Mill Creek Town Center is the city’s pedestrian-oriented mixed-use center, with shop-lined streets and offices overlooking public plazas, and the North Creek Trail has entrances along Main Street. The city grew from a 1970s planned community along State Route 527, the Bothell-Everett Highway, and voted to incorporate in 1983. OFM’s April 1, 2026 estimate counts 21,630 residents, up from 20,926 in the 2020 Census. Buyers here find a town center, creekside trails, a set of city parks and two Swift bus rapid transit lines.
Town Center
The city’s 2022 history panels say Mill Creek designated Town Center as a mixed-use center in 1992, with input from residents. Development started in 2002, and the first building, Park Place Center, opened in 2004. The panels describe shop-lined streets, offices overlooking public plazas, a pedestrian-oriented streetscape and conservation easements that help protect the North Creek watershed.
Each July brings the Mill Creek Festival, run by the Mill Creek Chamber of Commerce. The 2026 festival, its 25th anniversary, was held July 11–12.
Parks and the North Creek Trail
As of October 2026, the city lists 11 city parks, along with many neighborhood parks and nature trails. The city describes the North Creek Trail as running along the North Creek Greenway from McCollum Park to the southern city limits, with entrances along Main Street. It has a nature trail, a bike path, benches and picnic tables, and it is open sunrise to sunset. Mill Creek Sports Park on North Creek Drive, dedicated in 2004, has baseball, softball and soccer fields under lights, a lighted skate park and a tot playground.
From golf-course plan to city
HistoryLink writes that logging and shingle mills, then farms and a lakeside resort or two, once stood on this land. A highway between Bothell and Everett was built through the area in the 1910s and later became SR 527. In January 1974 a joint venture called United Development announced a 1,100-acre community with a golf course and country club. The community was first called Klahanie and renamed Mill Creek about a year later. Families began moving in during 1976, the year an 18-hole golf course, six tennis courts and a 19,000-square-foot clubhouse opened.
Residents voted 453 to 324 to incorporate, and the city incorporated on September 30, 1983. One council race ended in a tie and was settled by a coin toss.
Getting around
Two Swift bus rapid transit lines serve Mill Creek as of October 2026, and Community Transit says they arrive every 10 to 20 minutes. The Swift Green Line runs between Seaway Transit Center near Boeing-Everett and Canyon Park in Bothell, with stations on the Bothell-Everett Highway in Mill Creek. The Swift Orange Line runs between McCollum Park Park & Ride in Mill Creek and Edmonds College in Lynnwood. Community Transit lists a connection to Link light rail at Lynnwood City Center Station. Local routes run to Bothell, Lynnwood, Mays Pond and Silver Firs. Drive times are traffic-dependent.
Living here
Mill Creek has a town center first planned in 1992, a trail that starts at McCollum Park, 11 city parks, and two Swift lines on the Bothell-Everett Highway. If you’re weighing a home near Town Center against one in Everett or Bothell, or planning to sell in Mill Creek, Chase Hedin, Managing Broker, can help you think it through. Start a conversation · What’s my home worth?