Washington Housing Market: Home Prices, Rent and Affordability
The typical Washington home is worth $591,879, down 0.3% over the past year and up 11.1% over five years, 60.5% above the national $368,697 (Zillow, latest release). That ranks #4 of 50 on price. A 20%-down mortgage runs $3,045 a month and takes about $155,542 of income; the median Washington household earns $90,325, $65,217 short.
In Seattle, the state's largest metro, typical rent is $2,278 a month against a $3,742 principal-and-interest payment on the typical home, so renting is $1,464 a month cheaper before taxes, insurance and maintenance. The market is cool: 31.0% of listings cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 45 days (national 53), and for-sale inventory is up 14.9% from a year ago.
All figures are Zillow Research's published numbers for August; median household income is from the Census Bureau. How the data works → · Home prices in all 50 states →
Washington Housing by the Numbers
How much does a house cost in Washington? The typical home is worth $591,879, the median sale price is $590,667 and the median list price $626,833. The six figures below describe the market this month, each with the national comparison.
How Have Washington Home Prices Changed?
The typical Washington home value every month since 2000, with the national typical home as a dashed line. Values fell 0.3% over the past year, are up 11.1% over five years, up 89.2% over ten, and up 236% since January 2000.
Is It Cheaper to Rent or Buy in Washington?
Two direct answers from the Zillow data. Rent versus buy sets typical asking rent in Seattle, the state's largest metro, against the mortgage payment on the typical home there, since Zillow publishes rents by metro rather than by state. The affordability gap is the income needed to buy the typical Washington home minus what the median household actually earns.
Rent vs. buy · Seattle, WA
The payment excludes property tax (0.88% of value in Washington), insurance and maintenance, all of which push the cost of owning higher; renting builds no equity. If values kept rising at the past five years' pace (11.1%), equity would narrow that gap over a long stay.
Affordability gap · #45 of 50
A $3,045 monthly payment takes 40.5% of the median Washington household's income before property tax and insurance; lenders generally cap total housing costs near 28–31%. Full budget for your household →
Is Washington a Buyer's or a Seller's Market?
Market temperature is our label from three Zillow signals compared with the national market: the share of listings with a price cut, days from listing to pending (days on market), and whether homes for sale are up from a year ago. Washington is cool: it leans toward buyers: two of the three market signals point cooler than the national market.
Median sale price $590,667 against a median list price of $626,833, so the typical home closes 5.8% below asking.
Where the Washington market is heading
Compared with a year ago, all three signals point looser, in buyers' favor: the share of listings with a price cut is up 1.4 points from a year ago to 31.0%, homes take 7 days longer to go pending than a year ago (45 now), and the number of homes for sale is up 14.9%. The typical home value fell 0.3% over the same period and is 2.8% below its June 2022 peak of $608,618. We publish no forecasts: these are Zillow's current-month readings, not a prediction of where Washington home prices go next.
Home Values and Rents in Washington Cities
Zillow publishes a city-level home value or rent for 19 of the Washington cities we track. The most expensive is Sammamish ($1,516,014) and the cheapest Yakima ($361,999). Click a city for its full profile.
| City | Population | Home value | 1 yr | 5 yr | Rent | Rent 1 yr | Value ÷ income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle | 755,081 | $833,192 | -1.6% | ||||
| Spokane | 229,451 | $396,121 | -0.3% | ||||
| Tacoma | 222,932 | $488,463 | +0.1% | ||||
| Vancouver | 196,441 | $501,696 | -0.1% | ||||
| Bellevue | 151,579 | $1,418,231 | -3.9% | ||||
| Kent | 133,381 | $635,965 | -1.1% | ||||
| Everett | 111,147 | $636,751 | -1.6% | ||||
| Spokane Valley | 108,232 | $410,897 | +0.4% | ||||
| Renton | 104,505 | $731,654 | -1.9% | ||||
| Federal Way | 97,689 | $586,172 | -0.5% | ||||
| Yakima | 96,739 | $361,999 | +0.8% | ||||
| Bellingham | 94,712 | $661,763 | -0.3% | ||||
| Kirkland | 91,190 | $1,178,291 | -5.2% | ||||
| Kennewick | 85,155 | $431,000 | +0.6% | ||||
| Auburn | 84,887 | $598,170 | -0.3% | ||||
| Pasco | 81,415 | $416,723 | +0.3% | ||||
| Redmond | 80,275 | $1,315,884 | -3.9% | ||||
| Marysville | 72,922 | $617,386 | +0.1% | ||||
| Sammamish | 65,126 | $1,516,014 | -5.3% |
Home value and rent are Zillow's city-level indexes; population and median household income are Census ACS. Cities without a Zillow index are omitted. All Washington cities ranked →
How Washington Compares With Nearby States
The West states closest to Washington on price. Each card links to that state's housing page; the compare link puts the two states side by side on every category.
More on Washington
Washington dashboard
→Overall rank and grade, every category score, taxes, utilities, safety, schools and all tracked cities.
What you'd keep in Washington
→Take-home after housing, taxes, childcare, utilities and groceries for your household and income.
Who is moving to Washington
→IRS migration data: where new residents come from, where leavers go, and what both groups earn.
Washington Housing Market FAQ
What is the average house price in Washington?
$591,879 is the typical Washington home value according to the latest Zillow Research release of the Zillow Home Value Index, which tracks homes in the middle third of the market. The median sale price was $590,667 and the median list price $626,833. That makes Washington the #4 most expensive state; the national typical home is worth $368,697.
Are home prices dropping in Washington?
Yes. The typical Washington home value fell 0.3% over the past year, and it is 2.8% below its June 2022 peak of $608,618. Over five years it is up 11.1% and over ten years up 89.2%. Nationally, values rose 1.2% over the year.
How have Washington home prices changed over the past 1, 5 and 10 years?
-0.3% over one year, +11.1% over five years and +89.2% over ten years for the typical Washington home value, per the latest Zillow Research release; the national figures are +1.2%, +20.3% and +77.9%. Since January 2000 the typical Washington home is up 236%. The monthly chart above shows the full series against the national line.
Will the Washington housing market crash?
We publish no forecasts, so this page cannot answer that; it can show the current readings and the historical worst case. Right now the typical Washington home value is 2.8% below its June 2022 peak of $608,618 after it fell 0.3% over the past year; 31.0% of listings have cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 45 days (national 53), and inventory is up 14.9% from a year ago, per Zillow Research. The largest decline in Zillow's monthly series for Washington was 32.0% from September 2007 to July 2012, and values took 55 months to regain that peak.
Is it a good time to buy a house in Washington?
The Washington market is cool right now, which means it leans toward buyers: two of the three market signals point cooler than the national market. 31.0% of listings cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 45 days (national 53), and for-sale inventory is up 14.9% from a year ago. Affordability is the constraint: buying the typical home takes $155,542 of income, $65,217 more than the median household earns. Whether the timing is right also depends on mortgage rates and how long you plan to stay.
Is Washington a buyer's or seller's market?
Washington leans toward buyers. More listings are cutting prices than the national average (31.0% vs. 26.4%), homes take 45 days to go pending (national 53), and the number of homes for sale is up 14.9% from a year ago at 34K listings. Two of those three signals point toward buyers.
What is the average rent in Washington?
In Seattle, Washington's largest metro, the typical asking rent is $2,278 a month, up 1.7% over the past year and up 17.8% over five years, per the Zillow Observed Rent Index. The national typical rent is $1,948. Among Washington cities we track, rents range from $1,329 to $3,587 a month.
Is it cheaper to rent or buy in Washington?
Renting is cheaper month to month in Seattle, Washington's largest metro. Typical rent is $2,278 and the principal-and-interest payment on the typical home with 20% down is $3,742, a difference of $1,464 a month in favor of renting. The payment excludes property tax (0.88% of value in Washington), insurance and maintenance, and renting builds no equity, so the full answer depends on how long you stay.
How much income do you need to buy a house in Washington?
About $155,542 a year, using Zillow's assumptions of 20% down at current mortgage rates and a payment of no more than 30% of income. The median Washington household earns $90,325, so the typical household is $65,217 short. That is the #45 smallest affordability gap of the 50 states. The monthly payment of $3,045 equals 40.5% of the median household's income.
Where are homes cheapest and most expensive in Washington?
Among the Washington cities we track with Zillow data, the most expensive typical home is in Sammamish ($1,516,014) and the cheapest in Yakima ($361,999). Also at the top: Bellevue ($1,418,231), Redmond ($1,315,884), and Kirkland ($1,178,291). The city table above lists every tracked Washington city with its value, one-year change and rent.
How does Washington compare with nearby states?
In the West, the closest comparisons on price are Utah ($534,582, up 1.5% in a year), Colorado ($532,748, down 1.4% in a year), and Oregon ($496,113, down 0.1% in a year). Washington's typical home is $591,879, down 0.3%. On affordability, Washington ranks #45 of 50 versus Utah at #37, Colorado at #38, and Oregon at #42.
How current is the Washington housing data?
Every figure on this page comes from Zillow Research, which publishes state, metro and city data free each month for the prior month; the latest month shown is August. Median household income is from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. We rebuild the page from the newest Zillow files as they are released.
Home values, rents, mortgage payments, income needed, inventory, price cuts, days to pending and sale and list prices are published by Zillow Research and shown as released, with attribution. Median household income and city populations are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. Home prices and housing markets in all 50 states →