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The Commemorative Quarter for Washington





Welcome to Centralia ...

The city of Centralia is located in Lewis County<1>.

The pronunciation of Centralia: sen-TRAY-leeuh<2>

Centralia was established in 1852.

When the people of Centralia refer to themselves (known as a demonym), they frequently use Centralian<3>

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Centralia has a population of 17,725 people<4> (see below for details).

The community of Centralia is 160 feet [49 m] above sea level.<5>.

Time Zone: Centralia lies in the Pacific Time Zone (PST/PDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Codes for Centralia: 360 & 564<6>

The ZIP code for Centralia: 98531<7>

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Centralia had an population of 17,725 people. This is an increase of 8.5% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 20.23% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Centralia had a population of 16,336 people (or 21.64% of the total population of Lewis County). This makes Centralia the county's most populous community.

The population of Centralia represents 0.24% of the total population of Washington (which has 6,724,540 people), making it the state's 61st most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 16,336 people, the population of Centralia increased 10.81% from the 2000 Census (with a count of 14,742 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Centralia.

Communities Also Named Centralia ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 16 communities that are also named Centralia - they are located in California, Florida (2), Illinois, Iowa, Kansas (2), Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Centralia.

Websites for Centralia ...

Official Website: www.cityofcentralia.com/

Communities near Centralia ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Centralia.

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Centralia. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Centralia.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Centralia. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Centralia.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Centralia. Our list includes 20 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Centralia.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Centralia ...

Looking for more information about Centralia? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

In addition to the Tourism page for Centralia, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Centralia.

Adding Centralia to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Centralia in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Centralia was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<10>

X2X - From that list, the Centralia post office opened in 1884.

We also found Centralia in the book titled Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Centralia.

The official website for Centralia: www.cityofcentralia.com/

The official website for Lewis County: www.co.lewis.wa.us/

The official website for State of Washington: https://wa.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Washington's counties, including Lewis, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The pronunciation we've provided is our attempt to give a phonetic pronunciation for Centralia. While it might not be exactly right, hopefully it will be close. If we have it wrong or there's a better way to pronounce the name, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
<3>A demonym is the name for a resident of a community which is usually derived from (or is related to) the name of that community. In other words, it's how the residents of Centralia refer to themselves. It's important to note that there aren't any rules for taking a city's name and turning it into a demonym. A demonym is informal and while the majority of Centralia may use one name, keep in mind that others may use something different.
<4>Population counts have been provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more detail, please visit our Census Page for Centralia.
<5>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Centralia - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<6>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 360 code has been Overlayed with the 564 area code. New phone numbers in the Centralia area will be assigned with one of these codes: 360 or 564. As a result, placing a call in the Centralia area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<7>ZIP Codes have been created by the United States Postal Service (USPS) as a way of grouping addresses to make delivery more efficient. The boundaries of the ZIP Code can be changed, re-assigned, eliminated or overlapped with other ZIP Codes. So keep in mind that any given ZIP Code is only 'loosely' associated with a city (such as Centralia). When looking for a ZIP Code, whether Centralia or elsewhere, it's always best to check the website of the United States Postal Service (USPS).
<8>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<9>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<10>A copy of their list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025