What Cities Make Up the Tri-Cities?

By in Tri-Cities, WA with 0 Comments

If you already live here, you might wonder why I’d do a blog post about what seems like a simple question. But stop and think for a second. It’s a little more complicated than it seems on the surface, right? When we talk to people from out of town who are thinking about moving to the Tri-Cities, this sometimes creates a bit of confusion.

The Tri-Cities consists of Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland, but there are actually seven cities/towns in what we all refer to as the “Tri-Cities.” They are as follows: Kennewick, Pasco, Richland, West Richland, Benton City, Burbank, and Finley.

I happen to live in West Richland, which has its own boundaries, its own government, its own police department, etc., and is separate from the City of Richland. Still, we all consider West Richland to be part of the “Tri-Cities.” Even further to the west is Benton City. Same deal: its own boundaries, its own government, etc., but it’s part of the Tri-Cities as far as we’re all concerned. Burbank is attached to Pasco and Finley is attached to Kennewick. So they’re part of the Tri-Cities, too. This is what the area looks like.

Map of the Tri-Cities area

Making things a little more complicated is the relationship between Richland and West Richland. Namely, they share a school district. The Richland School District serves both Richland and West Richland. It’s the only relationship of its kind in the Tri-Cities; all the other smaller towns/cities (Benton City, Burbank, and Finley) have their own school districts.

So, as you can see, the answer to “what cities make up the Tri-Cities?” is a little more complicated than it seems.

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About The Author
Cari McGee

My husband and I came to the Tri-Cities in 1994, and we thought it would be a temporary stop on our way to larger cities. He was a television sports anchor at the time, and we planned to go wherever the "next step up" took us. Twenty-plus years later, we're still here and we've loved every minute of it! We have two children now, and we've found the Tri-Cities area is a wonderful place to raise a family. It's a great place to do outdoorsy things -- I like to hike Badger Mountain or run along the river path. I also love reading ... by a cozy fire in the winter or a beautiful picture window in the summer (with the A/C on!). I've been a licensed Realtor since 2004. I earned my managing broker's license in 2016, which means I can run my own brokerage, or create a team of real estate agents and supervise them, which is exactly what I did when I formed the Cari McGee Real Estate Team in 2018! We have administrative and marketing personnel, as well as additional agents to serve you. I became a director of the Tri-Cities Association of Realtors Board of Directors in 2016, became Secretary/Treasurer of the organization, and was elected to Vice President in 2019. Want to talk about real estate? Click here to schedule a meeting with me!

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