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Washington
Washington starts in Seattle, on Salmon Bay, where Ballard kept the main street, harbor and civic habits of the stand alone city it was until 1907.
One Washington cost runs through every report in the state: the trade between income tax and everything else. Washington levies no personal income tax, so sales and property taxes carry more of the load. Seattle's combined sales tax rate is 10.55 percent in October 2026, and King County property tax is budget based, with combined levy rates expressed per $1,000 of assessed value and Seattle totals running around $10 per $1,000.
Metros
Seattle
Ship canal neighborhoods and absorbed small cities: Ballard's main street and Locks, Fremont's center, and the hill neighborhoods between them.
Spokane
River city neighborhoods under the basalt bluffs, from Browne's Addition to the South Hill.
Tacoma
Streetcar suburbs and waterfront districts on Commencement Bay, a step south of Seattle prices.
Bellingham
College town bayside neighborhoods between the Cascades and Bellingham Bay.
Latest Washington Report
Ballard, Seattle
The small city Seattle absorbed in 1907 and never quite digested: Ballard kept its own main street on Ballard Avenue, its fishing fleet at the Locks, and a Scandinavian heart that still fills Market Street every May, six miles northwest of downtown.
Median $949,542Walk Score 90About 6 miles to Downtown Seattle
Photo: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons