Retention Schedules
Scroll down or click the links below to access King County retention schedules.
- General Records Retention Schedule (for all county employees)
- Agency-Specific Records Retention Schedules (for individual county agencies)
General Records Retention Schedule
The General Records Retention Schedule is applicable to all county employees. It provides guidance on the retention of records common to most county agencies. To find information in this schedule, either click column headings to sort by column, use the Search Category and Description box (do not use quotation marks) or the Filter by Function buttons.
Agency-Specific Retention Schedules
To access an agency-specific retention schedule, use the Search and Select an Owner box to search for (or scroll) and select an agency's name. To locate information within an agency schedule, either sort by column headings or Search Category and Description (do not use quotation marks).
Instructions and Help
This page provides interactive records retention schedules for all King County agencies. Information on this page is current and is automatically updated by our records management system (Content Manager) every day. All schedules are based on, and compliant with, Washington State records retention schedules (external link).
How do I locate my agency's retention schedule?
Navigate to the Agency-Specific Retention Schedules and then to the Search and Select an Owner [Organization] box at the top left. In that search box, type your agency's name or acronym (partial searches are ok) and then select the correct organization from the list below. When you have selected an owner/organization name it will turn light blue and its retention schedule will be displayed below.
Instead of searching, you can also use the small scroll bar on the right side of owner search box to scroll to and select an organization. Note that you can also select multiple organizations to see retention schedules for multiple organizations at one time.
How do I locate the retention period for a specific record?
In the Search Category and Description box, type any word or phrase that you know of and that might be in the title, notes or description of the record category. For example, enter budget to find all categories that contain the word budget in the title or descriptions.
Do not use quotation marks when performing searches for phrases. Instead enter phrases without quotation marks.
How can I copy or export information on the page?
1) select a cell or row to copy
2) right click and then select Copy and Copy selection (to copy the entire row) or Copy value (to copy just the cell you had selected)
3) paste in an application of your choice.
To copy multiple rows, press Ctrl while clicking multiple rows to select them, and then copy the selection.
Help! These retention schedules do not work for me. How do I get a retention schedule in a different format?
If the retention schedules provided on this page are not accessible or do not meet your needs, contact records.management@kingcounty.gov to receive a copy of a retention schedule in a different format.
Looking for Records?
King County Archives - historical county records
Recorder's Office - recorded documents
Vital Statistics - birth and death records
Find Public Records - various county records
Public Records Program - submit a public disclosure request
