Cost of Living in Seattle: A Guide for Homebuyers
If you’re considering a move to Seattle, understanding the cost of living in the Emerald City can help you make plans with more confidence.
In this guide, we break down what makes up the cost of living in Seattle, from housing expenses to food and healthcare costs. We’ll provide data from local cost of living index and comparison tools, and take a look at how Seattle ranks for livability compared to other U.S. cities.
We’ll also share a handy set of additional online resources to measure and compare cost of living and expenses in other Washington State communities.
What makes up the ‘cost of living’ in Seattle?
When you’re planning to live in a new city, the cost of living there will be a combination of expenses required to maintain your desired lifestyle. Cambridge Dictionary defines cost of living as “the amount of money that people need to spend in order to buy basic goods or services such as food, clothes, and a place to live.”
This overall cost will vary significantly based on location, even within the state of Washington. But the living expenses you’ll pay for typically include the following categories:
Housing (mortgage/rent)
Energy (utility costs)
Food (groceries)
Transportation (vehicle or transit systems)
Healthcare (doctors, hospitals, dentists, etc.)
However, the costs often extend beyond these basics to cover other expenses, such as:
Clothing
Education
Childcare
Entertainment
These elements, when combined, establish the core costs associated with a particular way of living. However, the standard of living you achieve is largely influenced by your income and debts, and how the dollar amounts compare to the costs of basic needs in the location where you live or, in this case, the Seattle community where you might want to live.
Let’s take a quick look at some ways you can compare the cost of living you have now with what you might experience if you move to Seattle.
What’s a Seattle cost of living index (CLI)?
A cost of living index (CLI) monitors how much these basic expenses go up or down over time in different states, cities, or regions. They provide a way for you to compare the price of maintaining a particular standard of living.
The CLI for a city like Seattle is calculated by assessing the price of essential goods and services, such as housing, food, transportation, and healthcare, in different areas.
A local index is typically standardized, with a base city being assigned a baseline index value (usually set at 100). Other cities are then compared against this benchmark. For example, a Washington State community with a CLI of 125 would signify that living there is 25% more expensive than the base location, while an index of 75 indicates it’s 25% less expensive.
A cost of living index will typically break down and score each basic expense by category. Here are separate scores for Seattle from the AXIOS Seattle Cost of Living Index:
Overall CLI score: 145.7
Housing: 211.6
Healthcare: 139.1
Transportation: 131.8
Misc. goods and services: 120.9
Grocery items: 115.9
Utilities: 101.8
Data source used: C2ER Council for Economic and Social Research
According to AXIOS, Seattle has the ninth-highest cost of living among the 269 U.S. urban areas analyzed (as of Q3 2023).
