Bellevue vs Seattle

A side-by-side comparison of Bellevue and Seattle: population, income, housing, and more.

Bellevue and Seattle are places in Washington. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Seattle has the higher population (741,440 vs 151,199 in Bellevue). Bellevue has the higher median household income ($161,300 vs $121,984 in Seattle). Bellevue has the higher median home value ($1,203,100 vs $912,100 in Seattle).

Population, income & housing

	Bellevue	Seattle
Population	151,199	741,440
Median age	38.3 yrs	35.5 yrs
Median household income	$161,300	$121,984
Median home value	$1,203,100	$912,100
Median gross rent	$2,505	$1,998
Housing units	65,536	382,933
Homeownership rate	51.9%	44.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	71.4%	67.5%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bellevue	Seattle
Population	144,403 → 151,199 (+4.7%)	724,305 → 741,440 (+2.4%)
Median household income	$120,456 → $161,300 (+33.9%)	$92,263 → $121,984 (+32.2%)
Median home value	$809,200 → $1,203,100 (+48.7%)	$663,100 → $912,100 (+37.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,947 → $2,505 (+28.7%)	$1,614 → $1,998 (+23.8%)

Bellevue

Population

144,403151,199

Median household income

$120,456$161,300

Median home value

$809,200$1,203,100

Median gross rent

$1,947$2,505

Seattle

Population

724,305741,440

Median household income

$92,263$121,984

Median home value

$663,100$912,100

Median gross rent

$1,614$1,998

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bellevue	Seattle
Under 5	4.7%	4.2%
5 to 17	15.3%	9.8%
18 to 24	6.6%	10.1%
25 to 34	18.2%	24.9%
35 to 44	15.7%	16.3%
45 to 54	13.5%	12.2%
55 to 64	11.5%	9.8%
65 to 74	7.7%	7.7%
75 and over	6.8%	5.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bellevue	Seattle
White (non-Hispanic)	42.4%	59.9%
Black or African American	2.1%	6.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.3%
Asian	40.9%	17.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.3%
Some other race	0.6%	0.6%
Two or more races	5.0%	7.2%
Hispanic or Latino	8.5%	8.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bellevue	Seattle
No high school diploma	4.3%	4.3%
High school graduate	8.4%	9.5%
Some college or associate's	15.9%	18.7%
Bachelor's degree	36.2%	37.6%
Graduate or professional degree	35.2%	30.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bellevue	Seattle
Drove alone	47.0%	37.6%
Carpooled	7.3%	5.1%
Public transit	5.9%	13.9%
Walked	4.8%	8.3%
Bicycle	0.5%	2.5%
Worked from home	32.8%	31.3%
Other means	1.7%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bellevue	Seattle
1-unit, detached	47.2%	37.9%
1-unit, attached	5.4%	5.9%
2 to 4 units	5.3%	5.5%
5 to 19 units	12.3%	12.4%
20 or more units	29.8%	38.1%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Bellevue	Seattle
Poverty rate	7.3%	9.9%
Average household size	2.44	2.03
Mean commute (minutes)	24	27
Median year structure built	1981	1974