Can a Systems Engineer afford to live in Seattle?

Excellent58% of take-home left to save — you can save aggressively here.
Median salary (gross)
Systems Engineer · Seattle
$158,407
Income tax (~28% effective)
United States
– $44,786
Take-home pay
$9,468/mo
$113,621
Living costs (1 person)
$3,980/mo · derived
– $47,760
Savings potential
$5,488/mo · 58% of take-home
$65,861

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 Systems Engineer, adjusted for Seattle.

• Tax: United States single-filer effective rate (~28%). 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.