Covington is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 20,777 at the 2020 census, and was estimated to be 21,567 in 2024.
In 1900, during the building of the Palmer Cutoff, the Northern Pacific built several facilities in Covington. These included a 2,850-foot passing track, a 700-foot loading track, a second-class section house, a 24-man bunkhouse, a box tank, and a standpipe for watering steam locomotives.
Dairies replaced lumber as the predominant industry in the Covington area by the 1920s; several irrigation canals were dug from local creeks to provide water during dry periods. Over the years, the area grew as an unincorporated area outside of Kent and was designated as a suburban development hub by the county government. Covington was officially incorporated as a city on August 31, 1997, and had approximately 12,200 residents at the time. The city is surrounded by Kent to the west, Auburn to the southwest, and Maple Valley to the east. Pipe Lake is located in Covington and adjacent Maple Valley.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, is land and (1.84%) is water.
Government
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; font-size:95%;"
|+ Presidential Elections Results
|- bgcolor=lightgrey
! Year
! Republican
! Democratic
! Third Parties
|-
| style="text-align:center; |2020
| style="text-align:center; |40.31% 4,524
| style="text-align:center; |55.98% 6,283
| style="text-align:center; background:honeyDew;"|3.71% 416
|}
The city is governed by a council-manager government consisting of a seven-person city council. Members are elected at-large, (that is, each is elected by all citizens of the city, not by districts).
Fire protection is provided by Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority.
Public schools in the city are part of the Kent School District.