This evening, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced plans to build a temple in Marysville, Washington in a devotional with the Marysville Washington Stake. The announcement was shared by Hugo E. Martinez of the United States West Area Presidency. The new temple will likely service approximately eight stakes between Seattle, Washington, and the Canadian border. The new temple is the Church's seventh temple to be built in Washington State following temples in Seattle (dedicated in 1980), Spokane (dedicated in 1999), Columbia River (Richland; dedicated in 2000), Moses Lake (2023), Tacoma (announced in 2022); and Vancouver (announced in 2023; under construction). I had included a potential temple in this general area on my temple prediction map, although I identified Arlington as a more likely candidate. Stakes that are likely to be assigned to the new temple in Marysville are currently part of the Seattle Washington Temple district, which has 31 stakes. This ranks as the 13th-largest temple district in the United States (tied with the Portland Oregon Temple and the Provo City Center Temple). The Church in Washington State has experienced stagnant growth or slight decline in recent years. There were 278,576 members, 473 congregations (425 wards, 48 branches), and 62 stakes as of year-end 2025. In contrast, there were 289,479 members, 544 congregations (476 wards, 68 branches), and 62 stakes as of year-end 2019. This represents a net decline of over 10,000 members and more than 70 congregations, while the number of stakes has remained unchanged. More information on Church statistics for Washington State can be found here. This announcement appears to be part of a broader pattern in which temple construction is increasingly driven by accessibility considerations rather than membership or congregational growth, particularly in developed regions with mature Church infrastructure. This reflects a broader trend in North America and Europe where temple growth continues even in areas with stagnant or declining membership, suggesting a strategic emphasis on member experience and temple access rather than expansion of the Church’s footprint.
With this announcement, there are now 384 temples that are planned or dedicated worldwide. The temple most recently announced prior to today's announcement was the Portland Maine Temple, which was announced in December of 2025.
4 comments:
This is so very exciting! I attended the Seattle Temple a little more than 2 years ago after visiting a friend. It was packed and that was on a weekday in the middle of the day. I couldn't do an endowment as it was a full session. I did initiatories and they were super busy the whole time.
Well, this is exciting news! And I do like the temple announcements occurring in meetings among local people that will be affected by that temple. Thank you for sharing this Matt.
I was honestly expecting the announcement to be for Everett Washington since the mission is located in that area, but no matter what, I am excited for the Saints in the Northern Seattle and Washington area.
Yep, future growth doesn't seem to be the sole determinant factor in temple announcements any more. It is getting the amount of members that are a certain distance from a temple higher. There may very well be declining areas that still have a significant amount of members that have to travel further than desired to attend the temple.
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