What salary do you need to live in Seattle, WA?

The cost side of living in Seattle

Renters in Seattle pay a median $2,080 a month for two bedrooms. Size matters: one bedroom is $1,771, three bedrooms $2,444, so going from the smallest to the largest of the three adds $8,076 a year.

Homeowners in Seattle report a median home value of $717,500. Local median household income is $115,177, so the median home is 6.2× a typical income — high enough that ownership weighs heavily in the score unless income is well above the median.

Price levels matter beyond rent. The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures Seattle's overall prices at 111.1 on a scale where the nation is 100, which makes a $100,000 salary feel like about $89,982 would elsewhere.

Income needed for each grade in Seattle

With a two-bedroom at the median rent, the score enters Tight at $108,000, Okay at $217,000 and Comfortable at $436,000 a year before tax. At the Comfortable line, a year of rent takes 6% of income and the median home is 1.6× income.

No salary reaches Royal in Seattle: a fifth of the score reflects local prices rather than income, and with a parity of 111.1 the ceiling is 83 points, below the Royal cutoff of 85.

Nothing here is a separate rule of thumb; plug any of these incomes into the calculator with two bedrooms and Seattle shows the matching grade.

Four salaries, three home sizes in Seattle

Choosing a bigger place in Seattle at $75,000 trims the score from 17 to 12 without leaving Stretched.

None of the four salaries reaches Comfortable for two bedrooms; even $150,000 scores 35, Tight, which fits the $436,000 line above.

Where Seattle falls nationally

On price level Seattle is 7th of 387 (1 = most expensive); on two-bedroom rent it is 14th, and on median home value 15th. The two rankings agree, both falling among the priciest tenth.

Next to Seattle on the national rent ranking: Urban Honolulu, HI ($2,086) and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV ($2,054).

Seattle vs. the rest of Washington

How Seattle stacks up against its state: $2,080 for a two-bedroom against Washington's $1,756, $717,500 for the median home against $564,600, and a price level of 111.1 against 107.0.

On statewide medians, a two-bedroom budget reaches Comfortable at $324,000 — below Seattle's $436,000 line.

If Seattle is on your list, Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA, Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA, and Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA are the most similar Washington metros by two-bedroom rent and price level; the table shows where each turns Comfortable.

Seattle's median income on the scale

What about a typical local household? Census puts median household income here at $115,177, which grades Tight (27) for a two-bedroom at the median rent. That falls $320,823 short of the $436,000 Comfortable line, a reminder that the typical household here spends a larger share on housing than the Comfortable band allows. Statewide, the Washington median household ($98,141) grades Tight on the state's own medians. Keep in mind a household median often combines two incomes.

These are pre-tax estimates from public statistics, not financial advice.