Changing Compensation Costs in the Seattle Metropolitan Area — December 2025

Compensation costs for private industry workers increased 3.5 percent in the Seattle-Tacoma, WA Combined Statistical Area (CSA) for the year ended December 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that one year ago, Seattle experienced an annual gain of 5.7 percent in compensation costs. (See chart 1 and table 1.) Nationwide, compensation costs rose 3.4 percent in December 2025.

Locally, wages and salaries, the largest component of compensation costs, advanced at a 3.6-percent pace for the 12-month period ended December 2025. (See chart 2.) Nationwide, wages and salaries rose 3.3 percent over the same period.

Seattle is 1 of 15 metropolitan areas in the United States and 1 of 4 areas in the West region of the country for which locality compensation cost data are available. Among these 15 largest areas, over-the-year percentage changes in compensation costs ranged from 4.9 percent in Chicago-Naperville to 1.9 percent in Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor in December 2025; for wages and salaries, Chicago-Naperville registered the largest increase (4.8 percent), and Washington-Baltimore-Arlington registered the smallest (2.4 percent). (See chart 3.)

The annual increase in compensation costs in Seattle was 3.5 percent in December 2025, compared to advances that ranged from 3.3 percent to 2.6 percent in the three other metropolitan areas in the West (Los Angeles-Long Beach, Phoenix-Mesa, and San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland). Seattle's 3.6-percent gain in wages and salaries over this 12-month period compared to rates ranging from 3.2 percent to 2.6 percent in the three other western localities. (See table 2.)

The Employment Cost Index for March 2026 is scheduled to be released on Thursday, April 30, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

Technical Note

Locality compensation costs are part of the national Employment Cost Index (ECI), which measures quarterly changes in compensation costs (wages and salaries and employer costs for employee benefits) free from the influence of employment shifts among occupations and industries. More information can be found in the national Employment Cost Index Technical Note. For information on survey concepts, coverage, methods, nonresponse adjustment, and imputation see the Employment Cost Index Handbook of Methods.

In addition to the data presented here, ECI national data by industry, occupational group, and union status, as well as data for civilian, private, and state and local government employees, are available on the Employment Cost Index website. The national Employment Cost Index Summary is also available online. Additional information for regions, states, and local areas may be accessed via our Western Information Office regional homepage.

The substate area data published in this news release reflect the Office of Management and Budget Bulletin No. 23-01, dated July 21, 2023. See the Tracking Wage Growth in American Cities page for more information on available geographies and their historical timelines.

Seattle-Tacoma, WA CSA includes Island, King, Kitsap, Lewis, Mason, Pierce, Skagit, Snohomish, and Thurston Counties in Washington.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Employment Cost Index 12-month percent changes for total compensation and for wages and salaries, private industry workers, United States, West Census region, and the Seattle area, not seasonally adjusted

Area	Total compensation (%)				Wages and salaries (%)
	Mar.	Jun.	Sep.	Dec.	Mar.	Jun.	Sep.	Dec.
United States
2021	2.8	3.1	4.1	4.4	3.0	3.5	4.6	5.0
2022	4.8	5.5	5.2	5.1	5.0	5.7	5.2	5.1
2023	4.8	4.5	4.3	4.1	5.1	4.6	4.5	4.3
2024	4.1	3.9	3.6	3.6	4.3	4.1	3.8	3.7
2025	3.4	3.5	3.5	3.4	3.4	3.5	3.6	3.3
West
2021	2.7	3.6	3.9	4.3	2.8	4.1	4.3	4.8
2022	5.1	5.5	5.1	5.4	5.3	5.6	5.5	5.7
2023	5.1	4.5	4.4	4.1	5.6	4.9	4.7	4.4
2024	4.1	4.6	4.4	4.3	4.3	4.9	4.6	4.4
2025	3.7	3.5	3.5	3.2	3.5	3.4	3.3	3.0
Seattle-Tacoma
2021	2.5	2.1	5.2	6.3	2.6	2.4	2.5	3.8
2022	7.8	8.7	3.0	3.2	4.5	5.4	5.9	6.2
2023	2.6	1.9	4.3	3.8	5.9	5.4	4.9	4.3
2024	3.5	4.3	4.4	5.7	3.9	4.6	4.7	5.7
2025	5.8	4.7	4.7	3.5	5.6	4.6	4.3	3.6

Table 2. Employment Cost Index 12-month percent changes for total compensation and for wages and salaries, private industry workers, United States, Census regions, and localities, not seasonally adjusted

Area	Total compensation (%)			Wages and salaries (%)
	Dec. 2024	Sep. 2025	Dec. 2025	Dec. 2024	Sep. 2025	Dec. 2025
United States	3.6	3.5	3.4	3.7	3.6	3.3
Northeast	3.3	3.6	3.5	3.5	3.6	3.4
Boston-Worcester-Providence	2.6	3.3	3.6	2.6	3.2	3.6
New York-Newark	2.8	3.8	3.4	3.0	3.9	3.3
Philadelphia-Reading-Camden	3.6	3.4	3.1	4.0	3.4	2.6
South	3.3	3.6	3.5	3.4	3.8	3.6
Atlanta-Athens-Clarke County-Sandy Springs	4.8	2.9	3.1	5.4	2.8	3.1
Dallas-Fort Worth	3.6	3.7	3.4	3.4	3.5	3.1
Houston-Pasadena	6.0	4.5	2.8	5.2	5.0	3.9
Miami-Port St. Lucie-Fort Lauderdale	2.5	5.7	4.7	2.9	5.9	4.7
Washington-Baltimore-Arlington	3.7	2.2	2.7	3.9	1.9	2.4
Midwest	3.3	3.4	3.4	3.3	3.5	3.4
Chicago-Naperville	2.7	4.0	4.9	2.7	3.9	4.8
Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor	4.5	2.1	1.9	3.8	3.3	3.1
Minneapolis-St. Paul	3.7	3.7	3.8	3.7	3.6	3.7
West	4.3	3.5	3.2	4.4	3.3	3.0
Los Angeles-Long Beach	4.2	3.4	3.3	4.3	3.4	3.2
Phoenix-Mesa	2.8	3.1	3.2	2.8	2.6	2.8
San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland	6.3	3.7	2.6	6.6	3.9	2.6
Seattle-Tacoma	5.7	4.7	3.5	5.7	4.3	3.6