You probably already know that the Seattle area has one of the highest median household incomes in the U.S.
But some new data shows that for another measure of wealth — net worth — the Seattle area stands out even more.
Our metro area’s median household income was about $112,400 in 2024, about 38% higher than the national median, according to census data. Meanwhile, the median net worth of all households in the Seattle metro area was an eye-popping $901,000 last year, according to Acxiom, a Conway, Ark.-based database marketing company that estimates household net worth.
The Seattle metro area includes King, Pierce and Snohomish counties and is home to about 1.59 million households.
The area’s median was more than double the national median for metro areas, which was around $341,000.
The median is the midpoint, meaning half of households have higher net worths and half have lower. A household can consist of a family, a single person or unrelated people, such as roommates.
Seattle had the fourth-highest median net worth among the 50 largest metro areas. The highest was in the San Jose metro area, at around $2 million, followed by San Francisco at $1.6 million and Boston at $913,000.
The lowest median net worth was in the Oklahoma City metro area, at around $148,000.
Seattle’s position near the top reminds us of the region’s substantial housing wealth. The data shows that the metro’s overall wealth is greatly boosted by homeowners.
Among Seattle-area households that own their home, Acxiom estimates the median net worth was nearly $1.7 million in 2024-2025. That’s the fifth-highest median homeowner net worth in the data set, trailing only a handful of metros, all of them in California.
The data does not itemize what is driving net worth in each household, but in a region where home prices have long been high — and rose sharply in the pandemic years — it’s not hard to guess what’s doing a lot of the work. For many homeowners, their house is their single largest asset.
Net worth from property is based on net equity, meaning the market value of the home minus the debt attached to it, such as a mortgage, home-equity loan, or home equity line of credit. For example, if your home has a market value of $800,000 and you have $300,000 left on your mortgage, the home adds $500,000 to your household’s total net worth.
Along with real estate, net worth includes vehicles and vessels, businesses, and financial assets such as checking and savings accounts, retirement accounts, stocks, pensions and life insurance policies. Income is not factored into net worth, so it’s possible to have a high income and a relatively modest net worth, or a lower income and a high net worth.
Now consider renters.
Among Seattle-area households that rent their home, the median net worth was estimated at about $213,000 in 2024-2025. That still ranks high nationally — fifth among the metros in the report — but it’s a fraction of the homeowner figure.
There were about 616,000 renter households in the Seattle metro area, compared with about 901,000 homeowner households.
A big piece of the gap is simply the absence of home equity. But other demographic factors also point to differences that affect wealth-building.
For example, renters are far more likely to be living alone. It’s typically easier for two adults to accumulate assets than for one. Homeowners are more likely to have multiple working adults in the household, which influences how much money they can save or invest.
At the national level, the medians underline how high Seattle’s numbers are. Across all U.S. metro areas, the median net worth for homeowners was about $554,000, and for renters, about $60,800.
The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only and do not reflect the opinions of The Seattle Times.