Lewis County, Washington

Lewis County, Washington
Lewis County Historic Courthouse
Location in the U.S. state of Washington
Washington's location in the U.S.
Founded	December 19, 1845
Named for	Meriwether Lewis
Seat	Chehalis
Largest city	Centralia
Area
• Total	2,436 sq mi (6,309 km2)
• Land	2,403 sq mi (6,224 km2)
• Water	33 sq mi (85 km2), 1.4%
Population (est.)
• (2015)	75,882
• Density	31/sq mi (12/km²)
Congressional district	3rd
Time zone	Pacific: UTC-8/-7
Website	www.co.lewis.wa.us

Lewis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2010 census, the population was 75,455. The county seat is Chehalis, and its largest city is Centralia. The county was created on December 19, 1845, by the Provisional Government of Oregon, and originally named after George Vancouver. In 1849 the county was renamed after Meriwether Lewis.

Lewis County comprises the Centralia, WA Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Seattle-Tacoma, WA Combined Statistical Area.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,436 square miles (6,310 km²), of which 2,403 square miles (6,220 km²) is land and 33 square miles (85 km²) (1.4%) is water. One of the world's tallest Douglas fir trees ever recorded was in the town of Mineral within Lewis County, attaining a height of 120 metres (390 ft).

As of the census of 2000, there were 68,600 people, 26,306 households, and 18,572 families residing in the county. The population density was 28 people per square mile (11/km²). There were 29,585 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile (5/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 92.96% White, 0.38% Black or African American, 1.22% Native American, 0.69% Asian, 0.18% Pacific Islander, 2.55% from other races, and 2.01% from two or more races. 5.37% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 18.7% were of German, 11.8% United States or American, 11.1% English, 8.7% Irish and 5.7% Norwegian ancestry.