Can a Data Engineer afford to live in Seattle?

Excellent41% of take-home left to save — you can save aggressively here.
Median salary (gross)
Data Engineer · Seattle
$105,430
Income tax (~24% effective)
United States
– $24,821
Take-home pay
$6,717/mo
$80,609
Living costs (1 person)
$3,980/mo · derived
– $47,760
Savings potential
$2,737/mo · 41% of take-home
$32,849

Single professional, after-tax. Salary − tax − living costs = what you could save each year.

Full salary breakdown →Is this a good salary in Seattle? →Compare Seattle with another city →

How we calculated this

• Salary: BLS OEWS 2025 metro-area survey median for Data Engineer, adjusted for Seattle.

• Tax: United States single-filer effective rate (~24%). Official calculator.

• Living costs: derived from cost-of-living index for a single professional.

Planning estimates, not financial or tax advice. Updated 2026. Your situation will differ.