Kent, WA Development Impact Fees (2026)

What a single-family home pays in Kent

$8,570 total per unit across 3 fee categories. Fees charged per square foot assume a 2,500 sq ft home.

At $8,570, Kent is below the Washington tracked median of $19,206 — relatively affordable to build in.

Full fee schedule — single-family

Full fee schedule — multifamily

Coverage & caveats

Kent levies four RCW 82.02 impact fees, codified in Kent City Code Title 12: school (12.13), transportation (12.14), fire (12.15), and parks (12.16). VERIFIED WITH EXACT FIGURES: (1) TRANSPORTATION — official City of Kent "Traffic Impact Fees" schedule effective 1/1/25-12/31/25 (3-zone system). Single-family detached = $6,109.26 citywide (PRIMARY); Downtown $5,008.94 and Midway $5,396.01 are mutually-exclusive geographic variants (excluded from total). Multifamily/townhome tiers by stories ($2,221.54-$3,455.75/unit), 2nd+ADU $3,054.63 (no TIF on 1st ADU). Rates are 55% of the maximum calculated rate (per Ord. 4403). (2) FIRE — KCC 12.15.130 (Revised 1/26, Ord. 4527 § 2, eff. 11-18-25): assessed PER SQUARE FOOT of building, NOT per unit: single-family $1.07/sf, multifamily $2.42/sf. A representative 2,300 sf single-family detached home = $2,461 (included as derived per-DU primary). Per RCW 82.02.100(2)/KCC 12.15.040(B), single-family with automatic fire sprinklers pays a reduced fee = 70% of the impact fee (i.e., 30% off); subsequent ADUs (after the first) are charged 50% of the SF fee per 12.15.040(A)(11). (3) SCHOOL — KCC 12.13.160 (Revised 2/25): the adopted fee is $0 for ALL three districts serving Kent (Kent SD #415, Federal Way #210, Highline #401), for single-family, multifamily, and multifamily studio. Statutory max cap for 2026 is $11,093 SF / $11,998 MF (KCC 12.13.170), but the actual collected fee is $0. (4) SEWER CAPACITY CHARGE — a regional King County charge (NOT a Kent fee) that a Kent builder connecting to the King County-served sewer system must pay: $77.99 per residential customer equivalent (RCE) per month for 2026 connections, billed quarterly for 15 years. Single-family medium home (1,500-2,999 sf) = 1.0 RCE = $77.99/mo; large (3,000+ sf) = 1.16 RCE = $90.47/mo; small (<1,500 sf) = 0.81 RCE = $63.17/mo; 5+ unit multifamily = 0.63 RCE/unit = $49.13/unit/mo; ADU = 0.59 RCE = $46.01/mo. CATEGORIES THAT DO NOT EXIST IN KENT: no police impact fee, no library impact fee, no drainage/stormwater impact fee, no general/capital-facilities impact fee, no open-space or affordable-housing impact fee. PARK impact fee — Kent DID adopt a park impact fee (KCC 12.16, Ord. 4398, eff. 3-16-21, based on the Jan-2021 City of Kent Park Impact Fee Study, CPI-escalated annually). It IS in effect and collected per dwelling unit, but the current dollar schedule (Exhibit 2 to the ordinance, as annually CPI-adjusted) is NOT published online — confirmed: the code text (KCC 12.16) references the dollar schedule only as the unpublished Exhibit 2, so NO park dollar amount is reported (no fabricated figure). Confirm current park impact fee with Kent Parks/ECD (253-856-5454). WATER/SEWER CONNECTION (local): Kent does not publish a flat water/sewer system development charge; local connection costs are actual-cost permit/inspection fees via Development Engineering, so omitted. codepublishing.com and kentwa.gov block plain HTTP clients (Akamai/403); the transportation PDF was verified via full text extraction through a rendering proxy and the codepublishing chapters were read via authenticated browser session. VERIFY: confirmed 15 of 15 rows; dropped 0; no park dollar figure was claimed (correctly omitted). excludeFromTotal corrections: none — all flags were already correct (Downtown/Midway geographic variants, non-representative MF story tiers, 2nd+ADU, the per-sqft fire duplicate, the duplicate MF school $0 row, and the per-unit regional sewer row are all properly excluded; representative per-DU primaries are SF transportation $6,109.26 + derived fire $2,461 + school $0, plus the regional recurring sewer charge — no double-counting).

Transportation figures are the exact official City of Kent 2025 schedule (verified against the city's own PDF via full-text extraction). Fire fee is per-square-foot of building area, not per dwelling unit; the per-DU fire row is derived for a representative 2,300 sf SFD (2,300 x $1.07 = $2,461). School fee is currently $0. Park impact fee exists and is collected but its current dollar amount is not publicly posted (lives in unpublished Exhibit 2) and is therefore not quantified. King County sewer capacity charge is a regional, recurring 15-year monthly charge, not a one-time City of Kent connection fee.

Sources

9 official sources · 14 high-confidence figures.

Kent impact fees — FAQ

How much are development impact fees in Kent, WA for a single-family home?

As of 2026-06-17, total development fees for a single-family detached home in Kent are about $8,570 per unit — roughly $8,570 in impact/development fees plus $0 in water/sewer connection fees. Figures are normalized from official sources; verify with the jurisdiction before relying on them.

What are the impact fees per multifamily unit in Kent, WA?

Total development fees for a multifamily unit in Kent are about $5,876 per unit as of 2026-06-17.

Are impact fees in Kent the same as building permit fees?

No. Impact fees (and water/sewer connection fees) fund off-site capital — roads, parks, schools, utilities — and are charged per new dwelling unit. Building permit and plan-review fees are separate and are not included here.

How often do Kent's impact fees change?

Most jurisdictions adopt fees by ordinance and escalate them annually (often by a construction cost index), with occasional mid-year updates. Always confirm the current adopted schedule with the jurisdiction. ImpactFeeAtlas last verified Kent on 2026-06-17.