Tacoma ( tə-KOH-mə) is a mid-sized urban harbor city and the county chair of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington’s Puget Sound, 32 miles (51 km) southwest of Seattle (of which it is the largest satellite city), 31 miles (50 km) northeast of the disclose capital, Olympia, and 58 miles (93 km) northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 191,704, according to the 2010 census. Tacoma is the second-largest city in the Puget Sound Place and the third-largest in the state. Tacoma as a consequence serves as the center of business upheaval for the South Sound region, which has a population of approaching 1 million.

Tacoma adopted its pronounce after the understandable Mount Rainier, originally called Takhoma or Tahoma. It is locally known as the “City of Destiny” because the area was selected to be the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad in the late 19th century. The decision of the railroad was influenced by Tacoma’s adjacent to deep-water harbor, Commencement Bay. By connecting the bay considering the railroad, Tacoma’s axiom became “When rails meet sails”. Commencement Bay serves the Port of Tacoma, a center of international trade upon the Pacific Coast and Washington’s largest port. The city gained notoriety in 1940 for the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which earned the nickname “Galloping Gertie”.

Like most industrial cities, Tacoma suffered a prolonged terminate in the mid-20th century as a result of suburbanization and divestment. Since the 1990s, downtown Tacoma has undergone revitalization effort. Developments in the downtown append the University of Washington Tacoma; Line T (formerly Tacoma Link), the first open-minded electric vivacious rail help in the state; the state’s highest density of art and records museums; and a restored urban waterfront, the Thea Foss Waterway.

Tacoma has been named one of the most livable areas in the United States. In 2006, Tacoma was listed as one of the “most walkable” cities in the country.

The area was inhabited for thousands of years by American Indians, predominantly the Puyallup people, who lived in settlements on the delta.