Study: Seattle one of the most changed cities of the decade

A recent Apartment List study labeled Seattle as the 6th most changed metro area of the decade.

Washington ranked as the top state in entire country

Weighing population growth, home ownership, rent, college degrees, income, and more, the study cites a handful of factors that have had Seattle dramatically reshape itself between 2010 and 2019. That includes the growth of Amazon, a massive increase in salaries for the city’s top earners, and “rapidly rising housing costs.”

“From 2010 to 2018, the share of Seattle metro households earning over $100,000 increased by 48.8 percent, and Seattle now ranks fifth in the nation in this metric,” the study reads.

That backs up recent reporting, that found almost half of Seattle households took in a six figure salary in 2018. The Seattle Times’ FYI Guy Gene Balk looked a little deeper at the numbers and found that the median income specific to Seattle is currently $93,500 — a $7,000 jump in 2018 alone. Those numbers rank Seattle as the city with the third highest pay jump in 2018 (San Francisco and San Jose are first and second).

As for housing, despite a short-lived slowdown in average home prices, living in Seattle remains exorbitantly expensive. That’s driven by both increasingly limited options, and growing competition for home buyers.

Is Puget Sound’s short-lived housing slowdown officially over?

Year-over-year, King County inventory in October 2019 dipped by almost 26 percent, with similarly dramatic dips in Snohomish and Pierce Counties of 23.5 and 30 percent.

Coming in ahead of Seattle for the most changed metros of the decade were Nashville, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Denver respectively.

For our neighbors down south, Portland’s growth has been driven by a massive bump in construction of multi-family housing, while home ownership rates have increased.

Rounding out the top 10 in order where San Jose, Salt Lake City, Raleigh, and San Diego.

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