Last updated:
Jobs in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area: pay, hiring and remote work
The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA metro area has 4,540 open job postings from 533 employers in our data. 61.3% list a pay range, the median posted pay is $182,500 a year, 7.9% are remote and 41.8% have been open more than 60 days (data as of October 2026).
What stands out
- A $182,500 posted salary in the Seattle area buys about what $164,000 buys in the average US metro area, because prices here run 11% above the national average.
- After adjusting for local prices, the typical worker's official median wage ($72,500) is worth $65,500 in average-US dollars, 3rd of 99 metro areas.
- Housing costs run 51% above the US average here (BEA regional price parities).
- 61.3% of open job postings list a pay range, 6th of 99 metro areas.
- 41.8% of open postings have been listed for more than 60 days (median 44 days), 5th highest of 99 metro areas.
The metro area's unemployment rate was 4.8% in 2026-08 (4.8% a year earlier) (BLS, not seasonally adjusted). Across Washington, employers had 110,000 job openings in 2025-12, an openings rate of 2.9% (BLS JOLTS). Indeed's own measure of job postings in the metro area is 32.4% below its February 2020 level and 5.6% higher than a year ago (Indeed Hiring Lab, 2026-10-02).
City by city inside the metro area
| Place | Postings | Employers | Pay listed | Median posted pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle, WA | 2403 | 379 | 75.2% | $188,000 |
| Bellevue, WA | 575 | 84 | 73.1% | $195,500 |
| Redmond, WA | 489 | 29 | 6.7% | $115,000 |
| Kent, WA | 159 | 22 | 71.8% | $155,000 |
| Everett, WA | 124 | 29 | 70.5% | $177,500 |
| Kirkland, WA | 115 | 21 | 44.1% | $160,500 |
| Woodinville, WA | 110 | 12 | 24.8% | $144,500 |
| Tacoma, WA | 93 | 45 | 33.8% | $86,000 |
| Bothell, WA | 85 | 13 | 54.3% | $188,000 |
| Renton, WA | 63 | 14 | 60.7% | $179,500 |
| Auburn, WA | 57 | 14 | 22.4% | – |
| Tukwila, WA | 50 | 13 | 64% | – |
| Lynnwood, WA | 44 | 14 | 45.5% | – |
| Federal Way, WA | 37 | 17 | n/a | – |
| Marysville, WA | 26 | 6 | n/a | – |
| Issaquah, WA | 20 | 5 | 70% | – |
| Puyallup, WA | 20 | 10 | 64.3% | – |
| Mukilteo, WA | 16 | 6 | n/a | – |
Places with at least 15 postings from 3 employers. Shading shows where median posted pay is higher. Pay figures need 8 postings with pay.
City pages: Seattle.
Posted pay vs official wages
| Kind of job | Median posted pay | Closest official occupation | Official median wage (BLS, May 2025) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software developers | $210,000 403 postings | software developers | $167,500 |
| People and recruiting | $150,000 37 postings | human resources specialists | $93,000 |
| Data scientists | $228,000 22 postings | data scientists | $164,500 |
Official wages are the Bureau of Labor Statistics median annual wage for all workers in that occupation in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA metro area. Posted pay is the middle of the ranges in open postings, so the two measure different things: pay for open jobs versus pay for everyone already employed.
Posted pay by kind of job
| Kind of job | Median posted pay | Postings with pay |
|---|---|---|
| Data scientists | $228,000 | 22 |
| Software developers | $210,000 | 403 |
| Security and IT | $203,500 | 111 |
| Legal and compliance | $200,000 | 65 |
| Software engineering | $200,000 | 146 |
| Product and design | $190,000 | 129 |
| Marketing | $176,500 | 85 |
| Finance and accounting | $176,000 | 53 |
| Customer support and success | $173,000 | 36 |
| Nursing and clinical care | $165,500 | 32 |
| Engineering (other) | $160,000 | 99 |
| Data and analytics | $152,500 | 25 |
| People and recruiting | $150,000 | 37 |
| Operations and logistics | $141,500 | 108 |
| Sales | $130,000 | 166 |
Who is hiring, by industry
| Industry | Postings |
|---|---|
| Software & Technology | 1487 |
| Energy & Utilities | 581 |
| Healthcare & Life Sciences | 439 |
| Financial Services | 334 |
| Manufacturing & Industrial | 276 |
| Retail & E-commerce | 273 |
| Real Estate & Construction | 260 |
| Other | 250 |
| Consulting & Professional Services | 206 |
| Logistics & Transportation | 192 |
| Media & Entertainment | 126 |
| Education | 64 |
| Government & Nonprofit | 43 |
Employers with the most openings
- Spacex: 467 postings
- Anthropic: 183 postings
- Coreweave: 146 postings
- Shieldai: 137 postings
- DoorDash USA: 134 postings
Federal government hiring
461 federal job announcements open to the public list Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA, with a median posted salary range midpoint of $93,500. Agencies hiring most: Department of the Air Force Headquarters (117), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (36), Department of the Navy Headquarters (30), Military Treatment Facilities under DHA (27), Indian Health Service (23). Source: USAJOBS, 2026-10-10.
What your paycheck buys here
Prices in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area run 11% above the national average, and housing runs 51% above it. The official median wage for all jobs is $72,500, which is worth $65,500 in average-US dollars. The median posted pay of $182,500 is worth $164,000.
How it compares with similar-sized metro areas
| Metro area | Pay listed | Posted pay | Official wage | Prices | Paycheck power |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle | 61.3% | $182,500 | $72,500 | 111.1 | $65,500 |
| Minneapolis | 37.4% | $110,000 | $59,500 | 104.8 | $56,500 |
| Detroit | 19.1% | $145,000 | $52,000 | 100.3 | $52,000 |
| San Francisco | 73.7% | $205,000 | $74,500 | 115.6 | $64,000 |
| Phoenix | 20.5% | $117,500 | $51,500 | 103.3 | $49,500 |
| Riverside | 48.9% | $106,500 | $48,500 | 106.4 | $45,500 |
| Boston | 59.8% | $159,000 | $66,500 | 108.3 | $61,500 |
Compare any metro areas side by side
Download this data
Free to use with credit: Second Summit, October 2026. Data (CSV) · Data (JSON) · paycheck power chart (SVG) · posted vs official chart (SVG) · prices chart (SVG) · industries chart (SVG) · biggest jobs chart (SVG)
Related pages
- State pages: Washington
- Compare Seattle with other metro areas
- Paycheck calculator: what a salary in Seattle is worth elsewhere
- Mentioned in: October 2026 report
Where it ranks
A posting that lists several places counts once in the metro. Metro areas are the Census Bureau's 2023 definitions. This covers employers whose career pages we read, not every job in the area. Methodology · All metro areas (CSV)