Fun facts
A lake city without a lake, a pioneer who changed his name, and a DUI on a golf cart. A few stories and numbers you might not know about Liberty Lake.
Yep, a city with the word "lake" in its name doesn't contain one. Liberty Lake itself sits in unincorporated Spokane County, a few blocks south of Sprague and just outside the city limits. To the north, the Spokane River marks the city's edge.
Source: Wikipedia, "Liberty Lake, Washington".
Liberty Lake is named for Etienne Edward Laliberte, a Quebec-born mail carrier who homesteaded near the lake in 1871 and anglicized his name to Steve Liberty.
What if Etienne hadn't changed his name? Would we be living in the City of Laliberte? Or fishing and boating on Etienne Edward Laliberte Lake?
Source: Wikipedia, "Liberty Lake, Washington".
Early on, the area also went by the name Arturdee. Liberty Lake stuck.
Source: Wikipedia, "Liberty Lake, Washington".
When the city counted traffic at busy intersections in 2025, it counted golf carts too. The busiest spot was Molter Road and Country Vista Drive: 11 carts during the morning rush and 20 between 4 and 6 p.m.
Most of the carts were in the neighborhoods on the southwest side of town, near the golf courses.
Source: City of Liberty Lake, Network Analysis Update 2025 (January 2026), in the City Council agenda packet for February 17, 2026.
Liberty Lake Municipal Library checked out 92,226 items in 2025 and counted 69,709 visits. 7,474 people hold a Liberty Lake library card.
Its meeting and study rooms were booked 812 times, twice as often as the year before. The Library Things collection even lends a telescope, a microscope and a metal detector.
Source: Library Director's report, Liberty Lake Library Board of Trustees minutes, January 14, 2026.
Liberty Lake Police logged 13,170 calls for service in 2025, a mix of 911 calls, dispatched calls and stops officers started themselves. The most common report, outside routine patrol and traffic stops, was a reckless driver or road rage.
Source: Liberty Lake Police Department, Year End Stats 2025, in the City Council agenda packet for February 17, 2026.
The community is much older, but the city itself only incorporated in 2001.
Source: Wikipedia, "Liberty Lake, Washington".
Liberty Lake counts back-to-back Stanley Cup winner Tyler Johnson (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Lexie Hull, a first-round pick in the 2022 WNBA draft, among its notable people.
Source: Wikipedia, "Liberty Lake, Washington".
About 1,600 people lived here in 1980. Then came 2,015 in 1990, 4,660 in 2000, 7,591 in 2010 and 12,003 at the 2020 census. The Census Bureau estimated 13,353 by 2024.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, decennial census and 2024 population estimate.
Beyond the lake's south shore, Mica Peak rises to 5,209 feet, more than 3,000 feet above the city at about 2,070 feet.
Source: Wikipedia, "Mica Peak" and "Liberty Lake, Washington".
The 2020 census counted 4,916 housing units and 4,711 occupied households, a vacancy rate of just 4.2%. Among homes meant for owners, the vacancy rate was only 1.2%.
Building hasn't stopped: the Census Bureau's latest survey puts the count at roughly 5,000.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 census; American Community Survey 2020–2024.
About 67% of Liberty Lake households own their home. Owners estimate the median home is worth about $577,500.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024.
Liberty Lake Regional Park covers 3,591 acres of wetland, shoreline and mountain forest. Hike the 8.3-mile Liberty Lake Loop Trail and, with a free backcountry permit, spend the night at Camp Hughes Cabin.
Source: Spokane County Parks.
All 6.3 square miles are land, which works out to roughly 1,900 residents per square mile at the 2020 census. The Idaho state line is just over a mile east of town.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 census; Wikipedia, "Liberty Lake, Washington".
An estimated 27.8% of working residents work from home. For everyone else, the average commute is 22.9 minutes.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024.
Liberty Lake covers about 1.1 square miles, roughly 700 acres, with around 4.4 miles of shoreline. Even so, it's only about 30 feet at its deepest and averages about 25 feet.
Liberty Creek feeds it from the south, and some of its water seeps down into the Spokane Valley–Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, the region's drinking-water source.
Source: Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife; Wikipedia, "Liberty Lake (Washington)".
Liberty Lake's median household income is an estimated $118,723, and about 5% of residents live below the poverty line.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024.
Among residents 25 and older, an estimated 48.7% hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and 97.9% finished high school.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024.
Send us your favorite Liberty Lake fact and we may add it here.
