Seattle

Most affordable Seattle suburbs

Ranked on what a household actually pays: the in-house cost-of-living index at 55%, the median home value against the metro at 25% (lower is better here), and the share of households already stretched by housing costs at 20%.

Updated Sep 2026·59 suburbs considered, 10 listed
1
Spanaway$446k median · 37.3 min commute
Cost of living B−Housing D−Employment D+
66
Affordability
overall 48 D+
2
Graham$517k median · 43.0 min commute
Cost of living C+Housing D+Employment D+
66
Affordability
overall 45 D
3
American Lake on a warm June day in 2019 in Pierce County, Washington, USA, as viewed from the American Lake north park.
Lakewood$461k median · 29.3 min commute
Cost of living BHousing FEmployment F
64
Affordability
overall 49 D+
4
Bonney Lake$608k median · 32.1 min commute
Cost of living C+Housing C−Employment C+
64
Affordability
overall 58 C
5
Elk Plain$474k median · 36.5 min commute
Cost of living C+Housing D+Employment C−
63
Affordability
overall 46 D
6
Image from Covington, WA
Covington$637k median · 33.4 min commute
Cost of living B−Housing C−Employment C+
63
Affordability
overall 56 C−
7
Looking roughly north at the east side of 100 & 200 blocks of N. Meridian, Puyallup, Washington. Train tracks are BNSF Seattle Subdivision.
Puyallup$552k median · 31.4 min commute
Cost of living BHousing FEmployment D
62
Affordability
overall 56 C−
8
Mountlake Terrace, welcome sign at the Mountlake Terrace Transit Center
Mountlake Terrace$667k median · 27.9 min commute
Cost of living BHousing DEmployment C
62
Affordability
overall 64 C+
9
Aerial view of downtown Everett, Washington, the county seat and most populous city in Snohomish County.
Everett$565k median · 26.9 min commute
Cost of living B+Housing FEmployment D−
62
Affordability
overall 59 C
10
Looking north on Olympic Avenue in downtown Arlington, from E 2nd Street.
Arlington$539k median · 29.9 min commute
Cost of living BHousing D−Employment D
60
Affordability
overall 52 D+
This list's weighting
Cost of living 55%Median home value (lower is better) 25%Cost-burdened households 20%
Other Seattle lists
Best Seattle suburbs for familiesBest Seattle suburbs for schoolsShortest commutes to Downtown SeattleMost walkable Seattle suburbsBest Seattle suburbs for young professionalsHow we score Seattle suburbs →

Photos from Wikimedia Commons: Lakewood (ECTran71 · CC BY-SA 4.0); Covington (Yordanpopovbg · CC BY-SA 4.0); Puyallup (Joe Mabel · CC BY 3.0); Mountlake Terrace (ECTran71 (talk) · Public domain); Everett (Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0); Arlington (SounderBruce · CC BY-SA 4.0).