ZIP code 98109

ZIP 98109 is a small city in King County, Washington, with 32,552 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #85 of 605 ranked by population — larger than 86% of them. The median age here is 32.1 years against 39.1 nationally, a distinctly younger profile, typical of places with students, military posts or a fast-growing family population. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in ZIP 98109 earn a median of $130,845 a year, 66.6% above the national figure of $78,538. The median is the midpoint household, not an average, so a handful of very high earners cannot drag it upward the way they distort a mean. Poverty reaches 8.5% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 98109 is valued at $986,000, 225% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $2,329 a month, 65.6% above the national figure, or roughly $27,948 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 21.4% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 7.5×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is out of reach on local earnings alone and the ownership market leans on outside income, equity or dual high earners. 21.4% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, a renter-majority market, so rent figures matter more here than the home-value line. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

Home values sit at 7.5× median household income, far past the 3.9× national mark, so ownership costs here are set by something other than local wages — second homes, retirees with equity, or commuters earning elsewhere.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.

ZIP 98109 is tabulated inside King County, Washington, one of 86 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 605 across Washington. This is a dense urban ZIP, where a single postal boundary can hold more residents than an entire rural county. County assignment on this page follows the largest share of the ZIP's land area, which matters where a delivery route crosses a county line: mail addressed to 98109 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 98109 reports a median household income of $130,845, 3% above the $127,093 county median, and 62% above the $80,861 typical WA ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $986,000, 23% above the county figure and 134% above the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $2,329 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

A taxable purchase made inside 98109 carries 10.45% at the register, assembled from the Seattle jurisdiction stack: the Washington state rate plus every county, municipal and special district levy that reaches this address. Because those district boundaries were drawn for schools, transit and hospital funding rather than for mail delivery, two addresses inside 98109 can legitimately fall under different totals — the rate shown here is the one that applies to the dominant jurisdiction.

Everything above comes from the Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZIP Code Tabulation Area, with sales tax rates traced to the state revenue agency. Five-year estimates pool sixty months of responses, so they are stable enough to compare 98109 with its neighbours but always trail the current year, and any value the Census suppressed for sample size is shown as unpublished rather than filled in with a model.