Soap Lake, Washington
Coordinates: 47°23′18″N 119°29′15″W / 47.38833, -119.4875
Country	United States
State	Washington
County	Grant
Area
- Total	1.2 sq mi (3.1 km²)
- Land	1.2 sq mi (3.1 km²)
- Water	0.0 sq mi (0.0 km²)
Elevation	1,106 ft (337 m)
Population (2000)
- Total	1,733
- Density	1,434.0/sq mi (553.7/km²)
Time zone	Pacific (PST) (UTC-8)
- Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC-7)
ZIP code	98851
Area code(s)	509
FIPS code	53-65345[1]
GNIS feature ID	1512667[2]

Soap Lake is a city in Grant County, Washington, on the shores of Soap Lake. The population was 1,733 at the 2000 census. In 2002, the town announced preliminary plans to construct the world's largest lava lamp (60 feet in height) as a tourist attraction.

History

Soap Lake was officially incorporated on June 9, 1919.

The town is currently trying attract tourism by trying to revive the health aspect of the lake to attract the spa crowd. Unfortunately the lake really does tatse like soap thus not boding well with swimmers. The minerals in the lake are said to have a healing properties for Buerger's disease. Two older brick buildings along the main street northbound have been renovated to house an art museum and a coffee shop. Another tourism effort is to install a novel roadside attraction: a 52,000 pound lava lamp, formerly a Target advertisement in Times Square.^[3][4][5]

Geography

Soap Lake is located at 47°23′18″N, 119°29′15″W (47.388341, -119.487611)^[6].

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.2 square miles (3.1 km²), all of it land.

Demographics

As of the census^[1] of 2000, there were 1,733 people, 778 households, and 427 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,434.0 people per square mile (553.0/km²). There were 996 housing units at an average density of 824.2/sq mi (317.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 90.02% White, 0.87% African American, 1.21% Native American, 0.23% Asian, 3.92% from other races, and 3.75% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 11.77% of the population.

There were 778 households out of which 22.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.6% were married couples living together, 10.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.0% were non-families. 38.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.17 and the average family size was 2.91.

In the city the population was spread out with 23.9% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 21.0% from 25 to 44, 23.1% from 45 to 64, and 24.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 90.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $20,459, and the median income for a family was $25,000. Males had a median income of $27,656 versus $21,771 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,753. About 26.3% of families and 30.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 50.5% of those under age 18 and 15.2% of those age 65 or over.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
2. ^ US Board on Geographic Names. United States Geological Survey (2007-10-25). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
3. ^ Roadside America web site
4. ^ Soap Lake pins hope on giant lava lamp Seattle P-I, January 1, 2005
5. ^ Soap Lake to spend $100,000 to install lava lamp Seattle P-I, January 26, 2006
6. ^ US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990. United States Census Bureau (2005-05-03). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.

External links

• Soap Lake, Washington is at coordinates 47°23′18″N 119°29′15″W / 47.388341, -119.487611 (Soap Lake, Washington)Coordinates: 47°23′18″N 119°29′15″W / 47.388341, -119.487611 (Soap Lake, Washington)
• Official City Website
• Soap Lake Mineral Lake
• Soap Lake Directory with Photos of the Town

v â€¢ d â€¢ e Municipalities and communities of Grant County, Washington County seat: Ephrata Cities Ephrata | George | Grand Coulee | Moses Lake | Quincy | Royal City | Soap Lake | Warden Towns Coulee City | Coulee Dam | Electric City | Hartline | Krupp | Mattawa | Wilson Creek CDPs Banks Lake South | Cascade Valley | Desert Aire | Lakeview | Moses Lake North Communities Adco | Adrian | Beverly | Lakeview Park | Mae | Ruff | Stratford | Trinidad | Wheeler | Winchester