Overall
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
- 111.1
Diff -1.4 RPP
New York-Newark-Jersey City vs Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue is 1.3% less expensive than New York-Newark-Jersey City.
1.3% less expensive
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA is 1.3% less expensive than New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 111.1 vs 112.6). A $100,000 salary in New York-Newark-Jersey City buys about the same as $98,730 in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 112.6 (New York-Newark-Jersey City) vs 111.1 (Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue)
- $100k in New York-Newark-Jersey City ≈ $98,730 purchasing power in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
- Services drives the gap (-34.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair NY:WA 112.6→111.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE NY × WA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-ABOVE Both above 100
- PP-PAR PP near-par
Instrument codes from this pair's BEA Regional Price Parities (overall · goods · services · rents · national benchmark 100 · purchasing-power conversion), not a ranking or recommendation.
New York-Newark-Jersey City
112.6
Cost Index
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
111.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.4 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue is 34.2 points lower. But rents move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
Both metros exceed the U.S. benchmark of 100. The choice is between two national premiums, so local wages need to clear the higher baseline in either market.
For a service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in New York-Newark-Jersey City to $98,730 in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
- 104.0
Diff -6.3 RPP
Services
Diff -34.2 RPP
Rents
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
- 151.3
Diff +2.7 RPP
| Category | New York-Newark-Jersey City | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 112.6 | 111.1 | -1.4 |
| Goods | 110.3 | 104.0 | -6.3 |
| Services | 127.0 | 92.8 | -34.2 |
| Rents | 148.6 | 151.3 | +2.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
New York-Newark-Jersey City 112.6
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 111.1
Goods
New York-Newark-Jersey City 110.3
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 104.0
Services
New York-Newark-Jersey City 127.0
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 92.8
Rents
New York-Newark-Jersey City 148.6
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 151.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
New York-Newark-Jersey City and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 4.4 to 1.4 RPP points. New York-Newark-Jersey City remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 30.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (27.5 to 2.7 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | New York-Newark-Jersey City RPP | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 113.5 | 109.1 | 4.4 points New York-Newark-Jersey City higher |
| 2012 | 113.8 | 105.3 | 8.4 points New York-Newark-Jersey City higher |
| 2016 | 113.7 | 110.2 | 3.6 points New York-Newark-Jersey City higher |
| 2020 | 115.6 | 113.0 | 2.5 points New York-Newark-Jersey City higher |
| 2024 | 112.6 | 111.1 | 1.4 points New York-Newark-Jersey City higher |
Annual BEA Regional Price Parity releases; a higher index means a higher price level relative to the national average of 100. Selected years shown from the full shared series.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in New York-Newark-Jersey City would need to be in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue for the same purchasing power:
| In New York-Newark-Jersey City | In Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,365 | $-635 |
| $75,000 | $74,047 | $-953 |
| $100,000 | $98,730 | $-1,270 |
| $150,000 | $148,094 | $-1,906 |
$ in New York-Newark-Jersey City = in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (112.6 → 111.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue more expensive than New York-Newark-Jersey City?
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue is 1.3% less expensive than New York-Newark-Jersey City. The overall cost index is 111.1 vs 112.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue equals $100K in New York-Newark-Jersey City?
A $100,000 salary in New York-Newark-Jersey City has the same purchasing power as $98,730 in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between New York-Newark-Jersey City and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue?
Rents in New York-Newark-Jersey City are indexed at 148.6 while Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue is at 151.3 (national average = 100). Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue has higher rents.
Data sources
- BEA Regional Price Parities (RPP), the cost-of-living indices shown on this page
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS), gross-rent observations behind the rents component
- BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI), goods and services price relatives
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), labor-driven services component
- HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR), 40th-percentile rent cross-reference
Every figure on PlainCost is rendered directly from BEA Regional Price Parity source data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, our changelog, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-08-11. Rankings measure the published cost-of-living index only; we don't recommend where to live or rate any metro's quality of life.