Together with the Twana and Suquamish, they numbered about 1,000 in 1780. They were speakers of a dialect continuum in the Salishan language family known as Lushootseed. These were known as the S'hotl-Ma-Mish ( Carr Inlet), Noo-Seh-Chatl ( Henderson Inlet), Steh-Chass ( Budd Inlet, around modern-day Olympia), Squi-Aitl ( Eld Inlet), T'Peeksin ( Totten Inlet), Sa-Heh-Wa-Mish ( Hammersley Inlet), and Squaksin ( Case Inlet which gave the reservation its name). The Coast Salish clans that became the Squaxin Island Tribe were historically settled along the seven inlets of the South Puget Sound. Total tribal membership was at 1,022 as of 2010. Tribal members no longer reside on Squaxin Island itself, but 509 residents live on other Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land.

Today, the reservation also includes several small parcels in the nearby area. The Reservation was created in 1854 by the Treaty of Medicine Creek, comprising the entirety of Squaxin Island. Historically, the ancestors of the Squaxin Island Tribe inhabited several inlets of the South Puget Sound.

The Squaxin Island Tribe are the descendants of several Lushootseed clans organized under the Squaxin Island Indian Reservation, a Native American tribal government in western Washington state.

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