Kent Comprehensive Plan 2044

This online mapbook was created to support the City of Kent's Comprehensive Plan update. The baseline conditions described here will help inform the City, its residents, and other stakeholders as they make decisions about future land use, transportation, and other issues.

The City of Kent is located in southern King County, Washington and is part of the Puget Sound Region. Kent is located approximately halfway between the ports of Seattle and Tacoma. The neighboring cities include Renton, Covington, Auburn, Federal Way, Des Moines, SeaTac, and Tukwila. Based on the 2020 Census, it is the sixthlargest municipality in the state with a population of roughly 136,588. With an area of about 34 square miles, Kent is relatively denser than the neighboring cities. The City is also located approximately 10 miles from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and has one major transit hub located in it’s downtown.

The Green River and its tributaries bisect the City and empties out into the Puget Sound. Other major waterbodies in Kent include Panther Lake, Clark Lake, and Lake Meridian, the City’s largest lake. Mt. Rainier, or Mt. Tahoma, as it is known to many indigenous groups, is a prominent geographical landmark that is viewable from many parts of the City.

Kent is served by multiple highways, including State Route 167, State Route 509 (Pacific Highway), Interstate 5, and State Route 516. Both Interstate 5 and State Route 167 provide a direct connection to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. This highway network, with a large and sustained manufacturing and distribution industries, has distinguished Kent as a major economic hub in the region.

Although the 2022 Parks and Open Space Plan broke Kent into five geographic regions: Downtown, Green River, West Hill, East Hill North, and East Hill South, the City has not adopted an official breakdown of neighborhood and communities within the City limits.

Kent prides itself on being a unique and diverse community. In 2024, Kent ranked 5th overall as the most ethnically diverse city in the nation and 2nd among midsize cities (100,000 to 300,000 people), according to a study conducted by WalletHub using data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Compared to King County, the cost of living in Kent has also remained relatively affordable, although housing costs are increasing.

Not only is Kent considered one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the nation but this fact is also represented when compared to other cities in King County and Washington. One key indicator is the population’s linguistic diversity, with 42% of Kent residents speaking a language other than English. In contrast, King County has 29% and Washington State has 21% of its population speaking languages other than English. This discrepancy underscores Kent’s status as a notably diverse city in terms of language spoken, indicating a rich tapestry of cultural backgrounds and identities within its community.

Zoning is the most powerful tool that a local government can use to regulate development within its boundaries. Zoning regulations can be used to protect the environment, bring more services to a neighborhood, increase housing supply, and bring more jobs to a certain area.

In Kent, single-family residential zoning dominates the landscape at 55%, followed by industrial uses at 20%, with multi-family residential zoning comprising only 8% of the total area. Agricultural zoning makes up the lowest percentage of the total area.

Each area of the City can be distinguished from the other with the mix of land uses and services offered. While Downtown has the largest mix of uses in Kent with allowed uses such as single-family residential, multi-family residential, agriculture, industrial, commercial, and mobile home parks, other areas can be defined by their prominent land uses. For example, the northern area of the City is nearly entirely zoned industrial, and the area commonly known as “West Hill” is primarily zoned for single-family residential and commercial manufacturing uses and “East Hill” has the largest concentration of single-family residential.

Commercial zoning districts are generally concentrated along major thoroughfares in Kent. This includes roads and highways such as 240th Street, 104th Avenue, Pacific Highway (SR 509), 256th Street and Kent-Kangley Road (SR 516), 212th Street, 84th Avenue, and State Route 167. Open space uses such as parks are allowed in nearly every zoning district. The Mixed-Use Overlay allows land uses such as retail, office, and multi-family residential uses on a single parcel over portions of the General Commercial (GC) and Community Commercial (CC) districts.

In 1997, the Washington State legislature adopted the buildable lands amendment to the Growth Management Act (GMA) to require counties and cities to determine the amount of land suitable for urban development and evaluate the capacity for growth based upon actual development activity.

As part of this requirement, King County created the 2021 King County Urban Growth Capacity Report (UGC), which includes an analysis of buildable lands to identify the location of vacant and redevelopable parcels in Kent. Locations of these parcels in the are shown on the following map.

The “net” development capacity of each zone helps to see how much housing and employment capacity Kent has to accommodate the growth targets allocated by King County and the State. Understanding the capacity will also identify where land use changes may need to change to meet the target growth allocations.

For redevelopable residential land the methodology looks at the ratio of existing zoning density potential to the actual existing density on a parcel. For example, if an existing development is less than the potential density, as defined in the zoning designation for that property, it would be considered redevelopable.

For residential lands, a density based ratio is applied to understand the redevelopment potential for a parcel. This is especially informative for areas that are facing significant development pressures. To understand the redevelopment potential for non-residential and mixed-used parcels, an improvement-to-land-value-based ratio is used.

According to King County’s Buildable Lands Analysis, Kent has capacity for over 10,000 housing units and over 28,000 jobs. Higher density housing, such as multi-family and mixed use development, would account for the highest number of potential housing units available. While the amount of available land for this type of housing is much lower than single-family zones, which accounts for the most land capacity.

Commercial uses have the lowest number of buildable areas compared to mixed-use and industrial uses. This results in commercial uses having the lowest job capacity out of these three types of uses. Even though industrial uses have the highest number of buildable lands, mixed-uses have the highest capacity for jobs while also adding to the number of available housing units.

While King County’s UGC report says that Kent may have land capacity to meet the allocated 2044 housing and employment targets, this is not an indication that community needs are being met. Current legislation for this Comprehensive Plan Periodic Update requires that cities address housing affordability for all income levels and provide opportunities for living-wage jobs.

This section describes and illustrates demographic characteristics of the City of Kent.

The following maps and data provide information about vulnerable populations in the City of Kent

Kent’s Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Department (Kent Parks) manages a park system that includes 55 parks that total more than 1,070 acres, 54.7 miles of trails, and programs and events that serve of 1.4 million people annually (Kent POSP, 2022).

Understanding that parks help create social equity and connection, the current Parks and Open Space Plan (POSP, 2022) analyzed the location and access of the city’s parks and recreation facilities against a set of racial and social equity indicators. The analysis showed large areas of the city that are of higher vulnerability and potential opportunities for equitable investments. A Park Needs Map was created to assess which areas of the city need park investments the most based on existing park access, equity, and population density.

The map above shows the results of this assessment. The lighter colors indicate areas with lower existing park access, higher population density, and/or serves populations with higher vulnerability. These areas provide greater opportunities for equitable investments (high/very high). Darker areas are those with higher existing park access, lower population density, and/or serves populations with lower vulnerability. This information was used to assess areas that would inform a ranked list of existing park properties that have the highest impact on access and equity.

Housing and Human Services, a division of Kent’s Parks, Recreation & Community Services Department, is responsible for human services planning at both the local and regional levels, facilitating human service activities and funding through the Human Services Commission.

Programs and projects that are managed by the group include, but are not limited to, the Community Development Block Grant and Home Repairs, where low or moderate income homeowners can get free small repairs.

The Division also acts as a resource center for housing, food, rent, and utility assistance.

The following maps depict several features of the City's transportation system, including public transit, sidewalks, bicycle facilities, freight routes, and recent traffic counts.

The following maps depict some of the environmental features in Kent, including floodplains, and steep slopes.