Compare legal limits, fees and the true cost of small loans in your state before you talk to any lender. Compare legal limits, fees and the true cost of small loans in your state.
Pawn Shops vs Payday Loans in Washington
141 pawn shops in 46 cities and towns across Washington. Pick a city for the full list with addresses and phone numbers, or scroll down for the smaller towns.
Washington has about 7,740,873 residents, so that's 1.8 pawn shops per 100,000 people (U.S.: 2.7). For comparison, there are 1.0 payday, installment and title loan stores per 100,000 people in Washington.
- Pawn shops
- 141
- Cities & towns
- 46
- Pawn shops per 100k
- 1.8
- Loan stores
- 81
- List a phone
- 98.6%
- Have a website
- 87.9%
Pawn shops vs payday loan stores in Washington
Washington has 141 pawn shops and 81 payday, installment and title loan stores.
Pawn shops
141
1.8 per 100k residents
Payday & loan stores
81
1.0 per 100k residents
6 store chains
Biggest loan store chains in Washington: OneMain Financial (30), Moneytree (20), Lendmark Financial Services (13), loanDepot (10), Mariner Finance (7).
Borrowing $500 for one month: payday vs pawn vs credit union
| Option | How it works | Cost for one month |
|---|---|---|
| Payday loan (~390% APR) | $75.00 fee every 2 weeks, renewed once | $150.00 |
| Pawn loan (example: 20% a month) | You leave an item worth more than the loan; repay to get it back | $100.00 |
| Credit union PAL (28% APR + $20 fee) | Repaid in installments; membership required | $31.67 |
- Payday cost, share of monthly household income in Washington
- 1.8%
- Pawn cost, share of monthly household income in Washington
- 1.2%
- A $400 emergency equals
- 1.4 days of income
Payday: a typical fee of $75 on a $500 loan for 2 weeks, paid twice for a one-month loan (Washington payday rules are not set in dollars or payday loans are not allowed). Pawn: an example rate of 20% a month; pawn fees and interest are set by Washington law and vary by shop — ask for the total in writing. PAL: payday alternative loan from a federal credit union, capped at 28% APR plus an application fee of up to $20.
Pawn loan vs payday loan: the key differences
| Pawn loan | Payday loan in WA | |
|---|---|---|
| What you need | An item of value (jewelry, gold, electronics, tools, firearms) and an ID | A bank account, proof of income and an ID |
| Credit check | None | Usually none |
| How much you get | A fraction of the item's resale value | Based on your income, up to the state limit |
| If you can't repay | The shop keeps the item; no collections and no credit damage | Fees pile up with renewals; the debt can go to collections |
| Bank account access | None | Lender can debit your account or cash your check |
| Rules in Washington | Pawnbrokers are licensed and regulated by Washington; fees, terms and holding periods are set by state law | Allowed, up to $700 or 30% of income; typical APR ~390% |
Pawn shops by city in Washington
- Tacoma · 15
- Seattle · 12
- Spokane · 12
- Everett · 7
- Auburn · 6
- Vancouver · 5
- Yakima · 5
- Federal Way · 4
- Lakewood · 4
- Marysville · 4
- Renton · 4
- Bellingham · 3
- Bremerton · 3
- Kennewick · 3
- Kent · 3
- Longview · 3
- Olympia · 3
- Puyallup · 3
- Bellevue · 2
- Bonney Lake · 2
- Lynnwood · 1
- Port Orchard · 1
- Redmond · 1
- Richland · 1
Where pawn shops cluster in Washington
Cities ranked by pawn shops per 100,000 residents, with local median household income and poverty rate. Statewide: 1.8 per 100k, median income $100,769.
| City | Pawn shops | Per 100k people | Median income | Poverty rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Longview | 3 | 5.9 | $64,705 | 14.4% |
| Lakewood | 4 | 5.9 | $73,526 | 12.9% |
| Auburn | 6 | 4.8 | $102,167 | 8.0% |
| Marysville | 4 | 4.7 | $100,550 | 8.5% |
| Tacoma | 15 | 4.3 | $85,294 | 11.4% |
| Everett | 7 | 4.1 | $87,857 | 12.1% |
| Federal Way | 4 | 3.9 | $85,979 | 12.2% |
| Yakima | 5 | 3.7 | $66,183 | 15.4% |
| Bonney Lake | 2 | 3.5 | $129,233 | 3.8% |
| Bremerton | 3 | 3.2 | $86,835 | 10.7% |
| Spokane | 12 | 3.1 | $73,015 | 13.0% |
| Kennewick | 3 | 2.9 | $81,706 | 12.7% |
| Renton | 4 | 2.5 | $111,606 | 7.0% |
| Bellingham | 3 | 2.3 | $75,629 | 15.1% |
| Puyallup | 3 | 1.9 | $104,810 | 7.1% |
Pawn shop chains in Washington
36 of the 141 pawn shops in Washington belong to a big chain; the rest are independent.
- Cash America Pawn 34
- EZPAWN 1
- Pawn Plus 1
Pawn shops in smaller towns of Washington
Other cities and towns in Washington with pawn shops, and the number of shops in each.
- Arlington 1
- Black Diamond 1
- Centralia 1
- Chehalis 1
- Deer Park 1
- East Wenatchee 1
- Kenmore 1
- Kittitas 1
- Lacey 1
- Monroe 1
- Mount Vernon 3
- Moxee 1
- Newport 2
- Port Angeles 3
- Riverside 1
- Sedro Woolley 3
- Sumner 1
- Sunnyside 1
- Toppenish 1
- Walla Walla 3
- Wapato 3
- Wenatchee 2
Pawn shop listings: © Overture Maps Foundation (CDLA-Permissive 2.0), including Foursquare OS Places and © OpenStreetMap contributors; filtered and de-duplicated by us. Population, income and poverty: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey. Call ahead to confirm hours and what a shop buys or lends on.