Bellingham, WA
Bellingham, WA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Bellingham, WA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Bellingham ranks 117th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 73rd for income. A household earns $86,162 a year while median rent runs $1,569/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 3% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is air quality (15th of 300), while home prices is the soft spot (279th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 225th and home prices 279th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Bellingham, your take-home is worth about $59,335 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it less than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 73rd of 300↑24.2%$86,162
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 262nd of 300103 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $83,382
- Per-capita income
- $46,500
- Full-time pay
- $46,068
Housing
- Median rent
- 225th of 300↑38.4%$1,569/mo
- Home value
- 279th of 300↑57.6%$627,800
- Property tax
- $4,413/yr · 0.7%
- Sales tax
- 9.43%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 129th of 3004.2%
- Bachelor's+
- 60th of 30042%
- Avg commute
- 30th of 30020.6 min
People
- Population
- 234,954
- Population change
- +2.5%
- Median age
- 38.9 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 11.3%
- Broadband
- 95.1%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 15th of 30033
- Natural-hazard loss
- 196th of 300$15/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 39th of 30015.9%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 8%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Household income
- + Education
- + Commute
- + Air quality
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — darrington 21 nne.
What jobs pay in Bellingham
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- IT managers
- $169,640
- Financial managers
- $158,960
- Pharmacists
- $156,490
- Lawyers
- $131,480
- Software developers
- $128,250
- General & operations managers
- $125,840
- Civil engineers
- $107,790
- Plumbers
- $102,750
- Secondary school teachers
- $102,160
- Police officers
- $101,810
- Elementary school teachers
- $101,230
- Electricians
- $97,590
- Accountants & auditors
- $85,450
- Carpenters
- $73,260
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $61,890
- Construction laborers
- $58,360
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $58,090
- Waiters & waitresses
- $56,700
- Customer service reps
- $46,940
- Janitors
- $43,560
- Retail salespersons
- $37,840
- Cashiers
- $37,250
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Bellingham metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Washington are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- California1,314
- Oregon680
- Idaho488
- Texas461
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Bellingham
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Bellingham metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Bellingham metro?
- Median gross rent across the Bellingham, WA Metro Area is $1,569 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Bellingham.
- What is the median household income in the Bellingham metro?
- A typical household in the Bellingham, WA Metro Area earns $86,162 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Bellingham expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Bellingham, WA Metro Area runs about 3% above the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are higher than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Bellingham metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $83,382 (versus its face value of $86,162). CityLedger rates the Bellingham, WA Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Bellingham metro?
- The median home value across the Bellingham, WA Metro Area is $627,800 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Bellingham metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Bellingham, WA Metro Area is 4.2% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).