Did Wages Keep Up With Inflation in Seattle?
Choose any available base year and comparison year to see price growth, nominal wage growth, and the wage-inflation gap.
Inflation calculator
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Any available year to any available year
CPI data for Seattle is available from 1997 to 2026. Reverse comparisons are supported.
$100.00 in 2010 equals
$138.53 in 2026
That means prices rose about 38.5% over this period.
Inflation
38.5%
Based on CPI values 205.4 and 284.5.
Average wages rose faster than CPI
Wage vs inflation
Wage gap 36.6%
BLS/OEWS average wages rose 72.6% while prices rose 36.0% over the same wage-data period. This is an average wage measure, not proof that every worker's pay beat inflation. Wage comparison uses 2010-2025, the nearest available BLS/OEWS wage years.
Future estimate
$108.87
$100.00 today may need this amount by 2030 under the baseline scenario.
Cost growth rank
#33 of 51
Ranked against the LocalInflation location list for the selected years.
Wage gap rank
#2 of 51
Ranks BLS/OEWS average wage growth versus CPI inflation using the nearest available wage years for each location.
Inflation over time
Consumer Price Index (CPI) history
CPI is the Consumer Price Index, a public measure of how prices change over time for a basket of goods and services.
Wage chart
Average wages vs wages if kept at inflation
Data source note: CPI values use Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI series where available. Wage values use BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics annual mean wage estimates for all occupations and all industries. Both wage lines start from the same base-year wage so the chart shows whether average wages moved above, below, or near the inflation-kept baseline. Selected CPI years were 2010-2026; the wage chart uses nearest available OEWS wage years.
Year-over-year rates
Nominal wage growth and inflation rate
Wage comparison period: 2010-2025. BLS/OEWS average wages rose 72.6% while prices rose 36.0%. This chart shows year-over-year rates so users can see when wages and inflation move differently instead of only seeing the cumulative gap. OEWS average wage changes can reflect occupational mix and metro-definition changes, so they should be read as local average wage trends rather than individual raises.
What this means
Your selected amount needs to be about $138.53 in 2026 to buy what $100.00 bought in 2010.
If your income grew less than 38.5% over that time, your real purchasing power declined.
Quick examples
$1.00 then
= $1.39
in 2026
$100.00 then
= $138.53
in 2026
$1,000 then
= $1,385
in 2026
$50,000 then
= $69,263
in 2026
$100,000 then
= $138,526
in 2026
Future Cost Index
Scenario estimate through 2030
4 years forward
Low
$107.70
1.9% annual scenario
Baseline
$108.87
2.1% annual scenario
High
$112.40
3.0% annual scenario
Future Cost Index is a scenario estimate based on historical public data. It is not financial, investment, employment, or legal advice.
Methodology note
LocalInflation estimates purchasing power by comparing CPI index values across the years you choose and applying that ratio to your dollar amount.