Tacoma Hard Money Lenders

Tacoma, WA

Tacoma is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington’s Puget Sound, 32 miles southwest of Seattle, 31 miles northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and 58 miles northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 219,346, according to the 2020 census. Tacoma is the second-largest city in the Puget Sound area and the third-largest in the state. Tacoma also serves as the center of business activity for the South Sound region, which has a population of about 1 million.

Tacoma adopted its name after the nearby Mount Rainier, originally and locally called Takhoma or Tahoma. It is locally known as the “City of Destiny” because the area was chosen to be the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad in the late 19th century. The decision of the railroad was influenced by Tacoma’s neighboring deep-water harbor, Commencement Bay. By connecting the bay with the railroad, Tacoma’s motto became “When rails meet sails”. Commencement Bay serves the Port of Tacoma, a center of international trade on the Pacific Coast and Washington’s largest port. The city gained notoriety in 1940 for the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which earned the nickname “Galloping Gertie”.

Pierce County

The second most populous county in Washington state, Pierce County is home to more than 790,000 people. Named after U. S. President Franklin Pierce, Pierce County is home to Mount Rainier, a volcano, and the tallest mountain in the Cascade Range.

Geography

Tacoma is at 47°14′29″N 122°27′34″W (47.241371, −122.459389). Its official elevation is 381 feet, varying between sea level and about 500 feet.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 62.34 square miles, of which 49.72 square miles is land and 12.62 square miles is water.

Tacoma straddles the neighboring Commencement Bay with several smaller cities surrounding it. Large areas of Tacoma have views of Mount Rainier. In the event of a major eruption of Mount Rainier, the low-lying areas of Tacoma near the Port of Tacoma are at risk from a lahar flowing down the Puyallup River.

The city is several miles north of Joint Base Lewis–McChord, formerly known separately as Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base.

Employment

Tacoma has an unemployment rate of 7.3%. The US average is 6.0%.

Tacoma has seen the job market increase by 1.8% over the last year. Future job growth over the next ten years is predicted to be 39.9%, which is higher than the US average of 33.5%.

Transportation

Tacoma’s system of transportation is based primarily on the automobile. The majority of the city has a system of gridded streets oriented in relation to A Street (one block east of Pacific Avenue) and 6th Avenue or Division Avenue, both beginning in downtown Tacoma. Within the city, and with a few exceptions, east-to-west streets are numbered and north-to-south streets are given a name or a letter. Some east-to-west streets are also given names, such as S. Center St. and N. Westgate Blvd. Streets are generally labeled “North”, “South”, “East”, or “North East” according to their relationship with 6th Avenue or Division Avenue (west of ‘Division Ave’, ‘6th Avenue’ is the lowest-numbered street, making it the dividing street between “North” and “South”), ‘A Street’ (which is the dividing line between “East” and “South”), or 1st Street NE (which is the dividing line between “East” and “North East”). This can lead to confusion, as most named streets intersect streets of the same number in both north and south Tacoma. For example, the intersection of South 11th Street and South Union Avenue is just ten blocks south of North 11th Street and North Union Avenue.