Census snapshot: Mountlake Terrace

This is one of a series of looks at Snohomish and Island county communities based on data from the U.S. Census of 2010.

In the 19th century, the area that is now Mountlake Terrace was thickly forested. By 1900 most of the land in south Snohomish County had been logged, so the land was subdivided into 10-acre “chicken ranches.” A few people moved in to raise chickens, mink and chinchilla. But many farms failed during the Great Depression.

A portion of the area was used by the government during World War II as a landing field. In 1949, Albert LaPierre and Jack Peterson bought the abandoned airstrip and began filling it with modest cinder-block houses. They named their development Mountlake Terrace because from some parts of the property they could see both Mount Rainier and Lake Washington, and the old runway looked a little like a terrace.

The city was incorporated in 1954.

Mountlake Terrace population vs. Snohomish County and Washington

At a glance	Mountlake Terrace	County	Washington
Population, 2010	19,909	713,335	6,724,540
Population change, 2000 to 2010	-2.2%	17.7%	14.1%
Population, 2000	20,362	606,024	5,894,121
Persons under 5 years	6.5%	6.6%	6.5%
Persons under 18 years	21.6%	24.4%	23.5%
Persons 65 years and over	10.3%	10.3%	12.3%
Female persons	51.1%	50.0%	50.2%
White persons	71.7%	78.4%	77.3%
Black persons	4.3%	2.5%	3.6%
American Indian and Alaska Native persons	1.1%	1.4%	1.5%
Asian persons	11.2%	8.9%	7.2%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders	0.8%	0.4%	0.6%
Persons reporting two or more races	6.1%	4.6%	4.7%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin	10.5%	9.0%	11.2%
White persons not Hispanic	67.3%	74.3%	72.5%