Olympia, WA
Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Olympia ranks 27th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 31st for income. A household earns $98,264 a year while median rent runs $1,829/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 4% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is air quality (10th of 300), while rent is the soft spot (269th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 269th and home prices 265th 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 Olympia, your take-home is worth about $59,143 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
- 31st of 300↑25.2%$98,264
- 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.
- 266th of 300104 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $94,785
- Per-capita income
- $48,675
- Full-time pay
- $56,840
Housing
- Median rent
- 269th of 300↑45.7%$1,829/mo
- Home value
- 265th of 300↑57.8%$525,500
- Property tax
- $4,238/yr · 0.8%
- Sales tax
- 9.43%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 198th of 3004.9%
- Bachelor's+
- 70th of 30040.5%
- Avg commute
- 209th of 30025.9 min
People
- Population
- 302,912
- Population change
- +4.3%
- Median age
- 40.4 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 7.7%
- Broadband
- 95.4%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 10th of 30026
- Natural-hazard loss
- 247th of 300$21/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 34th of 30015.8%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 7.4%
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
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Education
- + Air quality
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Commute
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — olympia ap.
What jobs pay in Olympia
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Pharmacists
- $154,860
- Financial managers
- $142,500
- IT managers
- $140,160
- Lawyers
- $132,900
- Registered nurses
- $125,020
- Software developers
- $124,060
- General & operations managers
- $122,210
- Web developers
- $111,560
- Civil engineers
- $108,240
- Secondary school teachers
- $105,200
- Elementary school teachers
- $104,650
- Police officers
- $99,810
- Electricians
- $96,600
- Accountants & auditors
- $94,470
- Plumbers
- $80,030
- Carpenters
- $63,260
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $63,040
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $58,980
- Construction laborers
- $53,090
- Waiters & waitresses
- $53,000
- Customer service reps
- $49,630
- Janitors
- $44,100
- Retail salespersons
- $37,350
- Cashiers
- $37,340
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 Olympia 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.
- California1,294
- Oregon836
- Georgia669
- Texas658
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Olympia
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Olympia metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Olympia metro?
- Median gross rent across the Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA Metro Area is $1,829 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Olympia.
- What is the median household income in the Olympia metro?
- A typical household in the Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA Metro Area earns $98,264 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Olympia expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA Metro Area runs about 4% 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 Olympia metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $94,785 (versus its face value of $98,264). CityLedger rates the Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Olympia metro?
- The median home value across the Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA Metro Area is $525,500 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Olympia metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA Metro Area is 4.9% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).