Seattle, WA
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Seattle ranks 14th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 8th for income. A household earns $112,388 a year while median rent runs $2,050/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 11% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is health (7th of 300), while cost of living is the soft spot (295th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 288th and home prices 287th 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 Seattle, your take-home is worth about $55,171 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
- 8th of 300↑19.5%$112,388
- 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.
- 295th of 300111 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $101,129
- Per-capita income
- $65,496
- Full-time pay
- $65,181
Housing
- Median rent
- 288th of 300↑26.5%$2,050/mo
- Home value
- 287th of 300↑47.7%$743,000
- Property tax
- $6,294/yr · 0.8%
- Sales tax
- 9.43%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 176th of 3004.7%
- Bachelor's+
- 21st of 30048.5%
- Avg commute
- 275th of 30030 min
People
- Population
- 4,145,494
- Population change
- +4.2%
- Median age
- 37.8 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 22.1%
- Broadband
- 95.9%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 162nd of 30047
- Natural-hazard loss
- 246th of 300$21/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 7th of 30013.9%
- 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
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Commute
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — renton muni ap.
What jobs pay in Seattle
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $306,190
- IT managers
- $214,680
- Financial managers
- $185,550
- Software developers
- $167,280
- Lawyers
- $164,980
- Pharmacists
- $162,870
- General & operations managers
- $146,030
- Web developers
- $130,440
- Registered nurses
- $128,260
- Civil engineers
- $116,480
- Police officers
- $115,120
- Elementary school teachers
- $102,920
- Secondary school teachers
- $102,670
- Electricians
- $101,780
- Accountants & auditors
- $99,370
- Plumbers
- $95,230
- Carpenters
- $76,410
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $71,240
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $60,760
- Construction laborers
- $59,740
- Waiters & waitresses
- $57,280
- Customer service reps
- $53,550
- Janitors
- $46,490
- Cashiers
- $44,210
- Retail salespersons
- $42,080
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 Seattle 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.
- California31,986
- Texas10,420
- Oregon7,214
- Arizona5,401
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Seattle
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Seattle metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Seattle metro?
- Median gross rent across the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metro Area is $2,050 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Seattle.
- What is the median household income in the Seattle metro?
- A typical household in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metro Area earns $112,388 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Seattle expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metro Area runs about 11% 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 Seattle metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $101,129 (versus its face value of $112,388). CityLedger rates the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Seattle metro?
- The median home value across the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metro Area is $743,000 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Seattle metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Metro Area is 4.7% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).