Cost of Living inSeattle, WA, United States
Image credit: Cacophony
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). United States: $75,489/capita.
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 11% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Income Category
Happiness
6.7 / 10
#22 globally
GDP per Capita
City Population
Monthly Costs
Rent
Food
Transport
Utilities
Education
Child Education
Public-school quality + expat access, alongside international and private school cost — the two paths a relocating family weighs.
Public schools
Public-schooling rules are set nationally for United States; Seattle, WA-specific enrollment notes are still being verified.
Quality
Mixed public-school option
Expat access
Available to residents
conditionalInstruction
English
Language fit is more manageable.
PISA / outcomes
Qualitative only
Using curated quality notes for now.
Why this quality rating
The United States has many excellent public schools, but quality varies sharply by district and neighborhood.
Why the expat-access rating looks like this
Resident families can use local public schools, but school quality depends heavily on district assignment and housing location.
🗺️ Homeschooling
Varies by stateHomeschooling is legal in all 50 US states but regulations vary dramatically. Some states (TX, AK, ID) have minimal oversight; others (NY, PA, MA) require notification, testing, and curriculum approval. Most worldschooling families establish residency in low-regulation states.
Homeschool legality in United States — check current regulations before committing.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
International & private schools
Childcare & Domestic Help
Current nanny and household-help pricing snapshot for Seattle, WA, United States.
Full-time nanny (5 days)
$3,000-$3,950
monthly · confidence 0.65
Live-in / 24-7 nanny
$3,600-$4,700
monthly · confidence 0.65
Source: curated family relocation research
Getting Around
The concrete mobility picture for Seattle: airport access, urban transit, and rideshare practicality.
Airport
Major multi-airport hub
Washington is served by Reagan National, Dulles, and nearby BWI, giving the metro unusually deep domestic plus practical long-haul air coverage.
Urban transit
Metro, commuter rail, and bus
Metrorail, Metrobus, and commuter rail make car-light family life realistic across much of the core Washington region.
Rideshare
Uber and Lyft available
Ride-hailing is a routine complement to Metro and commuter rail for airport trips and suburb-to-suburb gaps.
Source: User-curated family relocation research (initial seed) (2026-04-14)
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in United States.
Method: country metrics come from public system indicators, facility coverage reflects mapped providers we can inventory, direct pricing only reflects observed self-pay pages, and relative care cost can fall back to broad cost-of-living healthcare indices. Sparse pricing does not imply sparse healthcare availability.
Healthcare system
StrongHigh national coverage, strong doctor availability, and deep nursing capacity support this rating.
Public care
GoodBroad public coverage, relatively low patient cost-sharing, and country-level outcomes are comparatively strong support this rating.
Private care
GoodA meaningful tracked hospital and clinic network and a clearly private facility base help, but self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse.
UHC coverage
88/100
2023
Physicians
3.68/1k
2022
Hospital beds
2.68/1k
2022
Out of pocket
11%
2023
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
78.9 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
17/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
3.7/1k
2024
International patient readiness
MixedA visible private hospital base and multiple facilities have websites help, but price transparency is still sparse.
Pricing transparency
LimitedMultiple facilities have crawlable websites help, but published self-pay prices are scarce.
Facility coverage
Self-pay pricing visibility
No verified self-pay prices are published for the tracked facilities in United States yet.
This usually reflects low online price transparency rather than a lack of healthcare providers.
Notable facilities
System metrics: World Bank WDI · Updated 2026-06-01
Safety & Governance
Street Safety
Source: Numbeo where a city row is matched; otherwise World Bank WGI and country-level safety context.
Political Stability
World Bank WGI scale: -2.5 to +2.5.
Wages by Sector
| Sector | Median |
|---|---|
| Information & Technology | $235,064/yr |
| Finance & Insurance | $187,692/yr |
| Professional & Scientific Services | $181,240/yr |
| Utilities | $174,916/yr |
| Manufacturing | $153,096/yr |
| Transport & Logistics | $144,223/yr |
| Mining & Quarrying | $141,560/yr |
| Healthcare & Social Work | $119,440/yr |
| Real Estate | $118,016/yr |
| Other Services | $116,449/yr |
| Retail & Wholesale Trade | $113,074/yr |
| Education | $113,017/yr |
| Construction | $108,872/yr |
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | $107,975/yr |
| Administrative & Support Services | $99,857/yr |
| Agriculture & Farming | $74,974/yr |
| Hospitality & Food Service | $59,179/yr |
2025 annual wages in Seattle, WA, United States · Source: BLS OEWS (MSA-adjusted)
Price Comparison vs. US
Visa Information (US passport)
Long-Term Visa Programs
investment
US EB-5 Immigrant Investor (Standard)Quick comparison FAQ
Structured from the deltas already shown on this page — no invented facts, no extra data sources.
How far does your money go in Seattle compared with the US?
Your money does not stretch further in Seattle than in the US — Seattle currently looks more expensive than the baseline market on a PPP basis, so the same income buys less day to day.
Is Seattle cheaper or more expensive overall than New York City?
Seattle is cheaper overall than New York City — overall living costs are about 11% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City) for Seattle.
How does rent in Seattle compare with New York City?
Rent in Seattle is about 43% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City).
How expensive are groceries and restaurants in Seattle?
Groceries in Seattle are about 3% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), and restaurant prices are about 12% cheaper than the same benchmark.
About Seattle, WA
Seattle is the largest city in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, sitting on Puget Sound in Washington state with about 781,000 residents in the city and around 4 million in the metro. Its economy anchors on Amazon and Microsoft (in nearby Redmond), Boeing's commercial aviation footprint, and a deep biotech and global health cluster around Fred Hutch and the Gates Foundation. Relocators get a mild marine climate with cool wet winters, dry mild summers, and notoriously gray Octobers through April. Light rail and ferries handle some commuting but car ownership remains common. Housing costs are high though below San Francisco or New York. Strong tech salaries offset cost; weather tolerance is the bigger filter.
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