McKenna is an unincorporated community and census‑designated place (CDP) located in Pierce County in the U.S. state of Washington. The community lies in the western part of the county, adjacent to Interstate 5 and south of the city of Tacoma, and is part of the greater Tacoma metropolitan area.
Geography
McKenna is situated in the southern portion of the Puget Sound region. It is bounded to the north by the community of Spanaway and to the south by the community of Lakewood. The area is characterized by a mix of residential neighborhoods and forested land typical of the region.
Administrative status
As an unincorporated area, McKenna does not have its own municipal government and is governed directly by Pierce County. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau defined McKenna as a census‑designated place for the 2020 census.
Demographics
The U.S. Census Bureau provides population data for McKenna as of the 2020 census; however, specific population figures are not included here due to insufficient encyclopedic information.
History
The origin of the community’s name is not definitively documented in widely available sources. It is plausible that the name derives from an early settler or landowner bearing the surname McKenna, a pattern common in the naming of Washington‑state localities, but this remains unverified.
References
- United States Census Bureau, Geographic Areas Reference Manual.
- Pierce County, Washington, official website.
Note: Certain details such as exact population figures and the definitive origin of the name are not available in reliable, published encyclopedic sources.
