Seattle, WA · Boise, ID
Boise is 31% cheaper than Seattle overall.
Home Price
Seattle: $780,000
Boise: $435,000
Monthly Rent
Seattle: $1,800/mo
Boise: $1,298/mo
COL Index
Seattle: 156
Boise: 107
Median Income
Seattle: $102,900
Boise: $70,400
Median Home Price
Monthly Rent (Median)
Median Household Income
Property Tax Rate
Cost of Living Index
100 = national average
Avg. Commute
Unemployment Rate
Median Age
A $100,000 salary in Seattle has the same purchasing power as $68,590 in Boise — based on each city's cost of living index.
Homes in Boise cost 44% more (-$345,000 extra). Expect a larger mortgage and down payment.
Renting in Boise saves you $502/month — $6,024 per year. Median rent: $1,800/mo in Seattle vs $1,298/mo in Boise.
On a median-priced home, Seattle owners pay roughly $7,176/year in property taxes vs $2,741/year in Boise. That's a $4,436 annual difference.
Median household income is $102,900 in Seattle and $70,400 in Boise. Boise residents earn 32% more — but remember to factor in cost of living.
Average commute is 30 minutes in Seattle vs 22 minutes in Boise. Over a year, that's 4000 extra minutes (67 hours) of commuting in Seattle.
To maintain the same lifestyle when moving from Seattle to Boise, here's the salary you'd need:
| Salary in Seattle | Equivalent in Boise | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $34,295 | -$15,705 |
| $75,000 | $51,442 | -$23,558 |
| $100,000 | $68,590 | -$31,410 |
| $150,000 | $102,885 | -$47,115 |
| $200,000 | $137,179 | -$62,821 |
* Calculated using cost of living indices (national average = 100). Does not account for state income tax differences.
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Cost of Living
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Based on cost of living indices, Boise is cheaper overall. Seattle has a COL index of 156 while Boise scores 107 (national average = 100).
The median home price in Seattle is $780,000 vs $435,000 in Boise — a difference of $345,000 (44%).
Use the salary equivalence table above. For example, a $100K salary in Seattle is equivalent to $68,590 in Boise in terms of purchasing power.
Boise has a lower property tax rate (0.63% vs 0.92%). On a median-priced home, that means paying $2,741/year vs $7,176/year.
Median monthly rent: $1,800 in Seattle vs $1,298 in Boise. Annualized: $21,600 vs $15,576.
Seattle: $102,900/yr. Boise: $70,400/yr (Census ACS).
Lower-cost Boise typically lets remote-workers keeping a coastal salary stretch further. Higher-cost cities usually win on amenities and labor-market depth.
Numbers are pulled from Zillow ZHVI/ZORI (home values, rent), the U.S. Census Bureau ACS (income), and BEA RPP (cost-of-living index). Each value is timestamped on the page.
Source feeds refresh on their native cadence — hourly for mortgage rates, monthly for ZHVI/ZORI, annually for ACS. Page caches revalidate every 24 hours via Next.js ISR.
No. This page is educational reference using public data and standard formulas. It is not personalized tax, legal, or investment advice. Consult a licensed professional for material decisions.
City-level metrics (median home price, median rent, median household income, property tax rate, COL index, commute, unemployment, median age) are sourced from Zillow ZHVI/ZORI[1], Census ACS 5-year estimates[2], BEA Regional Price Parities[3], Tax Foundation[4], and BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics[5].
The Cost of Living Index uses 100 = national average (C2ER methodology[6]): values above 100 indicate a city is more expensive than the national average, below 100 less expensive.
Salary equivalence uses the ratio adjustedSalary = salary × (colDestination / colOrigin). This accounts for cost-of-living differences but does not model state income tax variation, which can be significant.
Annual property tax is computed as medianHomePrice × propertyTaxRate. Actual assessed value may differ from sale price. Effective rates vary within a metro; these are metro-wide medians.
Commute-hours calculations assume 250 working days/year and a round-trip commute. "Tied" in the comparison table means values within ±1% of each other.
Last reviewed reflects the maximum retrievedAt timestamp across every sourced dataset feeding this page. When any source refreshes, the next ISR revalidation (every 24 hours) picks the new date.
Cost of living data sourced from [6] C2ER, [2] U.S. Census Bureau, and [1] Zillow Research. Tax rates from [4] Tax Foundation. Last reviewed .