Can a Software Engineer afford to live in Seattle?

Excellent66% of take-home left to save — you can save aggressively here.
Median salary (gross)
Software Engineer · Seattle
$202,929
Income tax (~31% effective)
United States
– $62,873
Take-home pay
$11,671/mo
$140,056
Living costs (1 person)
$3,980/mo · derived
– $47,760
Savings potential
$7,691/mo · 66% of take-home
$92,296

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 OES median for Software Engineer, adjusted for Seattle.

• Tax: United States single-filer effective rate (~31%). 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.