Spokane Asbestos by the Numbers

Last reviewed 2026-07-25. Journalists, researchers, and community groups are welcome to cite any figure on this page with attribution and a link.

This page collects the numbers that govern asbestos work in Spokane: how old the housing is, what Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency charges for a Notice of Intent and how long the notice runs, how many providers the agency lists, and what the county requires before fire debris moves. Every figure comes from a source listed at the bottom. Where a number is a sum of published rows rather than a published figure, the text says so.

Two kinds of numbers appear. The housing figures are American Community Survey five-year estimates for 2019-2023 as published by Point2Homes. The fees and thresholds are fixed local rules from Spokane Clean Air and the City of Spokane, and they apply to every job the same way. Published national cost ranges for removal itself stay on the cost page; the rule the fees hang from is explained in the survey rule guide.

Spokane's housing by year built

Spokane has 102,834 housing units, 57,325 owner-occupied (58.8%) and 40,121 renter-occupied (41.2%), with a median construction year of 1961. The oldest row of the year-built table is the largest: 26,928 units, 26.2%, built before 1939. The 1950s added 14,216 units (13.8%) and the 1970s 13,172 (12.8%). The five rows before 1980 sum to 70,328 units, or 68.3% of the city -- a sum of published rows, not a separately published statistic.

Asbestos use tracked building products, not addresses. EPA lists vinyl floor tiles and the backing on vinyl sheet flooring and adhesives, roofing and siding shingles, textured paint and patching compounds used on walls and ceilings, and hot water and steam pipes coated with asbestos material or covered with an asbestos blanket or tape. A pre-1939 house and a 1970s house can both carry those materials, and either can be free of them. A survey, not a guess, decides.

Spokane County and Spokane Valley compared

The county's stock is younger than the city's. Spokane County has 231,205 housing units, 140,832 owner-occupied (64.5%) and 77,563 renter-occupied (35.5%). Its published year-built shares are 14.2% before 1939, 6.2% in the 1940s, 10.2% in the 1950s, 6.3% in the 1960s and 16.2% in the 1970s, which sum to 53.1% before 1980. The 1970s are the county's largest single row; the 1990s (12.1%) and the 2000s (13.1%) follow.

Spokane Valley is younger still by the before-1980 measure: 106,365 people, 45,467 housing units, 58.2% owner-occupied and 41.8% renter-occupied. Its rows run 4.8% before 1939, 5.6% in the 1940s, 11.5% in the 1950s, 7.9% in the 1960s and 21.7% in the 1970s, a sum of 51.5% before 1980. The 1970s row is 9,879 units, the largest single decade in the Valley. The Spokane Valley page reads that table in terms of the projects it produces.

The Notice of Intent fee ladder

Spokane Clean Air's Notice of Intent is required when 10 or more linear feet or 48 or more square feet of asbestos will be removed per structure, per calendar year, and for demolition of any structure with a projected roof area greater than 120 square feet. The fee follows the quantity in the survey, in five rungs, from no notification for the smallest jobs to $1,250+ for the largest. The resident owner of an owner-occupied single-family residence files no NOI.

Two smaller numbers ride alongside. Paying online through the agency's portal adds a non-refundable convenience fee, currently 2.5% or a $2.00 minimum. The City of Spokane's demolition permit, which requires the SRCAA NOI number before issuance, costs $35.00 per structure for single-family or duplex, plus a $6.50 State Building Code Fee and a $25.00 Processing Fee; multi-family is $35.00 per 1,000 square feet with a $25.00 state fee and $25.00 processing.

The provider landscape, by category

Spokane Clean Air maintains a list of asbestos service providers for the county. As of 2 Sep 2026 it carried 39 survey providers, 9 removal (abatement) companies, 11 training providers, 13 alternate-work-plan providers, 20 demolition contractors and 6 testing laboratories, one laboratory in Spokane Valley. The agency's disclaimer: "By appearing or not appearing on this list, companies are in no way recommended by Spokane Clean Air." This site repeats the counts and the disclaimer and names no companies.

The shape of the list fits the rule. Every contractor job needs a survey; only jobs where the survey finds asbestos above the thresholds need a removal crew and an NOI. Removal companies' workers and supervisors hold Washington L&I certification -- a 32-hour worker course with a 70% exam and an annual 8-hour refresher; a 40-hour supervisor course plus 1600 hours of qualifying work -- and their Contractor Registration can be checked with L&I's Verify a Contractor tool.

The fires, and what the county requires

The Spokane Complex Fires -- Old Trails, Autumn Lane and Fairview -- broke out on Saturday, 2 Aug 2026. As of the night of 5 Aug they were burning a combined 10,436 acres, and fire officials estimated at least 846 structures had burned. The City of Spokane issued its first rebuild permit on 27 Aug 2026. The city's sequence: hazardous material removal through EPA at no cost, then an asbestos survey and Notice of Intent to Spokane Clean Air before demolition, then a demolition permit at a reduced $35 fee with processing and technology fees waived, then reconstruction.

Spokane County's fire debris page sets where the material goes. Hazardous waste, such as asbestos-containing material or lead, can be present and requires special handling and proper disposal. The transfer stations cannot accept any demolition building materials from the fires without a clean asbestos test. The North County and Valley Transfer Stations accept recognizable, not ash-coated, fire debris; the Graham Road Landfill is the destination for ash and demolition debris; and the City's Waste to Energy Facility at 2900 S. Geiger Blvd. accepts recognizable, ash-free fire-damaged materials if accompanied by an asbestos survey. The county advises hiring a certified cleanup contractor first.

Sources & Methodology

Every figure above was taken from the primary sources below (accessed 2026-07-25). Where a number is derived (arithmetic on published figures) or covers a broader period or area, the text says so.

1. Point2Homes -- Spokane, WA demographics (ACS 2019-2023 five-year estimates) — City housing units, tenure and year-built rows; 68.3% before 1980 is their sum. The publisher's Spokane County page supplies the county rows.
2. Point2Homes -- Spokane Valley, WA demographics — Population, housing units, tenure and year-built shares; 51.5% before 1980 is the sum of the published rows.
3. Spokane Clean Air asbestos renovation and demolition requirements guidesheet (City of Spokane copy) — Renovation and demolition definitions, the AHERA inspector requirement, the owner-occupied exemption and the NOI fee ladder.
4. Spokane Clean Air -- 2025 by the numbers — 43 asbestos-related project sites visited by compliance staff in 2025.
5. Spokane Clean Air -- asbestos service providers — Provider counts by category as of 2 Sep 2026, and the disclaimer quoted in section 4.
6. Spokane County -- fire debris disposal — Transfer station, landfill and asbestos-test rules for debris from the Spokane Complex fires.
7. The Spokesman-Review, 5 Aug 2026 -- Spokane Complex fires containment report — The three fires, the 2 Aug start, the 846-structure estimate and the 10,436-acre figure.