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Change in Seattle's real median income, with margin of error

Change in Seattle city median household income in 2025 dollars (Seattle-area CPI) over several periods, with 90% intervals from the Census margins of error.

Credit: FactHub Research Team; data from U.S. Census Bureau ACS and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

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Point chart with 90% error bars. Seattle city's real median income changed by -$10,666 from 2019 to 2025 (interval -$17,107 to -$4,225), -$12,889 from 2021 to 2025 (-$20,004 to -$5,774), -$6,883 from 2022 to 2025 (-$14,691 to +$925), -$6,490 from 2023 to 2024 (-$13,916 to +$936) and +$1,192 from 2024 to 2025 (-$6,542 to +$8,926).

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Only the declines since 2019 and since 2021 have 90% intervals entirely below zero. The three-year change from 2022 to 2025 and the single-year changes are within the survey's margin of error.

What this chart asks

Which of Seattle's income changes are larger than the survey's margin of error?

Why it is shown this way

  • Points with error bars show both the size of each change and whether its 90% interval crosses zero.
  • Periods are listed in time order; the zero line marks no change.

Chart annotations

These markers provide relevant context for interpreting the chart. Their timing or position does not, by itself, establish causation.

No change
Threshold: 0

Why this is marked: A point whose interval crosses this line is not distinguishable from no change at 90% confidence.

Data and accessibility

Download chart data · Open accessible table · Download PNG · Download SVG

Dataset seattle-median-income-inflation, analysis city-real-change

Sources

This chart draws on the sources of the dataset versions it visualizes.

Seattle median household income adjusted for inflation, 2015-2025

  1. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2015 1-year estimates, table B19013 (median household income) Median household income and 90% margin of error for Seattle city, WA (place 5363000) and the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area (CBSA 42660), 2015, in 2015 inflation-adjusted dollars. Retrieved through the Census Data API (dataset acs/acs1, variables B19013_001E and B19013_001M).

    Retrieved November 2, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Allowed; the Census Bureau asks to be cited.

    Reliability: Government. The American Community Survey samples about 3.5 million addresses a year; 1-year estimates are published only for areas with 65,000 or more people. Every estimate carries a 90% margin of error.

  2. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019 1-year estimates, table B19013 (median household income) Median household income and 90% margin of error for Seattle city, WA (place 5363000) and the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area (CBSA 42660), 2019, in 2019 inflation-adjusted dollars. Retrieved through the Census Data API (dataset acs/acs1, variables B19013_001E and B19013_001M).

    Retrieved November 2, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Allowed; the Census Bureau asks to be cited.

    Reliability: Government. The American Community Survey samples about 3.5 million addresses a year; 1-year estimates are published only for areas with 65,000 or more people. Every estimate carries a 90% margin of error.

  3. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2021 1-year estimates, table B19013 (median household income) Median household income and 90% margin of error for Seattle city, WA (place 5363000) and the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area (CBSA 42660), 2021, in 2021 inflation-adjusted dollars. Retrieved through the Census Data API (dataset acs/acs1, variables B19013_001E and B19013_001M).

    Retrieved November 2, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Allowed; the Census Bureau asks to be cited.

    Reliability: Government. The American Community Survey samples about 3.5 million addresses a year; 1-year estimates are published only for areas with 65,000 or more people. Every estimate carries a 90% margin of error.

  4. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2022 1-year estimates, table B19013 (median household income) Median household income and 90% margin of error for Seattle city, WA (place 5363000) and the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area (CBSA 42660), 2022, in 2022 inflation-adjusted dollars. Retrieved through the Census Data API (dataset acs/acs1, variables B19013_001E and B19013_001M).

    Retrieved November 2, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Allowed; the Census Bureau asks to be cited.

    Reliability: Government. The American Community Survey samples about 3.5 million addresses a year; 1-year estimates are published only for areas with 65,000 or more people. Every estimate carries a 90% margin of error.

  5. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2023 1-year estimates, table B19013 (median household income) Median household income and 90% margin of error for Seattle city, WA (place 5363000) and the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area (CBSA 42660), 2023, in 2023 inflation-adjusted dollars. Retrieved through the Census Data API (dataset acs/acs1, variables B19013_001E and B19013_001M).

    Retrieved November 2, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Allowed; the Census Bureau asks to be cited.

    Reliability: Government. The American Community Survey samples about 3.5 million addresses a year; 1-year estimates are published only for areas with 65,000 or more people. Every estimate carries a 90% margin of error.

  6. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates, table B19013 (median household income) Median household income and 90% margin of error for Seattle city, WA (place 5363000) and the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area (CBSA 42660), 2024, in 2024 inflation-adjusted dollars. Retrieved through the Census Data API (dataset acs/acs1, variables B19013_001E and B19013_001M).

    Retrieved November 2, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Allowed; the Census Bureau asks to be cited.

    Reliability: Government. The American Community Survey samples about 3.5 million addresses a year; 1-year estimates are published only for areas with 65,000 or more people. Every estimate carries a 90% margin of error.

  7. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2025 1-year estimates, table B19013 (median household income) Median household income and 90% margin of error for Seattle city, WA (place 5363000) and the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area (CBSA 42660), 2025, in 2025 inflation-adjusted dollars. Retrieved through the Census Data API (dataset acs/acs1, variables B19013_001E and B19013_001M).

    Retrieved November 2, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Allowed; the Census Bureau asks to be cited.

    Reliability: Government. The American Community Survey samples about 3.5 million addresses a year; 1-year estimates are published only for areas with 65,000 or more people. Every estimate carries a 90% margin of error.

  8. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U, All items in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA (series CUURS49DSA0) Annual-average consumer price index for the Seattle area, 2015-2025, used to convert incomes to 2025 dollars.

    Retrieved November 2, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Allowed; BLS asks to be cited.

    Reliability: Government. BLS collects Seattle-area prices every other month. The October 2025 collection was cancelled by the 2025 lapse in appropriations.

  9. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U, All items in U.S. city average (series CUUR0000SA0) Annual-average national consumer price index, used as an alternative deflator.

    Retrieved November 2, 2026. Public domain (U.S. government work). Allowed; BLS asks to be cited.

    Reliability: Government. The headline national CPI-U. The October 2025 value was not collected because of the 2025 lapse in appropriations.

Limitations

  • Intervals use the Census approximation sqrt(MOE1² + MOE2²) and ignore sample overlap between years.
  • Uses the Seattle-area CPI; with the national CPI the drops are 2 to 3 points smaller.

Articles and datasets using this chart

Version details

The exact citing versions, and the version of this chart each cites.

  • Article seattle-income-behind-inflation — version 2 (published) cites version 1

Node: chart:seattle-income-change-margin:1