Region Office

825 Jadwin Avenue, Ste 206
Richland, WA 99352
T: (509) 946-8106
F: (509) 946-6937

About Central Washington

Bisected by the mighty Columbia River, Central Washington is home to diverse agricultural production, high-tech industries, universities and research centers, and award-winning wineries. With more than 300 days of sunshine per year, the region offers a wide variety of recreational activities, including skiing, boating, wine tourism, hiking, and camping.

Central Washington is also at the forefront of the emerging clean energy economy, with the natural resources, cutting-edge research, and highly trained workforce needed to harness the area’s wind, solar and biofuel power opportunities. 

The largest metropolitan area in this region is called the Tri-Cities, consisting of Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, located at the confluence of the Yakima, Snake and Columbia rivers. If the Tri-Cities were a single city, it would be the fourth largest city in the state of Washington, behind Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma. The Tri-Cities is a hub for Washington state’s innovation economy. With cutting-edge research facilities like the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the Tri-Cities workforce includes 1,600 PhDs among 7,000-plus scientists and engineers.

Central Washington is also home to the Hanford site, established in the 1940s by the federal government to produce plutonium for the first nuclear weapons and to help win World War II and the Cold War. Hanford’s current mission revolves around environmental cleanup and restoration made necessary by years of nuclear materials production.

With fertile soil and a long growing season, the Yakima Valley supports a thriving agriculture economy and strong manufacturing industry. The award-winning vineyards in the Yakima Valley are a destination for tourism and a vital part of Washington state’s growing wine industry. The Yakima Valley is noted for being one of the best apple-producing areas in the world, and it produces more than 75 percent of all hops grown in the United States. Central Washington is also one of the country’s top potato-growing regions, with Grant County producing more potatoes than any other county in the nation.

The city of Ellensburg in Kittitas County hosts the largest rodeo in Washington state, the Ellensburg Rodeo.