The 10 Cheapest Seattle, WA Neighborhoods To Live In For 2024


The cheapest Seattle neighborhoods are High Point and Westlake for 2024 based on Saturday Night Science.

Worst Neighborhoods In Seattle
Source: Public domain

Everything else equal, we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.

I’d much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I’d rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.

And while every neighbhorhood in Seattle might be more expensive than living in rural Washington, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.

What exactly are those Seattle neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further — you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?

Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and determine which neighborhoods in Seattle are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.

The Cheapest Neighborhoods In Seattle For 2024

  1. High Point
  2. Westlake
  3. Admiral
  4. Arbor Heights
  5. Rainier Beach
  6. Belltown
  7. Seward Park
  8. Crown Hill
  9. Victory Heights
  10. Olympic Manor

What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Seattle for 2024? According to the most recent census data, High Point looks to be the cheapest Seattle neighborhood to live in.

At this point, we should make it clear that you do get what you pay for — some of these neighborhoods might not be the best places to live in Seattle. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates for more space and cheaper groceries.

Read on to see how we determined the places around Seattle that deserve a little bragging rights, or maybe you’re interested in the worst neighborhoods in Seattle.

For more Washington reading, check out:


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Seattle For 2024

Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 8,807
Cost Of Living Index: 135 (6th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 6.0 (25th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (2cheapest)
More on High Point: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

10
/10

Population: 5,252
Cost Of Living Index: 146 (25th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.0 (3rd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (28th cheapest)
More on Westlake: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

9.5
/10

Population: 12,572
Cost Of Living Index: 162 (45th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.5 (9th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.012 (6th cheapest)
More on Admiral: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

10
/10

Population: 5,143
Cost Of Living Index: 157 (37th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.6 (10th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (20th cheapest)
More on Arbor Heights: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 16,060
Cost Of Living Index: 138 (12th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.2 (7th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (52nd cheapest)
More on Rainier Beach: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

10
/10

Population: 12,974
Cost Of Living Index: 137 (9th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 6.1 (28th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.016 (39th cheapest)
More on Belltown: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 4,900
Cost Of Living Index: 159 (39th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.9 (2cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.014 (17th cheapest)
More on Seward Park: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 3,518
Cost Of Living Index: 160 (4cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.6 (11th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (26th cheapest)
More on Crown Hill: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

9.5
/10

Population: 6,008
Cost Of Living Index: 142 (20th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.7 (13th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.017 (45th cheapest)
More on Victory Heights: Data | Real Estate

Overall SnackAbility

9.5
/10

Population: 2,666
Cost Of Living Index: 179 (7cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.0 (2nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.013 (7th cheapest)
More on Olympic Manor: Data | Real Estate

Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Seattle Hoods In 2024

To rank the cheapest places to live in Seattle, we had to determine what criteria define “cheap” and then apply Saturday Night Science.

Using Census and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:

  • Overall Cost Of Living
  • Rent To Income Ratio
  • Median Home Value To Income Ratio

We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 78 in each category, where 1 was the cheapest.

Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a cheap neighborhood index.

And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index, the “Cheapest City Neighborhood In Seattle.” We’re lookin’ at you, High Point.

We updated this article for 2024. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Seattle. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from cheapest to most expensive.

Summary: Lowest Cost Places To Live In Seattle

If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Seattle where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.

The most affordable neighborhoods in Seattle are High Point, Westlake, Admiral, Arbor Heights, Rainier Beach, Belltown, Seward Park, Crown Hill, Victory Heights, and Olympic Manor.

As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Seattle aren’t all cheap. Pioneer Square takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Seattle.

The most expensive neighborhoods in Seattle are Pioneer Square, Windermere, First Hill, Pinehurst, and Bitter Lake.

We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.

For more Washington reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Seattle For 2024

Rank Neighborhood Cost Of Living Index
1 High Point 135
2 Westlake 146
3 Admiral 162
4 Arbor Heights 157
5 Rainier Beach 138
6 Belltown 137
7 Seward Park 159
8 Crown Hill 160
9 Victory Heights 142
10 Olympic Manor 179
11 Montlake 191
12 South Delridge 131
13 Mount Baker 150
14 Industrial District 150
15 Magnolia 173
16 South Lake Union 147
17 Riverview 140
18 North Delridge 141
19 Columbia City 142
20 Whittier Heights 167
21 View Ridge 177
22 Roxhill 137
23 Sunset Hill 168
24 Highland Park 134
25 Blue Ridge 164
26 Meadowbrook 150
27 Wedgwood 165
28 Alki 173
29 Haller Lake 142
30 Greenwood 150
31 Hawthorne Hills 177
32 West Seattle 158
33 Matthews Beach 173
34 Loyal Heights 164
35 Roosevelt 164
36 Georgetown 137
37 Interbay 160
38 Broadview 155
39 Maple Leaf 160
40 North Beach 174
41 Bryant 167
42 Sand Point 145
43 Ballard 162
44 North College Park 142
45 Portage Bay 195
46 South Park 120
47 Ravenna 169
48 Broadmoor 239
49 Olympic Hills 135
50 Denny-Blaine 223
51 Leschi 174
52 Phinney Ridge 173
53 Fauntleroy 163
54 Laurelhurst 221
55 Wallingford 172
56 Beacon Hill 140
57 Downtown 155
58 Capitol Hill 161
59 Green Lake 175
60 Queen Anne 176
61 Madrona 177
62 Brighton 138
63 International District 128
64 Northgate 139
65 Cedar Park 149
66 Atlantic 142
67 Eastlake 165
68 Central District 151
69 Fremont 164
70 Madison Park 239
71 University District 134
72 Madison Valley 162
73 Lower Queen Anne 153
74 Bitter Lake 141
75 Pinehurst 147
76 First Hill 142
77 Windermere 212
78 Pioneer Square 170
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.