2025 Compare Cities Economy:
Fairfax, VA vs Seattle, WA

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Highlights
- Household income in Seattle, is 11% less than it is in Fairfax and is 35% above the National Average.
- Fairfax unemployment rate is 4.3%.
- Seattle unemployment rate is 4.8%.
 Fairfax, VASeattle, WAUnited States
 Unemployment Rate  Unlock4.8%6.0%
 Recent Job Growth  Unlock2.6%1.6%
 Future Job Growth39.1%  Unlock33.5%
 Sales Taxes6.0%  Unlock6.2%
 Income Taxes  Unlock0.0%4.6%
 Income per Cap.$57,091  Unlock$37,638
 Household Income  Unlock$105,391$69,021
 Family Median Income$157,661  Unlock$85,028
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 Est. Households By Income
 Fairfax, VASeattle, WAUnited States
 Income Less Than 15K  Unlock7.8%9.4%
 Income between 15K and 20K1.8%  Unlock3.8%
 Income between 20K and 30K  Unlock4.4%8.1%
 Income between 30K and 40K5.1%  Unlock8.0%
 Income between 40K and 50K  Unlock5.0%7.6%
 Income between 50K and 60K2.9%  Unlock7.2%
 Income between 60K and 75K  Unlock7.2%9.6%
 Income between 75K and 100K11.7%  Unlock12.8%
 Income between 100K and 150K  Unlock17.9%16.3%
 Income between 150K and 200K15.4%  Unlock7.8%
 Income greater than 200K  Unlock22.7%9.5%
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 Population By Occupation
 Fairfax, VASeattle, WAUnited States
 Management, business, finance22.2%  Unlock16.4%
 Engineering, computers, science  Unlock18.4%6.5%
 Community, social services1.2%  Unlock1.8%
 Legal  Unlock2.3%1.2%
 Education, library9.0%  Unlock6.2%
 Arts, design, media, sports, entertainment  Unlock4.6%2.0%
 Healthcare practitioners and technology3.8%  Unlock6.2%
 Healthcare support  Unlock1.9%3.3%
 Firefighters, law enforcement2.5%  Unlock2.1%
 Food preparation, serving  Unlock5.5%5.4%
 Building maintenance3.1%  Unlock3.6%
 Personal care  Unlock2.6%2.6%
 Sales, office, administrative support15.1%  Unlock20.9%
 Farming, fishing, forestry  Unlock0.1%0.6%
 Construction, extraction, maintenance/repair3.5%  Unlock8.1%
 Production, transportation, material moving  Unlock5.4%13.1%
Reviews for Fairfax    28 Reviews

I lived in the area for 17 years through high school until I eventually became a truck driver. Having now seen most states extensively, I wanted to fairly review what  More

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Living in Fairfax, or any of the Northern Virginia suburbs of DC, means dealing with highways that are a Gordian knot of converging lanes and overpasses, making long  More

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Over 10 years ago

The Cost of living here is high. Though the standard of living is also high, unless you're making over 50,000/year, it's difficult to both live and build any sort of  More

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Reviews for Seattle    321 Reviews

I have lived here since 1975, I moved here from California but was born and raised in Michigan. I would have to say that I never regretted leaving Michigan and their  More

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Over 3 years ago

I’ve lived in Seattle for just under 7 years and while it can be a stunningly beautiful place, I am very excited to leave. I’ll start with some of the positive aspects.  More

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if you can afford it, Seattle is a very nice place to live and raise a family! however, it is extremely expensive and in the winter, it's rather gloomy. i love gloomy  More

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