Here’s a fund fact. According to a recent report from financial data site GoBankingRates, those in Seattle who make at least $186,063 per year are among the city’s top 20% of income earners. Or, as the site likes to call it: “rich.” 💵
That number puts Seattle at No. 4 in the US for such a high wealth threshold, behind only Washington, DC, San Jose + San Francisco.
Still, you may be saying, “$186,063 is rich-ish, but it’s not like ‘Jeff Bezos going to space’ rich.” Does a six-figure salary really go as far as it used to?
Well, let’s crunch some more numbers. 📈
- While the median US income is $67,463, Seattle’s median income crossed the $100,000 mark in 2019, becoming the third city to do so. And average tech salaries are the second-highest in the country.
- But wealth doesn’t reach all: a quarter of Seattle households made less than $50,000 as of 2020, with large gaps divided by race.
- Seattle’s cost of living is 49% higher than the national average, since just about everything — from olive oil to haircuts — is more expensive here than anywhere else in the US.
- One financial blog recently estimated that households in coastal metropolitan areas would need to make at least $300,000 to live a “middle-class lifestyle,” taking childcare costs + sky-high mortgages into account.
- Housing prices in Seattle are more than 94 percent higher than the national average, per Payscale.
That last stat will likely surprise no one who has shopped for a home in Seattle of late, or seen what other money-related lists the area topped this year. Several of the priciest zip codes in the country are in King County, and Seattle is the 14th most expensive city to rent in.
So, yeah, “rich” may be all relative. But Seattlites aren’t Scrooges either. We also ranked No. 2 on Lawnstarter’s list of most generous cities in America. ❤️