by Nicholas K. Geranios, Washington State Standard
March 16, 2026
SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane is having a moment.
The generally sleepy economy of the state’s second-largest city is getting a shakeup, thanks to surging employment and incomes.
The U.S. Senate got into the action in January, approving up to $70 million in federal funds to boost the aerospace industry here.
This money would go to the Spokane Aerospace Tech Hub, a consortium of nearly 50 companies, agencies and schools working to make the Inland Northwest a player in the field of advanced composite materials.
The state’s two Democratic senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, said the federal funds are a big boost for the Lilac City.
“This funding can open up an important new pathway for Spokane to compete for new resources to power the work that’s happening across our region,” Murray said.
“This is great news for the Spokane tech hub,” Cantwell said. “It means that there will now be a serious investment in the composite advances we need for our defense, NASA, and aviation competitiveness.”
The funding isn’t fully locked in yet, as it must still pass the U.S. House of Representatives.
Spokane, located on the Idaho border nearly 300 miles east of wealthy Seattle, has long had a slumbering economy with higher unemployment and lower wages than state averages.
But that has changed in recent years, according to Patrick Jones, an economist at Eastern Washington University in Cheney who studies local trends.
Jones said the population and incomes of Spokane County residents have been rising fairly rapidly in recent years.
“The population is growing, income is growing, retail sales are growing,” Jones said. “All that is new to many people.”
Jones pointed to population gains as a key factor.
“It’s hard to have a good economy with a stagnant population,” Jones said. Over the past three years, Spokane’s population has been growing about 1% a year, matching the state average, he said.
“We are one of the more rapidly growing states,” Jones said. “This is not a bad place to be.”
By the numbers
As of 2025, the city of Spokane had about 234,700 people, second-largest in the state after Seattle. Spokane County had 566,000 residents, the fourth-largest county in the state.
The Spokane-Coeur d’Alene Combined Statistical Area, which includes adjacent Kootenai County, Idaho, has about 800,000 residents, making it the 70th largest community in the nation.
Spokane’s median household income in 2024, the most recent year available, was $86,000, well above the national average of $81,000, Jones said. “We used to be 90% of the U.S. median,” he said. “Now we’re above.”
The growth in taxable retail sales now matches the statewide rate of about 1% per year, Jones said. Before it was growing below the state level, he said.
In the past, Spokane’s unemployment rate was higher than the state average, but it currently mirrors it at about 4.5%, Jones said.
The main drivers of the Spokane economy are health care, which provides one in five jobs in the region, followed by government, retail, hospitality and manufacturing, Jones said.
Of course, the economic picture in Spokane is not all glowing. The city has a large population of homeless people, especially in the downtown core, an issue that has defied easy solutions.
Housing affordability is difficult for many residents. The population is on average older than in many other communities and one in six adults in Spokane County is getting disability payments, Jones noted.
“That seemed high to me,” he said.
Aerospace growth poised to take off
Regarding money for the Spokane Aerospace Tech Hub, the Spokane area was awarded $48 million by the federal government in the final days of the Biden administration. The Trump administration rescinded that money last May.
The recent inclusion of up to $70 million for the project in the appropriations package speaks to the influence of Murray and Cantwell. Patrick McHail, executive director of the Tech Hub, said Spokane is ready to capitalize on its aerospace sector.
“The aerospace market here is really ripe and growing,” McHail said.
The Spokane Tech Hub’s existing work is centered around a former Boeing factory near the Spokane International Airport. Spokane already has factories that roll aluminum for airplane bodies and that make brakes for jetliners, among other aerospace manufacturers.
Joey Gunning is a spokesman for Greater Spokane Inc., the region’s chamber of commerce. He said the new Aerospace Tech Hub is a key feature of the region’s future.
“We have lots of suppliers to Boeing,” Gunning said.
Gunning also noted that the Spokane airport continues to serve record numbers of passengers each year, a key indicator of economic health.
“We are confident in our position as a region to compete,” Gunning said. “I’m excited about what the future of Spokane holds.”
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