Federal Way is a larger medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Washington. With a population of 97,863 people and 22 associated neighborhoods, Federal Way is the tenth largest community in Washington.

Housing costs in Federal Way are among some of the highest in the nation, although real estate prices here don't compare to real estate prices in the most expensive communities in Washington.

Also of interest is that Federal Way has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 10.86% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

One of the nice things about Federal Way is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.

One downside of living in Federal Way, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 33.18 minutes every day commuting to work. However, local public transit is widely used. For those who would prefer to avoid driving entirely and leave their car at home, it may be an option to use the transit instead.

Although the majority of commuting trips in the city are by private automobile, Federal Way is somewhat unusual for a city of its size for having a substantial number of people who use public transportation. For a lot of people, the bus helps to get to and from their jobs every morning, which benefits everyone in the Federal Way area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.

In terms of college education, Federal Way is substantially better educated than the typical community in the nation, which has 21.84% of the adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree: 30.63% of adults in Federal Way have a college degree.

The per capita income in Federal Way in 2018 was $37,674, which is middle income relative to Washington, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $150,696 for a family of four. However, Federal Way contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Federal Way is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Federal Way home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Federal Way residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Federal Way also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 18.39% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Federal Way include German, English, Irish, Norwegian, and European.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Federal Way's cultural character, accounting for 27.67% of the city’s population.

The most common language spoken in Federal Way is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Korean.