Seattle Average Income, Population and Demographics

Are you tired of spending 10+ hours searching for demographic and population data for Seattle, Washington? We have all of the data you need by state, county, city, and zip code that will save you many hours of research!

In this article, we'll explore most of the 190+ data points we have for Seattle, covering popular demographics statistics like household income, race, age and gender, educational attainment, poverty, housing, and transportation.

The data on this page is from the 2022 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year survey from the US Census Bureau.

Median Household Income

According to the latest ACS 5-year survey in 2022, the median household income in Seattle is $116,068.00.

The chart below shows the average household income by age in Seattle.

• Under 25
  $50,072.00
• 25 to 44
  $134,974.00
• 45 to 64
  $134,334.00
• 65 and over
  $65,064.00

Average Household Income

A very commonly asked question is "what is the average household income in Seattle, Washington?". The official term for the average household income is the mean household income. The mean household income is the total income of all households divided by the number of households.

The average (or mean) household income in Seattle is $161,694.00.

26.98% of households in Seattle, Washington are classed as high income households (making $200,000+ per year).

Household Income Tiers for Seattle

We can also look at the household income tiers. This lets you see how many households fall into each of the earnings brackets and what percentage that bracket is of the total number of households.

The chart below shows the household income brackets to see which age groups have the highest median income. The actual data is more granular than these brackets, but we've simplified them into bigger categories to make reviewing the data for Seattle, Washington easier to view.

You can purchase the raw data above, which will have the full income tiers with smaller jumps in household income.

• Less than $24,999
  11.59%
• $25,000 to $49,999
  11.05%
• $50,000 to $74,999
  11.81%
• $75,000 to $99,999
  10.06%
• $100,000 to $149,999
  16.53%
• $150,000 to $199,999
  11.98%
• $200,000 or more
  26.98%

Per Capita Income

The per capita income is the average income of all people in Seattle, Washington. This is calculated by dividing the total income of all people in Seattle by the total number of people in Seattle.

It differs from the average or mean household income because it includes all people in Seattle and not just the people who earn an income (i.e. children, retirees, unemployed, etc.).

The per capita income in Seattle, Washington is $77,616.00.

Population in Seattle by Race and Ethnicity

The total population in Seattle is currently 734,603 people.

The race and ethnicity of the population in Seattle can be very important for social research, economics, and marketing to a multi-culturial society.

Whether you want to target products or services to a particular race or ethnicity, or provide housing and new businesses to improve areas with a larger ethnic minority population, this data is very valuable for discovering suitable areas.

The chart below breaks down the population and percentage for each race and ethnicity in Seattle, Washington.

• 2.60% White
  18,900
• 92.50% Black/African American
  679,748
• 61.20% Native
  449,535
• 5.40% Hispanic
  39,517
• 6.60% Asian
  48,754
• 0.40% Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
  2,876
• 0.20% Two or more races
  1,550
• 16.70% Other
  122,860

Population of Seattle by Age and Gender

Another very important demographics statistic for Seattle, Washington is the age and gender of the population. The age and gender of the population can be used to track trends in population growth or decline, and for businesses, the data can be used to identify people important to you and your business need.

In the table below, we show age groups at a 10 year granularity for ease of use. The raw data, which can be purchased above, includes age and gender at a 5 year granularity.

Education Levels

Educational attainment is a very useful statistic that can give insights into other data such as the average household income, unemployment levels, and literacy.

What this means is that it is likely for areas that have higher levels of education to have higher average household incomes, lower unemployment rates, and higher literacy rates.

The chart below shows the educational attainment of the population in Seattle, Washington.

• Master's degree or higher
  28.47%
• Bachelor's degree
  53.80%
• Some college or associate's degree
  5.37%
• High school diploma or equivalent
  11.20%
• Less than high school diploma
  1.16%

Unemployment Rates

The unemployment rate is the percentage of the population that is actively looking for work but is unable to find a job. The unemployment rate is a very important statistic for Seattle because it can show how many people are actively looking for work and how many people are unable to find a job.

Lower levels of unemployment is generally seen as a positive sign for the economy. It also makes the government in Seattle look good because it shows that they are doing a good job of creating jobs, working to capacity, being efficient, and keeping the economy strong.

The unemployment rate is calculated using the total population in Seattle, Washington that are over the age of 16.

The current population in Seattle that are over the age of 16 is 641,230 people.

The unemployment rate in Seattle is 4.20%, which means 19,929 people are unemployed.

Median Age in Seattle

The median age is an interesting metric because it gives us an idea of the age distribution of people in Seattle, Washington. You know when you see a median age that it is the age where half of the population is older and half is younger than it.

For demographic studies, this can be used to infer and compare date to things such as birth rates, the age of parents, and so on.

An increasing median age can be a sign of an aging population, which can be a sign of a declining population. This is because older people tend to have fewer children and die more often than younger people.

The median age in Seattle is 35.4 years old.

We can also look at the median age by gender to compare the see how each group compares to the total median age:

Median age by gender in Seattle

35.4

Total

35.1

Male

35.6

Female

Households and Families

There are a total of 345,246 households in Seattle, and the average household size is 2.05 people.

For families, the total number is 149,134, and the average family size is 2.81 people.

5.00% of those families in Seattle, Washington are living below the poverty line.

The table below shows the poverty thresholds for Seattle in .

Households and Families by Marital Status

There are four types of household and family, as defined by the Census Bureau:

• Married-couple
• Male householder, no spouse present
• Female householder, no spouse present
• Nonfamily household

In the table below, you can see the total households and families in Seattle, Washington for each type, as well as the average sizes.

Housing Data in Seattle

There are total of 372,436 housing units in Seattle, Washington. Of those units, 345,246 (92.70%) are occupied, and 27,190 (7.30%) are vacant.

Rental Rates

Of the 372,436 housing units in Seattle, 187,682 (50.39%) are occupied by renters. The median rent paid by renters is $1,945.00.

Owner occupied housing units make up the remaining 41.21% of housing units, with 153,477 housing units in total.

The table below breaks down how much rent is paid by renters in Seattle, Washington.

• No rent paid
  4,087
• Less than $500
  9,717
• $500 to $999
  8,679
• $1,000 to $1,499
  32,063
• $1,500 to $1,999
  48,779
• $2,000 to $2,499
  39,982
• $2,500 to $2,999
  23,044
• $3,000 or more
  25,418

Property Values

The median value of a property in Seattle is $879,900.00.

The table below breaks down the range of valuations for all properties in Seattle.

• Less than $50,000
  1,028
• $50,000 to $99,999
  636
• $100,000 to $149,999
  489
• $150,000 to $199,999
  267
• $200,000 to $299,999
  1,894
• $300,000 to $499,999
  15,628
• $500,000 to $999,999
  77,736
• $1,000,000 or more
  55,799

Property Age

We can also look at the number of properties built in a given year to see the spread of property age in Seattle, Washington.

• 1939 or earlier
  86,815
• 1940 to 1949
  28,298
• 1950 to 1959
  31,973
• 1960 to 1969
  29,291
• 1970 to 1979
  28,621
• 1980 to 1989
  28,745
• 1990 to 1999
  29,327
• 2000 to 2009
  44,605
• 2010 to 2013
  62,911
• 2014 or later
  1,850

Vehicles Available per Household

Finally, we have data on how many vehicles each household in Seattle has. The table below breaks down the number of vehicles available per household.

• No vehicles available
  65,162
• 1 vehicle available
  152,507
• 2 vehicles available
  93,235
• 3 or more vehicles available
  34,342

Commuting to Work in Seattle

The time and means of commuting to work are useful metrics to look at because they can be correlated against other data such as income and education level.

Does a longer commuting time indicate a higher average income? If so, has the huge increase in home working during the pandemic changed this?

Using these metrics, we can get a better understanding of the demographics of Seattle, Washington, how they commute, and how that correlates to other data points.

The average travel time is 27.2 minutes, and the chart below covers the range of travel times across the population of Seattle.

• Less than 5 minutes
  5,618
• 5 to 9 minutes
  19,449
• 10 to 14 minutes
  33,601
• 15 to 19 minutes
  46,922
• 20 to 24 minutes
  51,480
• 25 to 29 minutes
  27,057
• 30 to 34 minutes
  56,492
• 35 to 39 minutes
  12,641
• 40 to 44 minutes
  18,452
• 45 to 59 minutes
  32,028
• 60 to 89 minutes
  15,383
• 90 or more minutes
  5,017

We can also look at the means of transport in Seattle to see which modes of transport people are using to commute to work.

• Drove alone
  171,426
• Carpooled
  23,459
• Public transportation
  69,441
• Walked
  41,016
• Other means
  18,798
• Worked from home
  120,179

Conclusion

Hopefully this article has given you the demographics data you were looking for in Seattle, Washington.

If you need more demographics data, or you need the data listed above in spreadsheet form with more granular grouping, head back to the top of this page where you can purchase the complete demographics data for Seattle.

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