Wondering what salary is needed to live comfortably in Seattle?
It really depends on who you ask, since everyone’s lifestyle and definition of “comfortable” is different. There’s no denying that Seattle is an expensive place to live, however. A U.S. News report ranked Seattle as the 13th most expensive place to live in the U.S. in 2023-2024.
We decided to ask our followers: “To live comfortably in Seattle you need to make $____ a year?” We received over 300 comments. Although the suggested salaries ranged from $50,000 to seven figures, the majority responded with at least $100,000—while many said more than $200,000 was required for living “comfortably” in Seattle. Here are just a few of the insights that current Seattleites shared:
- “IN Seattle comfortably? One person: At LEAST $100k, median income is over $120k now.”
- “What’s comfortable? One vacation a year, one bedroom apartment with enough space for a pet, occasional outings with friends, and a car? $125k+ for a single person.”
- “A colleague is in an MFTE apartment because she’s under $73k.”
- “I’m rocking with $50k and a 400 sq. ft. studio so $70k? If I want a bedroom?”
- “At least $400K a year.”
- “Family with kids and a homeowner: $250k.”
- “Over $200k if you have one kid and own a home.”
- “$135k for a single person living alone.”
- “I can live pretty okay on $80k. I wouldn’t mind $100k so I could invest more but I’m not scraping by or anything!”
- “For a couple $150k to afford rent and groceries and the occasional night out comfortably while still being able to save a little.”
- “$130-150k for a single person to live in the city, own a car, save for retirement and maybe shop at Whole Foods and go on a vacation here and there.”
- “$125k if you’re a renter, $200k if you’d like to own property.”
- “At least $100k with reasonable budgeting.”
- “$200,000+ for family of 3 with modest house, modest cars, and a couple nice vacations a year.”
- “$100k, without being a homeowner. If attempting a mortgage at least $120k.”
- “I live comfortably on $85k a year.”
- “$500k min to live on the Eastside.”
- “NOT minimum wage, that’s for sure.”
- “12 bazillion dollars a week. Especially if you want to afford groceries.”
- “More…the answer is more more more.”
- “1 billion Bezos dollars 💵 😂”
Let’s compare public opinion with some hard data. According to MIT’s Living Wage Calculator that was last updated on February 14, 2024, a living wage for a single adult with no children working full-time in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area is $28.70 an hour. That comes to an annual salary of about $57,000 a year. If you’re a single parent supporting one child, that wage jumps to $49.50. For two working adults with one child it’s $26.88; with two children it’s $34.10; and with three children it’s $40.18. Of course, if only one parent is working those numbers become higher.
In January of 2024 the Seattle minimum wage was raised to $19.97 an hour. This made it the highest minimum wage of any major city in the States but if you’re going by the MIT Living Wage calculator it’s still not enough to be considered a living wage in Seattle. So the commenter who pointed out that the salary to live comfortably in Seattle is not minimum wage was, in fact, correct.
Curious about what the average income actually is in Seattle these days? Using data from employer job postings and third party data sources, ZipRecruiter estimated the current average annual salary in Seattle to be $76,000 (or $36.54 an hour). And the estimated median income for Seattle households was $115,400 in 2022 according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
If you’re having a hard time making your salary stretch in Seattle, we got you. Check out our epic list of free things to do in Seattle!