Seattle's 3.2% Salary Growth in Past Year is Tops in U.S.

According to the payroll index at PayScale.com, Seattle saw the largest increase in overall salaries in the U.S. this past year.  As reported by the Puget Sound Business Journal, the 3.2% increase in year-over-year wages for the greater Seattle metropolitan area claimed the top growth of the year, followed by Houston, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Dallas.

Following positive news on Seattle leading a resurgence of new construction in the U.S., continually shrinking inventories of homes for sale, increasing numbers of multiple-offer purchases, and rising prices in some sought-after neighborhoods, there are a plethora of new signs pointing to a healthier economy and real estate market in the Seattle area.

From the PSBJ article:

Despite being beat out by Austin, Texas, earlier this year for technology startup salaries, Seattle saw 3.2 percent overall salary growth, compared to 1.4 percent salary growth nationwide.

This is a significant increase over last year’s PayScale report, which found the region up only 0.7 percent between the first quarters of 2010 and 2011. It's also a marked improvement over the 2009/2010 index, which showed Seattle salaries dropping by 2 percent.

This year, Seattle was followed by the Houston, Texas, area, with 2.7 percent growth, and Philadelphia with 1.8 percent.

Nationally, salaries in the IT, media and telecommunications industries grew by 1.5 percent. Construction salaries were also up, by 1.8 percent – the most growth the industry has seen since 2009. Food-service salaries, meanwhile, were down.

2011 Award Recipient - Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate Sales

Source: NWMLS Data - This information was not compiled or published by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service