152 years old as of 2024, the population of
Medical Lake has grown at a rate averaging 34.65 persons per year. Seems like a pretty good average. At the 2010 census the population was 5,060, meaning either that the city is shrinking in population or that they are quite tardy in updating their population sign. Founded in 1872, the city was officially incorporated on June 21, 1880.
It got the name of
Medical Lake from its lake. Highly mineralized, for many years the lake was believed to have medicinal properties. This led to the town of Medical Lake's becoming a very popular tourist destination and bathing in the lake a popular activity. When it was discovered that the lake wasn't really all that medicinal, Medical Lake's tourist industry disappeared almost entirely.
The largest employer in the area,
Fairchild Air Force Base, lies just to the north while the second largest employer,
Eastern State Hospital, a mental hospital which opened in March of 1891, lies just across the lake to the west. Today, Eastern State Hospital has a patient capacity of 287 beds, broken up into three different units: 91 in the Adult Psychiatric Unit, 101 in the Geropsychiatric Unit, and 95 in the Forensic Services Unit.