King County isn't king of building housing

When it comes to housing growth, King County isn't the leader in Washington state.

Driving the news: Data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows the number of housing units in King County increased by 1.2% between July 2020 and July 2021.

• That's a smaller uptick, percentage-wise, than in 14 other Washington counties.

Why it matters: King County has too little housing, fueling an affordability crisis, local officials say.

• In Seattle alone, city officials estimate nearly 46,000 households spend more than half their incomes on housing, making them severely cost-burdened.

Yes, but: Other counties are feeling the squeeze, too — especially as more people move to rural and suburban areas in search of better prices.

Zoom in: Leading the state in housing growth from 2020 to 2021 were Clark County (+2.5%) and Franklin County (+2.1).

• Both saw some of the biggest percentage increases in population from 2020 to 2021.

Zoom out: Housing growth in King County was still slightly higher than the national growth rate, which was just under 1%.