Compensation costs for private industry workers in the Seattle-Tacoma, WA Combined Statistical Area (CSA) increased by 4.7 percent for the year ending September 2025, according to a report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund highlighted that this figure is slightly higher than last year’s annual gain of 4.4 percent in compensation costs. Nationwide, compensation costs rose by 3.5 percent during the same period.
Wages and salaries, which are the largest part of compensation costs, grew at a rate of 4.3 percent in Seattle over the past year. In comparison, wages and salaries across the country increased by 3.6 percent.
Seattle is one of fifteen metropolitan areas in the United States where locality compensation cost data are collected, and one of four such areas in the West region. Among these fifteen metropolitan areas, changes in compensation costs over the year ranged from a high of 5.7 percent in Miami-Port St. Lucie-Fort Lauderdale to a low of 2.1 percent in Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor as of September 2025; wage and salary increases ranged from Miami’s largest increase at 5.9 percent to Washington-Baltimore-Arlington’s smallest at 1.9 percent.
Within western metropolitan areas, Seattle recorded an annual increase in compensation costs of 4.7 percent, compared with gains ranging between 3.7 and 3.1 percent in Los Angeles-Long Beach, Phoenix-Mesa, and San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland. The growth rate for wages and salaries was also highest in Seattle at 4.3 percent, while other western localities reported rates between 3.9 and 2.6 percent.
“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,” according to information provided by the Bureau.
Additional details about survey concepts, coverage, methods, nonresponse adjustment, imputation techniques can be found through resources such as the National Compensation Measures Handbook of Methods or via their regional homepage for more information about regions, states, or local areas.
The Seattle-Tacoma CSA includes Island, King, Kitsap, Lewis, Mason, Pierce, Skagit, Snohomish, and Thurston Counties.
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