Wealthy King County residents leave with billions as lower-income newcomers arrive
By Neetish Basnet – Reporter, Puget Sound Business Journal
May 25, 2026
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What’s This?
- King County lost around $2.19 billion in adjusted gross income as wealthier residents moved out and lower-earning residents moved in.
- Neighboring Snohomish and Pierce counties absorbed most departing residents seeking lower housing costs.
- Washington state lost 8,291 filers with $547.8 million in adjusted gross income statewide.
King County continued to funnel wealth outward after the pandemic.
A net exporter of earning power, the county lost $9.12 billion in adjusted gross income when 68,606 tax filers moved out between the 2022 and 2023 tax years, according to most recently available IRS data. Meanwhile, 67,282 moved into the county with a combined AGI of $6.93 billion.
That represents a 1.3% reduction in the county’s roughly $167 billion income base, which is still the seventh largest in the U.S.
“We’ve definitely cooled off,” Seattle University economics professor Joseph Phillips told the Business Journal. “It’s not like things are terrible. But we certainly don’t have the reputation that we’re still the hot spot nationally.”
Layoffs may have been a contributing factor. Following a rapid pandemic-era expansion, employers recalibrated workforce needs as business conditions changed and office vacancies soared. Amazon began a yearlong purge of its workforce in 2022 that ultimately affected about 27,000 employees, including 2,300 in Seattle and Bellevue. Microsoft also announced 10,000 job cuts companywide in January 2023.
By 2024, the Seattle metro area had erased all the job gains it made earlier in the decade.
King County’s wealth migration remained notably local, though.
Of those who left King County in 2023, 10,534 (17%) moved to Snohomish County and 9,291 (15%) moved to Pierce County. The biggest out-of-state gainer was Los Angeles County, with 1,799 (3%) former King County residents opting for Southern California.
“Proximity matters in situations like this,” Phillips said. “Especially if you have strong family or personal network ties that are important to you. So, if I go and live in Snohomish County, I can still come to visit my friends and see them.”
The migration pattern also suggests many residents relocated in search of lower costs and higher quality of life. As housing costs surged, King County has become increasingly out of reach for many households.
The median home in King County this April sold for $859,000, according to Northwest Multiple Listing Service. In Snohomish County and Pierce County, the median sales price was $750,000 and $580,000, respectively.
Would-be homebuyers and renters leaving King County could more easily break into the neighboring housing markets, the IRS data shows.
The average gross income of filers who left King County to Snohomish County was $127,915. King County drew 7,334 residents from Snohomish County, with an average income of $96,853.
In Pierce County, incoming residents from King County earned $81,093 on average, compared to $68,323 on average for those leaving for King County.
Wealthier families are relatively more mobile and sensitive to economic and political shifts, Phillips said. If the migration trend persists, the problems residents sought to leave behind could “catch up someday,” he added.
“But – setting aside the question, ‘Is government keeping up with the infrastructure?’– I would say it would take a while for something like that to happen … where Snohomish County’s advantage went away or significantly changed, and that people no longer felt that it was worth the move,” Phillips said.
Looking at wealth migration beyond the Seattle area, Washington saw a net loss of 8,291 filers with $547.8 million in AGI between 2022 and 2023. That was one year after the state’s 7% capital gains tax took effect.
This March, the Legislature passed a 9.9% tax on income above $1 million per household. The law will take effect in 2028, but whether the new tax will accelerate the outflow of wealth remains to be seen.
“I’m sure it will,” Phillips said. “The question is, how much, how large an effect is it going to be? How many families will, in the end, decide to leave? Obviously, it’s too early to know that.”
Sunbelt migration hot spots
The South became a “domestic migration powerhouse” in the aftermath of the pandemic. Counties in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas topped census migration rankings, with larger cities often attracting 30,000 or more new residents annually.
According to the IRS data, the top metro areas for net migration between 2022 and 2023 were Dallas; Houston; Tampa, Florida; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Lakeland, Florida. All gained at least 18,000 individuals.
Those increases don’t just represent population. They also represent gains in wealth and earnings.
Palm Beach, Florida, for instance, posted an increase of $3.02 billion in adjusted gross income between 2022 and 2023. The average adjusted gross income for people coming to the Palm Beach County was $177,212 while the income for people moving out was $98,618.