Yakima Is Washington’s 11th Largest City: Meet the Rivals

Yakima is the eleventh largest city in Washington State — small on paper, big on attitude. Think snarky meets slightly redneck. In terms of TV shows, I'd say we're somewhere between COPS meets the gang in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Read More: The Biggest Cities in Washington 150 Years Ago

Locals bemoan the lack of some of our premier shopping favorites, like the IKEA store, Trader Joe's, and Chuck E. Cheese, but we'll fight you tooth and nail if you try to take away our Harman Senior Center, our Yakima Valley Trolleys, or any of our public pools.

We love playing pickleball, and our kids in school are serious about wrestling, band, choir, track, soccer, and football. Yakima might be a couple of hours away from the big city (Seattle), but this is still Seahawks Country and the hometown of Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp!

We're also the birthplace of some of your faves in the world, including actors Kyle MacLachlan and Matthew Law, performers like Oleta Adams and authors like Beverly Cleary.

We're #11! See Which Cities Beat (and Trail) Yakima

Let's see which cities have populations inching slightly above and below that of Yakima.

#10: Federal Way

City of Federal Way

Population: 100,000

Famous People from Federal Way: Sanjaya Malakar from American Idol Season 6 (2007)

#12: Bellingham

Downtown Bellingham

Population: 95,000

Famous People Who Grew Up in Bellingham: Hilary Swank