Covington led the pack in retail growth from 2005 to 2010 according to the 2011 Washington State Retail Survey.

During that period the city experienced a 13.8 percent annual growth in its retail core, putting it at the top of a list of 50 major cities in the state, with Marysville in second place at 12.8 percent while Seattle saw a growth of 1.9 percent and was No. 16 on the list. Bellevue, meanwhile, saw a drop in its annual growth during that same period of negative 0.2 percent.

“I think it solidifies our emergence as a major retail center in Washington,” City Manager Derek Matheson wrote in an email. “We’ll use the information in our economic development marketing materials and at events, meetings, phone calls, and so forth where we work to recruit quality developers and retailers to our city.”

To be included in the list, according to information provided by the organization that prepared the data, cities had to be among the 50 largest local markets based on annual retail sales.

The top 50 retail markets generated $41.6 billion in annual sales, about 75 percent of the total cash brought into Washington state.

For more information, log on to washingtonstateretailsurvey.com.