Seattle rents and rental comps

Name: Seattle, WA rental market data
Creator: PropMetrics

The median asking rent across 20 Seattle zip codes is $1,924/month, down 19.0% from a year ago.

Tech money drives high rents. Washington keeps adding tenant protections to balance it out. No state income tax keeps investors interested. The rain keeps everyone complaining but not leaving.

Median Asking Rent

$1,924

Rent Change (YoY)

-19.0%

Avg Days on Market

Active Rental Listings

3,923

Median List Price

$799,475

Median Asking Rent Over Time

Average across 20 zip codes

12 months-3.0%

Median Asking Rent by ZIP Code

Rental Listings by ZIP Code

ZIP	Median Rent	YoY Growth	$/Sqft	Avg DOM	Listings
98108	$2,600/mo	-7.1%	$2.42	57	53
98199	$2,495/mo	-9.1%	$2.57	41	90
98106	$2,350/mo	-11.2%	$2.50	65	82
98101	$2,295/mo	-4.4%	$3.46	58	147
98115	$2,100/mo	-32.3%	$2.84	56	190
98117	$2,100/mo	-32.3%	$2.64	56	122
98107	$2,095/mo	-8.7%	$2.94	58	220
98109	$1,995/mo	-11.1%	$3.24	76	336
98112	$1,995/mo	-20.0%	$3.07	74	106
98103	$1,943/mo	-30.5%	$2.98	55	322
98126	$1,900/mo	-35.6%	$2.66	72	72
98144	$1,900/mo	-32.0%	$2.67	75	155
98119	$1,895/mo	-9.8%	$2.85	62	223
98116	$1,875/mo	-10.5%	$2.95	69	103
98118	$1,850/mo	-33.9%	$2.59	61	151
98102	$1,840/mo	-18.2%	$3.28	77	343
98133	$1,800/mo	-30.8%	$2.48	58	232
98122	$1,767/mo	-8.2%	$3.15	79	391
98105	$1,650/mo	-17.3%	$2.91	85	372
98125	$1,650/mo	-17.3%	$2.30	77	213

Comps for any address in Seattle

Type the address, get the comps. No setup.

Median Asking Rent by Bedroom

Unit Size	Median Rent	$/Sqft
Studio	$1,386/mo	$3.59/sqft
1 Bedroom	$1,768/mo	$2.83/sqft
2 Bedroom	$2,573/mo	$2.75/sqft
3 Bedroom	$3,813/mo	$2.48/sqft
4 Bedroom	$4,575/mo	$1.98/sqft

Aggregated median across all Seattle zip codes with available data.

For-Sale Listings by ZIP Code

ZIP	Median List Price	YoY Change	$/Sqft
98112	$1,399,000	+1.7%	$680.81
98199	$1,075,000	+4.9%	$570.22
98105	$1,000,000	-4.1%	$589.16
98115	$974,950	-2.0%	$583.06
98116	$965,000	-3.0%	$598.29
98117	$948,000	+2.0%	$580.87
98102	$899,000	-3.3%	$619.05
98103	$899,000	+7.0%	$595.93
98122	$810,000	-4.6%	$594.26
98107	$799,950	-5.9%	$569.67
98144	$799,000	-3.2%	$506.38
98119	$750,000	-11.0%	$587.39
98126	$749,900	+3.4%	$482.76
98118	$739,999	-1.2%	$472.78
98125	$725,000	-10.5%	$482.51
98133	$699,950	-4.0%	$464.25
98106	$675,000	+0.0%	$453.00
98109	$675,000	+3.9%	$611.98
98101	$649,950	-3.7%	$788.16
98108	$600,000	-2.4%	$466.26

HUD Fair Market Rents

Unit Size	Fair Market Rent	Median Asking Rent	Difference
Studio	$2,880/mo	$1,386/mo	-52%
1 Bedroom	$2,980/mo	$1,768/mo	-41%
2 Bedroom	$3,470/mo	$2,573/mo	-26%
3 Bedroom	$4,540/mo	$3,813/mo	-16%
4 Bedroom	$5,340/mo	$4,575/mo	-14%

HUD publishes Fair Market Rents once a year for the Seattle metro area. Local housing authorities use them to set Section 8 voucher payment standards, usually 90% to 110% of the FMR.

About the Seattle rental market

The median asking rent across Seattle, WA sits at $1,924/month, pulled from active rental listings in 20 zip codes. That's down 19.0% from a year ago.

Rents aren't uniform across the city. ZIP 98108 tops the list at $2,600/month. ZIP 98105 comes in lowest at $1,650/month. About a 58% gap between the two ends of the city.

A 2-bedroom rents for $2,573/month at the median. 1-bedrooms run about $1,768. 3-bedrooms come in around $3,813.

Listings take longer here. The average is 66 days on market, which gives renters more room to negotiate and means landlords should price carefully.

Rent-to-price math is tight in Seattle. The gross figure sits at about 2.9% ($1,924/month against $799,475 median price). Most investors here are betting on appreciation, not monthly cash flow.

HUD's Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in the Seattle metro is $3,470/month. Asking rents come in about 45% below the federal benchmark, which can make Section 8 properties competitive here.

Seattle's rental market runs on tech. Amazon, Microsoft, and a deep startup ecosystem produce well-paying renters who can absorb high rents. No state income tax helps both tenants and landlords. Capitol Hill, Ballard, and Fremont are premium. South Seattle, Rainier Valley, and the suburbs are moderate. Washington has been adding tenant protections over the past few years, so landlords have to stay current on notice requirements and eviction rules. The market softened when remote work took off and some tech workers left for cheaper cities. It's recovered, but the episode showed Seattle isn't as bulletproof as it looked pre-2020.

These numbers are city-wide averages. If you're pricing a specific property in Seattle, pull comps from the same zip code. The spread is usually bigger than people expect.