Thurston County

Thurston County is named after Samuel R. Thurston, the Oregon Territory’s first delegate to Congress. The 2017 estimated population was 280,588. The county seat is at Olympia, the state capital and also the county’s largest city.

Thurston County was created out of Lewis County by the government of Oregon Territory on January 12, 1852. At that time, it covered all of the Puget Sound region and the Olympic Peninsula. On December 22 of the same year, Pierce, King, Island, and Jefferson Counties were split off from Thurston County.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 774 square miles, of which, 727 square miles of it is land and 47 square miles of it (6.03%) is water. The population density is 285 per square mile.

Principal Communities: