Is it cheaper to rent or buy in Seattle right now?
Renting, if the renter invests the difference. The typical Seattle, WA home is worth $727,359 and rents for $2,278 a month (-1.5% and +2.0% over the past year), a price-to-rent ratio of 26.6 against 15.8 nationally. Run through our model with 20% down at 6.5%, Seattle's property tax and transaction costs, and a 10-year stay, renting ahead by about $344,000 . The rent that flips it is $4,159 a month (+83% against the typical rent).
Month to month, owning the typical home costs about $5,092 — principal and interest of $3,678 plus tax, insurance and maintenance — against $2,293 for the rent and renter's insurance. The verdict is not that monthly gap; it is what each person is worth after 10 years, with the home sold, selling costs paid, taxes settled and both sides' invested surpluses counted.
| Measure | Seattle, WA | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Typical home value (Zillow ZHVI) | $727,359 | $368,697 |
| Typical rent (Zillow ZORI) | $2,278/mo | $1,948/mo |
| Price-to-rent ratio | 26.6 | 15.8 |
| Home values, 1 year / 5 years | -1.5% / +10.1% | +1.2% / +20.3% |
| Rents, 1 year / 5 years | +2.0% / +19.6% | +2.6% / +23.9% |
| Verdict, 10 years at 6.5% (local costs) | renting ahead by about $344,000 | renting ahead by about $44,000 |
| Verdict at the site defaults | renting ahead by about $340,000 | renting ahead by about $44,000 |
| Rent at which buying wins | $4,159 | $2,190 |
| Break-even year | none within 10 years | none within 10 years |
What would flip the verdict in Seattle?
Rates, mostly, and the ladder shows how far they would have to move. Each row re-runs the typical Seattle, WA home and rent at that mortgage rate with the local costs:
| Mortgage rate | Verdict after 10 years | Rent at which buying wins |
|---|---|---|
| 5.0% | Rent +$233,000 | $3,551 |
| 5.5% | Rent +$270,000 | $3,751 |
| 6.0% | Rent +$307,000 | $3,954 |
| 6.5% (model default) | Rent +$344,000 | $4,159 |
| 7.0% | Rent +$382,000 | $4,366 |
| 7.5% | Rent +$420,000 | $4,574 |
| 8.0% | Rent +$459,000 | $4,785 |
The other lever is the rent you actually compare against. Zillow's typical rent covers every rental type, apartments included; if the home you would buy rents for more than $4,159 a month, buying is already winning on these assumptions. The price-to-rent ratio calculator turns your own listing into the same answer.
What is different about buying in Seattle?
The exit tax, mostly. Washington’s real estate excise tax is graduated — 1.1% on the first $525,000 of the price and 1.28% up to $1,525,000 — and Seattle adds 0.5% on top, so selling the typical home costs the seller roughly 1.65% before an agent is paid. That lands in this page’s selling-cost preset and pushes the break-even year out; it is also why a short stay is punished harder here than the national default suggests. On the other side of the ledger, Washington has no income tax, which the model does not touch either way — it assumes the standard deduction and no state tax everywhere — but which matters to the household budget that has to carry the monthly line.
How does the property tax compare?
It is close to the national default, and the assessment is honest. King County assesses at market value and Seattle’s 2026 levy comes to just under 1% of it, a touch below the site’s 1.1%; the Census median for existing owners across the metro is about 0.85%. Unlike California, there is no cap on assessed value, so the tax line follows the market — up when values rise, and the model grows it at its default 2% a year. Values in the metro have been flat to slightly down over the past year while rents kept rising, which is what the one-year figures in the table show and what the ratio needs more of before buying pencils on typical numbers.
What would make buying win here?
A rent well above the typical figure, a rate near the bottom of the ladder, or a long stay — ideally two of the three. The typical Seattle-area home costs about 27 times its annual rent, on the same side of the line as the California coast, and the ladder above shows that even at 5% the typical rent sits below the tipping point. Houses rent for more than the all-types typical rent, so a buyer comparing against a genuine single-family rental will find the gap narrower than the headline; the calculator link above carries the local costs in, and the price-to-rent ratio calculator shows where your own listing lands.
What this page assumes for Seattle
The site defaults, with the inputs below changed to Seattle's own figures. Each one is sourced at the bottom of the page; the "Run it" link carries all of them into the calculator so you can change any of them.
| Input | Seattle | Site default |
|---|---|---|
| Property tax, year one | 0.99% of price | 1.1% |
| Property tax growth | 2% a year | 2% |
| Buyer's closing costs | 3% of price | 3% |
| Selling costs at the end | 7.7% of value | 6% |
| Home insurance | $2,500 a year | $2,500 |
- Property tax 0.99% of price: the City of Seattle's 2026 levy rate of $9.90845 per $1,000 of assessed value, and Washington assesses at market value. The metro-wide Census median for existing owners is about 0.85%.
- Selling costs 7.7%: the site's 6% default plus Washington's real estate excise tax on the typical home - 1.1% on the first $525,000 and 1.28% on the rest, about 1.15% blended - plus Seattle's 0.5% local rate. The seller pays it.
Everything else — 20% down, a 30-year fixed at 6.5%, 3% appreciation, 2.5% rent growth, 7% investment return, the standard deduction — is the national default, and the direction of each simplification is stated on the metro hub. State income tax is not modelled. A typical home is not a typical rental: the ratio is a market-level screen, and the calculator is for the actual house and the actual comparable rent.
Run your own numbers
Open the calculator with Seattle, WA's typical home, rent and local costs loaded, then replace them with the listing and the rental you are actually weighing. Every figure on this page is computed at build by the same open-source engine as the calculator, covered by 188 automated tests and documented on the methodology page; home values and rents are Zillow Research's public series for the month ending 2026-08-31.
