Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · September 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA MSA — September 2026
Seattle flatlines region-wide while Bellevue quietly pulls ahead.
Seattle has lost 18,605 jobs since 2024 while Bellevue gained 5,375, and metro-wide employment growth of just 1.7% trails Austin's roughly 25% over the same period.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Metro unemployment rate: 4.9% — vs 4.2% national, 4.5% Washington state
- Seattle vs. Bellevue job shift: -18,605 vs +5,375 — Jobs lost/gained since 2024, same metro
- Metro compensation cost growth: 4.0% — YoY through June 2026, vs 3.4% national
- Regional employment growth since 2022: 1.7% — vs ~25% Austin, ~14% Dallas-Fort Worth/Nashville
Key takeaways
Seattle's job losses and Bellevue's gains are not the same story.
Seattle shed 18,605 jobs since 2024 while Bellevue added 5,375 and Tacoma gained 662, pointing to an intra-metro reallocation of economic activity rather than a region-wide contraction. Economic development framing built on metro-wide averages risks masking which jurisdictions are actually gaining ground.
Regional growth has fallen far behind peer metros.
Nonfarm employment rose just 1.7% regionally since 2024, compared with roughly 25% in Austin and 14% in Dallas-Fort Worth and Nashville. That gap is a more consequential signal for long-run competitiveness than any single month's job count.
Pay is rising faster locally than wages can keep up with prices.
Private-industry compensation costs climbed 4.0% year-over-year in the metro through June, above the national 3.4% and state's 3.1%, yet statewide inflation near 3.5% still erodes real purchasing power. Elevated nominal compensation growth coexisting with flat job counts points to a market rewarding scarce specialized skill rather than broad-based expansion.
Healthcare and education are the metro's steadiest sectors right now.
Washington's education and health services sector added 10,300 jobs statewide even as retail lost 4,700 and information technology lost 3,200 year-over-year. For a metro anchored by tech and aerospace, that shift toward healthcare-driven stability is a notable change in the composition of local economic activity.
Median advertised pay by role — Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $35,786 | $41,600 | $45,536 | Stable | $33,325 |
| Retail Cashier | $35,630 | $39,520 | $44,304 | Stable | $31,200 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $38,195 | $44,855 | $46,935 | Stable | $38,000 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $60,320 | $74,565 | $82,420 | Moderate increase | $78,000 |
| Delivery Driver | $36,311 | $45,760 | $52,280 | Moderate increase | $34,344 |
| Construction Laborer | $41,254 | $49,920 | $53,040 | Stable | $40,560 |
| Electrician | $66,069 | $83,200 | $93,829 | Significant increase | $71,404 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $38,615 | $46,800 | $52,000 | Moderate decline | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $38,061 | $44,505 | $47,840 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $35,832 | $44,720 | $47,741 | Moderate decline | $33,756 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $44,720 | $50,773 | $53,040 | Stable | $41,106 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $38,473 | $51,750 | $57,067 | Moderate increase | $43,680 |
| HVAC Technician | $67,086 | $81,120 | $94,295 | Moderate increase | $70,720 |
| Registered Nurse | $97,500 | $116,615 | $126,935 | Moderate increase | $102,581 |
| Software Engineer | $129,165 | $171,720 | $190,000 | Moderate increase | $153,652 |
| Data Engineer | $99,172 | $145,954 | $159,248 | Moderate increase | $139,500 |
| Accountant | $61,529 | $75,920 | $84,711 | Moderate increase | $72,182 |
| Financial Analyst | $88,650 | $101,200 | $105,750 | Moderate increase | $94,782 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $62,608 | $83,567 | $90,633 | Significant increase | $75,000 |
| Marketing Specialist | $46,544 | $64,564 | $75,474 | Stable | $62,354 |
| Operations Manager | $79,389 | $100,249 | $105,000 | Significant decline | $85,216 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $45,760 | $61,911 | $70,720 | Moderate increase | $56,731 |
| Account Manager | $69,045 | $101,013 | $125,838 | Significant increase | $92,749 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $51,506 | $75,000 | $80,000 | Significant increase | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $83,970 | $103,909 | $112,988 | Moderate increase | $98,279 |
* State-level figure shown where metro postings were too few.
WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings (reported as the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay). Download: CSV · JSON
Industry snapshot
| Sector | Median advertised pay | Pay trend | Postings trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | $79,856 | Moderate increase | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $112,312 | Significant increase | Moderate decline |
| Retail Trade | $64,022 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $74,497 | Moderate decline | Moderate decline |
| Information | $149,672 | Significant increase | Significant decline |
| Financial Activities | $97,571 | Significant increase | Significant decline |
| Professional & Business Services | $129,100 | Stable | Moderate decline |
| Education & Health Services | $74,880 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $44,720 | Stable | Significant increase |
| Government | $77,252 | Significant increase | Significant decline |
Local market conditions
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue employment has gone essentially flat since 2022, with the metro losing an average 550 jobs monthly in 2026 even as Bellevue added 5,375 jobs and Tacoma gained 662 since 2024 — a geographic redistribution rather than a uniform downturn. Total compensation costs rose 4.0% year-over-year through June, outpacing both the national 3.4% figure and statewide wage growth of 3.1%, even as the metro's 4.9% unemployment rate sits above the national 4.2% reading.
What it means
Divergence between Seattle proper's job losses and Bellevue's gains suggests commercial investment and site-selection decisions increasingly hinge on sub-metro geography rather than metro-wide conditions, a pattern worth factoring into any assessment of where local economic momentum actually sits. Elevated compensation growth alongside flat headcount is consistent with an economy still paying up for specialized technical and clinical talent while broader job creation stalls, a combination that complicates any simple read on whether the business climate here is expanding or contracting. Civic and commerce leaders should consider tracking job growth and compensation trends at the city level, not just the metro level, before drawing conclusions about overall economic trajectory.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Whether Bellevue's job gains continue to outpace Seattle's losses in coming months will clarify whether this is a durable geographic shift in the metro's center of economic gravity or a temporary artifact of a few large relocations.
Emerging pressure point: Washington state WARN filings remain concentrated in tech, fulfillment, and manufacturing, with Amazon's 2,198-position cut across Bellevue and Redmond the largest single notice in 2026. Track whether released workers reappear in new local postings or leave the region entirely, a signal for local consumer spending capacity.
Potential inflection point: National payroll growth slowed sharply to 29,000 in September with downward revisions to July and August, while Washington lost roughly 14,500 jobs the same month. If the state's 'low hire, low fire' pattern persists through year-end, local business investment decisions may increasingly hinge on cost stability rather than growth expectations.
Early indicator: Healthcare sector WARN activity, including MultiCare's 138-worker notice, is an unusual signal in a sector that has otherwise been a stabilizing force statewide. A second consecutive month of healthcare-sector layoff notices would mark a meaningful shift in the metro's most reliable job-creating industry.
Methodology
Advertised pay from active employer job postings, not survey data. WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings: distribution analysis shows roughly the lowest 10% of raw values are erroneous entries, so the reported median is the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay. WageScape observes 98% of U.S. job openings daily.
Free to read and cite with attribution to WageScape. Terms of use.