Assessing the Health of Washington's Cities and Towns

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Cluster Profiles

As part of the 2005 State of the Cities research and analysis, AWC sorted Washington’s 281 cities and towns into 14 groups, or “clusters.” The cities in each cluster have similar economic and other characteristics including:

• Size

• Resident income

• Commercial activity

• Growth

Cities are not perfectly matched in every category - cities are simply too diverse. Individual cities will have characteristics that do and do not fit into these general groups. However, the analysis gives readers a way to understand how each individual community fits into the landscape of the overall State of the Cities report.

Key Economic Indicators in City and Town Groupings

View main characteristics for a quick comparison of all 14 clusters.

• Key Economic Indicators Chart (pdf, 13 kb)

Cluster Profiles

More detailed community and fiscal data for each cluster, reported as averages for each group of cities.

• Regional Centers (1)

• Rural Commercial Centers (2)

• Tourism/Light Industrial Hubs (3)

• Moderate Commercial (4)

• Small Residential (5)

• Rural Communities (6)

• Urban Outskirts (7)

• Residential (8)

• High Income Residential (9)

• Mixed Resources (10)

• Small Commercial Centers (11)

• Medium Retail Hubs (12)

• Major Commercial Centers (13)

• Central Cities (14)

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State of the Cities © 2005 Association of Washington Cities