Seattle’s average wage: growing fast, still buying less than in 2019

economy
labor
Published

July 12, 2026

Two lines, average hourly earnings for all private employees in the Seattle metro, 2011 to 2026. The nominal line rises steadily from about $31 in 2011 to $47.70 in May 2026, with a plateau from 2019 through 2021. The real line, in today's dollars, is nearly flat around $45 to $48 for most of the period, peaks at $52.55 in early 2019, erodes to a trough of $43.42 in March 2024 as inflation outruns pay, then recovers to converge with the nominal line at $47.70. A gray band marks the 2020 downturn.

The average private-sector worker in the Seattle metro earned $47.70 an hour in May, up 6.8% from a year earlier — nominal wage growth that would have been front-page news any time in the 2010s. The teal line tells that story: pay up better than 50% since 2011, accelerating since late 2024.

The gray line tells the other one. Run the same series in today’s dollars and the average wage peaked in February 2019 at $52.55, was ground down 17% by the 2021–23 inflation to a trough of $43.42 in March 2024, and has since clawed back about 10%. Even after two years of unusually strong real gains — nominal growth near 7% against inflation near 4–5% — the average hour of work still buys about 9% less than it did in early 2019. That’s the whole inflation era in one picture: the raise arrived, and the register took it.

The caveats here are load-bearing, so read them. This is an average, not a median — it moves when the workforce changes shape, not just when anyone gets a raise. Some of the 2019 peak is exactly that: a tech-heavy boom pushing the mix upward, and some of the 2021 sag is low-wage hiring coming back. It’s also not seasonally adjusted and covers only private employees, and the series only begins in 2011. Direction and rough magnitude are trustworthy; any single month, less so. Pair it with the unemployment rate to see whether pay gains are coming from a tight labor market or a shrinking one.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, State and Area Employment, Hours, and Earnings (CES), average hourly earnings of all employees, total private, Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue WA MSA, not seasonally adjusted, via FRED series SMU53426600500000003. Real line deflated by U.S. CPI-U (CPIAUCNS) to the latest month. New months post about three weeks after month-end; this chart refreshes on the next daily build.