the county in perspective following is a brief summary from Wikipedia.
The census bureau estimated King County’s population in 2009 at 1,916,441. The county seat is Seattle, which is the state’s largest city. About two-thirds of the county’s population lives in the city’s suburbs. King County ranks among the 100 highest-income counties in the United States.
The King County Executive, currently Dow Constantine, heads the county’s executive branch. The King County Prosecutor, Dan Satterberg, Elections Director, Sheriff, and the King County Assessor are also elected executive positions. Judicial power is vested in the King County Superior Court and the King County District Court. Seattle houses the King County Courthouse.
King County has nearly twice the land area of the state of Rhode Island. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,307 square miles. It is the 11th largest county in Washington (of 39) by area. 2,126 square miles of it is land and 180 square miles of it is water. 7.82% of the total area is water. The highest point in the county is Mount Daniel at 7,959 feet above sea level.
King County borders Snohomish County to the north, Kitsap County to the west, Kittitas County to the east, and Pierce County to the south. It also shares a small border with Chelan County to the northeast. King County includes Vashon Island and Maury Island in Puget Sound.
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,737,034 people, 710,916 households, and 420,151 families residing in the county. The population density was 817 people per square mile. There were 742,237 housing units at an average density of 349 per square mile . The racial makeup of the county was 75.73% White, 5.40% Black or African American, 0.92% Native American, 10.81% Asian, 0.52% Pacific Islander, 2.56% from other races, and 4.06% from two or more races. 5.48% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 13.2% were of German, 9.1% English, 8.3% Irish and 5.5% Norwegian ancestry according to Census 2000. 81.7% spoke English, 4.2% Spanish, 2.3% Chinese (incl. all variations), 1.5% Vietnamese, 1.3% Tagalog, and 1.0% Korean as their first language.
There were 710,916 households out of which 28.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.40% were married couples living together, 9.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.90% were non-families. 30.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 3.03.
In the county, the population was spread out with 22.50% under the age of 18, 9.30% from 18 to 24, 34.70% from 25 to 44, 23.10% from 45 to 64, and 10.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 99.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.30 males.
The center of population of Washington in the year 2000 was located in the city of Enumclaw, in King County.
The median income for a household in the county was $53,157, and the median income for a family was $66,035 (these figures had risen to $64,915 and $82,879 respectively as of a 2007 estimate). Males had a median income of $45,802 versus $34,321 for females. The per capita income for the county was $29,521. About 5.30% of families and 8.40% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.40% of those under age 18 and 7.40% of those age 65 or over.