$750,000
Median Home Price
$5,032
All-In Monthly (20% down)
Difficult
Affordability on Avg Income
Full Cost Breakdown — 98101 (Seattle, WA)
Principal & Interest
$4,032/mo
$4,536/mo
Property Tax (1.1%)
$688/mo
$688/mo
Home Insurance (~0.5%)
$312/mo
$312/mo
PMI (if <20% down)
—
$338/mo
Total All-In
$5,032/mo
$5,874/mo
What Salary Do You Need to Buy in 98101?
Using the standard 28% gross income housing rule, you need approximately $215,665/year to comfortably afford the median home in Seattle, WA with 20% down at today's 7.1% rate.
The average household income in King County is approximately $98,000/year — which means buying the median home here is difficult for the average family.
Calculate Your Personal Costs for 98101
Enter your actual income, down payment, and credit score for a precise estimate.
Open Calculator →
Property Tax in 98101 (King County)
King County has a property tax rate of approximately 1.1% — near the national average of 1.1%. On a $750,000 home, this equals $688/month or $8,250/year in property taxes.
Property taxes can often be appealed if your assessment seems high. Ownwell specializes in property tax appeals — they only charge if they save you money.
Will a Bank Approve You in Seattle?
Approval depends on your specific profile — credit score, income, existing debts, and down payment. The Bank Rejection Engine shows exactly how 5 different lender types would score your application for a home in 98101.
The part almost nobody publishes free
Prices and rates are widely reported. Whether a lender says yes is not. In the complete 2025 federal record, denial rates across the 100 largest FHA lenders ran from 1.8% to 78.7% — same programme, same year.
And it is not simply who applies where: standardizing on state, loan amount, income, debt-to-income and loan-to-value, applicant mix explains only a 2.7× range in expected outcomes.
CFPB HMDA 2025, computed by FinanceRateCalc. Covers the highest-volume lenders published per market, not all lenders. Historical observations, not predictions. CC BY 4.0, not independently reproduced.
The Denial Dispatch
One finding a week from the federal mortgage record.
One chart, three paragraphs, every Saturday. Measured, not assumed.
Get the Dispatch →