Why tech workers save more in Seattle than elsewhere

Tech workers in Seattle are taking home a lot more money than their peers in other cities.

And it’s because they are living in the Emerald City that they are keeping so much more money than their counterparts elsewhere — a lot more.

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Online real estate service Zillow teamed up with LinkedIn to calculate how much tech workers are taking home each month, depending on where they live. More specifically, they focused on how much disposable income they are left with after paying their bills. They took into account salaries, employment, local taxes and rent/home ownership costs.

Take the Bay Area, for example, where the median home value is $833,600. Tech workers take home a mighty paycheck to make up for the expensive living costs. Contrasted with Denver, where a home value is less than the Bay Area, San Francisco workers are still taking in more disposable income — $3,964 each month. According to Zillow:

The average San Francisco tech worker ends the month with $140 more in disposable income than the average tech worker in Denver, where the median home value is $356,900 a month. Tech renters also fare better in San Francisco than in Denver, with $591 more in monthly disposable income.

Seattle tech workers

But that’s chump change when considering what Seattle offers, with lower rents than the Bay Area — even though locals may complain that the rent is too high.

The report states that tech workers in Seattle are taking in $5,987 a month in disposable income — if they own a home. That’s about 54.3 percent of their pay. They don’t take in as much if they are renting, however — they only get $5,943 a month in that circumstance.

Zillow and LinkedIn note that tech workers may want to look to Austin or Pittsburgh as places to save more of their paycheck. They can keep $4,336 and $3,681 of their monthly income in those cities, respectively.

One factor, as stated above, is that LinkedIn and Zillow took into account local taxes. Washington has a sales tax, but no income tax. California and Colorado, for example, do have an income tax.

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