Washington

What is considered middle class in Washington state? See income ranges across the country

Published

12 months ago

March 11, 2025

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What is considered middle class in Washington state? See income ranges across the country

A new study found that in Washington state, you can make more than $200,000 and still be considered middle class.

In a study released late February, SmartAsset, which provides consumer-focused financial information, calculated the middle-class income ranges for every state and major city in the United States. In Washington, a household can be considered middle class if it makes between $63,064 and $189,210. However, that range can change at the city level.

The study found that the “upper bounds” of middle-class income in Seattle were $241,216, and in Spokane, it was $130,032.

SmartAsset used U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey 1-year data and analyzed the median household income in 100 of the largest U.S. cities and all states. SmartAsset used “a variation” of the Pew Research Center’s definition of middle-income households to determine the middle-class income range, “which defines a middle-class salary range by two-thirds to double” the median salary.

The median income in Washington is $94,605, according to SmartAsset.

Washington is the state with the seventh-highest income needed by a household to remain middle class, following Maryland, New Hampshire, California, and Hawaii.

See the top 10 cities in the country with the highest middle-class income ranges, according to SmartAsset

Arlington, Virginia: $93,470-$280,438
San Jose, California: $90,810-$272,458
Irvine, California: $85,317-$255,978
San Francisco, California: $84,478-$253,460
Gilbert, Arizona: $81,622-$244,890
Seattle, Washington: $80,397-$241,216
Plano, Texas: $72,133-$216,420
Chula Vista, California: $71,075-$213,246
Scottsdale, Arizona: $70,698-$212,116

What is upper-middle-class income in Washington?

Meanwhile, a study from GOBankingRates released in March revealed the upper middle-class income ranges in every state in the U.S. The upper middle-class income is “represented by the top third of incomes within the middle-class income range,” according to the study.

In Washington, the upper-middle-class income ranges from $147,704 to $189,904. That’s among the highest upper-middle-class income ranges in America, only beaten by New Hampshire, California, Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

GOBankingRates used the 2023 American Community Survey to determine every state’s median household income to find its middle-class income range (also using a definition where middle-class income is two-thirds to double the income of an area).

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Washington

Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury announces she’s pregnant

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

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Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury announces she’s pregnant

Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury has announced that she and her husband Matt are expecting a baby in July.

The couple made the announcement in a video on the Spirit’s social media channels, holding a baby goalkeeper jersey on the pitch at Audi Field.

Kingsbury becomes the most recent Spirit star to go on maternity leave, following defender Casey Krueger, midfielder Andi Sullivan and forward Ashley Hatch.

Sullivan gave birth to daughter Millie in July, while Hatch welcomed her son Leo in January.

Krueger announced she was pregnant with her second child in October.

Kingsbury has served as the Spirit’s starting goalkeeper since 2018, and has been named the NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year twice (2019 and 2021).

The 34-year-old has two caps with the U.S. women’s national team, and was named to the 2023 World Cup roster.

The club captain will leave a major void for the Spirit, who have finished as NWSL runner-up in back-to-back seasons.

Sandy MacIver and Kaylie Collins are expected to compete for the starting role while Kingsbury is on maternity leave.

The Spirit kick off their 2026 campaign on March 13 against the Portland Thorns.

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Washington

Washington state board awards Yakima $985,600 loan for Sixth Avenue project design

Published

2 days ago

February 26, 2026

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Washington state board awards Yakima 5,600 loan for Sixth Avenue project design

YAKIMA, Wash. — Yakima could soon take a major step toward redesigning Sixth Avenue after the Washington State Public Works Board awarded the city a $985,600 loan.

The loan was approved for the design engineering phase of the Sixth Avenue project. The funding can also be used along Sixth Avenue for utility replacement and updated ADA use.

The Yakima City Council must decide whether to accept the award. If the council accepts it, the city’s engineering work will move forward with the design of Sixth Avenue.

The cost of installing trolley lines is excluded from the plan. The historic trolleys would need to raise the funds required to add trolley lines.

The award is scheduled to be discussed during next week’s City Council meeting.

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Washington

Microsoft promises more AI investments at University of Washington

Published

2 days ago

February 25, 2026

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Microsoft promises more AI investments at University of Washington

Microsoft will ramp up its investment in the University of Washington.

Brad Smith, the company’s president, made the announcement at a press conference with University of Washington President Robert Jones on Tuesday.

That means hiring more UW graduates as interns at Microsoft, he said.

And he said all students, faculty, and researchers should have access to free, or at least deeply-discounted, AI.

“ Some of it is compute that Microsoft is donating, and some of it is pursuant to an agreement where, believe me, we give the University of Washington probably the best pricing that anybody’s gonna find anywhere,” Smith said. He assured the small group of reporters present that it would be “many millions of dollars of additional computational resources.”

The announcement today didn’t include any specific numbers.

But Smith said Microsoft has already invested $165 million in the UW over several decades.

He pointed to Jones’ vision to spur “radical collaborations with businesses and communities to advance positive change,” and eliminate “any artificial barriers between the university and the communities it serves.”

Microsoft’s goal is for AI to help UW researchers solve some of the world’s biggest problems without introducing new ones.

At Tuesday’s announcement, several research students were present to demonstrate how AI supports their work.

Amelia Keyser-Gibson is an environmental scientist at the UW. She’s using AI to analyze photographs of vines, to find which adapt best to climate change.

It’s a paradox: AI produces carbon emissions. At the same time, it’s also a new tool to help reduce them.

So how do those things square for Keyser-Gibson?

“ That’s a great question, and honestly, I don’t know the answer to that,” she said. “I’m highly aware that there’s a lot of environmental impact of using AI, but what I can say is that this has allowed us to make research innovations that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.”

“If we had had to manually annotate every single image that would’ve been an undergrad doing that for hours,” Keyser-Gibson continued. “And we didn’t have the budget. We didn’t have the manpower to do that.”

“AI exists. If we don’t use it as researchers, we’re gonna fall behind.”

Microsoft reports on its own carbon emissions. But like most AI companies, it doesn’t reveal everything.

That’s one reason another UW student named Zhihan Zhang is using AI to estimate how much energy AI is using.

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