Housing Facts

Quick Housing Facts

  • King County is the 13th largest county in the United States by population with over 2 million residents.
  • The Housing Wage for a two-bedroom apartment in King County is $27.21.This is the amount a full-time (40 hours per week) worker must earn per hour in order to afford the fair market two-bedroom apartment rent of $1,415 (Source: NLIHC Out of Reach Report 2015; Fair market rent defined here).
  • A worker earning the current state minimum wage of $9.47 in King County must work 115 hours just to pay rent on a two-bedroom apartment at the $1,415 monthly cost (Source: NLIHC Out of Reach Report 2015).
  • 22.8% of King County renter households make less than 30% of area median income. Yet, only 10% of apartments in the county are affordable to these households (Source: King County Comprehensive Plan 2012, Technical Appendix B: Housing).
  • Over 43.5% of renter households in King County are paying more than they can afford in housing costs (Source: Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy Data, US Department of Housing and Urban Development).
  • Over 10,000 people–men, women and children–are homeless in King County on an average night (Source: Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness, 2015 One Night Count).
  • HDC members provide more than 50,000 units of affordable housing via new construction, preservation/rehabilitation and vouchers in the King County region.

HDC members develop all kinds of apartments and homes. These include:

  • Multi-family apartments
  • Single-family ownership homes, townhomes and condominiums
  • Single-room-occupancy apartments
  • Mixed-use residential apartments
  • Artist live/work lofts
  • Cooperative housing
  • Group homes
  • New construction and rehabilitation projects
  • Preservation projects