Overall
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
- 111.1
Diff +2.2 RPP
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria vs Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue is 2.1% more expensive than Washington-Arlington-Alexandria.
2.1% more expensive
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA is 2.1% more expensive than Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 111.1 vs 108.9). A $100,000 salary in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria buys about the same as $102,066 in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 108.9 (Washington-Arlington-Alexandria) vs 111.1 (Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue)
- $100k in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria ≈ $102,066 purchasing power in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
- Services drives the gap (-13.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair DC:WA 108.9→111.1
TIER-NEAR · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-ABOVE · PP-PAR
- TIER-NEAR Near tier
- CROSS-STATE DC × 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
- 104.0
Diff -0.9 RPP
Services
Diff -13.9 RPP
Rents
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
- 151.3
Diff +0.2 RPP
| Category | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 108.9 | 111.1 | +2.2 |
| Goods | 104.8 | 104.0 | -0.9 |
| Services | 106.7 | 92.8 | -13.9 |
| Rents | 151.1 | 151.3 | +0.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria 108.9
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 111.1
Goods
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria 104.8
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 104.0
Services
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria 106.7
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 92.8
Rents
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria 151.1
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 151.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Services creates the largest separation: Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue is 13.9 points lower. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA is 2.1% more expensive than Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, a meaningful but not extreme shift. The move decision turns on which budget category creates the 2.2-point overall gap.
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.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
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 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria to $102,066 in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria
108.9
Cost Index
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
111.1
Cost Index
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria would need to be in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue for the same purchasing power:
| In Washington-Arlington-Alexandria | In Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $51,033 | +$1,033 |
| $75,000 | $76,549 | +$1,549 |
| $100,000 | $102,066 | +$2,066 |
| $150,000 | $153,098 | +$3,098 |
$ in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria = in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (108.9 → 111.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
How the Price Gap Changed
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap narrowed, moving from 5.7 to 2.2 RPP points. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 29.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (29.0 to 0.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria RPP | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 114.8 | 109.1 | 5.7 points Washington-Arlington-Alexandria higher |
| 2012 | 111.7 | 105.3 | 6.4 points Washington-Arlington-Alexandria higher |
| 2016 | 112.1 | 110.2 | 1.9 points Washington-Arlington-Alexandria higher |
| 2020 | 111.4 | 113.0 | 1.6 points Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue higher |
| 2024 | 108.9 | 111.1 | 2.2 points Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue more expensive than Washington-Arlington-Alexandria?
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue is 2.1% more expensive than Washington-Arlington-Alexandria. The overall cost index is 111.1 vs 108.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue equals $100K in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria?
A $100,000 salary in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria has the same purchasing power as $102,066 in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Washington-Arlington-Alexandria and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue?
Rents in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria are indexed at 151.1 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.