Search King County, Washington Public Records

King County government employs approximately 17,000 workers across more than 30 departments including Metro Transit (the largest bus transit agency in the Pacific Northwest), Public Health, the Sheriff's Office, DAJD, Solid Waste, Wastewater Treatment, Parks, Elections, and the Prosecuting Attorney's Office under Leesa Manion. The career portal lists open positions, career-service rules, civil-service exam dates, and union-represented bargaining unit assignments.

University of Washington Libraries hosts the King County Snapshots collection, a partnership of 13 Seattle and King County heritage organizations (King County Archives, Museum of History and Industry, Black Heritage Society of WA State, Seattle Public Library Special Collections, Wing Luke Museum, and others). Browse 7,000+ historic photographs, postcards, and prints covering Seattle and King County from territorial days through the late 20th century. Free digital access; rights-cleared scans available for download.

Official King County government portal under newly elected Executive Girmay Zahilay (elected November 4, 2025; first Ethiopian-American executive of a major U.S. county). Serves approximately 2.27 million residents across 2,134 square miles, the most populous county in Washington and 12th-largest in the U.S. The county includes Seattle (population ~750,000) and 38 other cities including Bellevue, Kent, Federal Way, Renton, and Kirkland. FY 2026 biennial budget exceeds $17 billion.

King County Parks and Recreation manages 200+ parks, 175 miles of regional trails (including the Burke-Gilman, Sammamish River, Cedar River, Soos Creek, East Lake Sammamish, and Snoqualmie Valley trails), 28,000 acres of open space, 7 pools, and Marymoor Park in Redmond (the county's most-visited park). Interactive map supports searches by amenity, activity, accessibility, and trailhead. The system is funded by the voter-approved Parks Levy through 2025 and the next renewal.

King County government employee directory lets residents and the public look up the contact information of any of the county's roughly 17,000 employees by name, department, or job title. Returns work email, phone, office location, and reporting department. Personal home addresses, dates of birth, and similar private fields are exempt from disclosure under RCW 42.56.250 (Public Records Act employee privacy exemptions).

Regional Animal Services of King County (RASKC) operates the county shelter at 21615 64th Avenue South, Kent 98032, with adoption hours 7 days a week. RASKC serves unincorporated King County plus 26 contract cities. Browse adoptable dogs, cats, rabbits, and small pets online with photos, behavior notes, and adoption fees ($150-$450 typical; includes spay/neuter, vaccinations, and microchip). Lower-cost senior and special-needs adoption fees are available.

King County government top-contacts directory lists primary phone numbers, email addresses, and physical-office locations for all 30+ county departments, agencies, and elected offices including the Executive, Council, Sheriff, Prosecuting Attorney, Assessor, Auditor, Elections, Records and Licensing, Public Health, Metro Transit, Parks, Wastewater Treatment, Solid Waste, and Adult and Juvenile Detention. Useful starting point for service requests, public-records requests, and constituent inquiries.

Regional Animal Services of King County (RASKC) found-pet portal lets residents who have lost a dog, cat, or other pet search the current intake roster at the Kent shelter and other partner organizations. Strays are held for a 72-hour reclaim period under King County Code 11.04.230 before becoming adoption-eligible; reclaim fees start at $35 plus boarding charges. Filing a lost-pet report and posting to NextDoor/Pawboost are recommended within 24 hours.

King County government service directory provides an A-to-Z alphabetic index of all citizen-facing services across the county's departments and agencies. Each entry links to the responsible department, online application or lookup, fee schedule, and customer-service phone. Useful for permits, marriage licenses, vehicle/vessel registration, food worker cards, business licenses, jury duty, voter registration, and 1,000+ other county services.

King County Code is the consolidated body of ordinances enacted by the 9-member King County Council under the County's home-rule Charter. Topics span zoning (Title 21A), building (Title 16), public health (Title 5), business regulation (Title 6), animal control (Title 11), elections (Title 1), and the Comprehensive Plan. Full-text searchable; codified amendments tracked through 2025 including the Comprehensive Plan 4-Year Update and SEPA reform.

King County GIS Center publishes more than 100 interactive maps and applications covering parcels, zoning, district boundaries, transportation (Metro Transit), parks and trails, environmental layers (wetlands, shorelines, salmon-bearing streams), historic landmarks, and emergency response. Free public access; downloadable shapefiles, GeoJSON, and REST endpoints are published to the KC GIS Open Data Portal under the Open Government Data Act.

Washington State Digital Archives 1910 Federal Census index for King County covers all enumerated households across Seattle, the suburbs, and rural King County. Each entry includes name, age, relationship to head of household, marital status, year of immigration (if foreign-born), citizenship, occupation, language, and homeownership. Useful for genealogical research; the 1910 census was the 13th decennial enumeration mandated by Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution.