Washington is a new town in Sunderland, in the northeast of England. Historically it was part of County Durham. It joined a new county in 1974 with the creation of Tyne and Wear. Washington is an equal distance from the centres of Newcastle upon Tyne, Durham and Sunderland, and it has close ties to all three cities. It was named a new town in 1964. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 67,085. 