Median sale price tells you what kind of house sold. Price per square foot tells you what the market actually paid for space — and in the first half of 2026 those two measures pulled apart across Greater Seattle in a way that is easy to misread. Ranked on single-family price per square foot, thirty-eight of the forty-six cities with a reliable sample lost ground against the first half of 2025, and the losses were largest in exactly the places that led the region's price growth from 2020 through 2024. The gains, meanwhile, showed up on the outer edge of the metro, in the cities buyers move to when the core stops penciling.
Key takeaways
Enumclaw led Greater Seattle at +7.5% per square foot, followed by DuPont (+7.3%) and Edmonds (+6.4%). Buckley (-13.4%) and Black Diamond (-13.4%) posted the steepest declines, both heavily influenced by new-construction mix. Among the region's core job-center cities, Bellevue fell 7.3%, Kirkland 7.0%, Sammamish 7.7% and Redmond 6.6%, while Seattle held up better at -2.4%. Absolute price per square foot still ranks Mercer Island ($797), Bellevue ($715), Kirkland ($714) and Redmond ($697) at the top of the region.
How this ranking is built
The figures below cover single-family homes only, comparing January through June 2026 with January through June 2025, using a sales-weighted average of quarterly median price per square foot from Redfin data through June 30, 2026 (fetched August 8, 2026). Only cities that closed at least fifty single-family sales in both halves are shown, which is why some small but well-known cities — Medina, Clyde Hill, Yarrow Point, Woodinville — are absent. Those markets close too few homes in six months for a percentage change to mean anything; a single trophy sale can move the number ten points.
Two words of caution before you read the table as a verdict on your own home. First, price per square foot is a mix-sensitive measure: a half-year in which more small, older homes sell will pull a city's number down even if every individual property held its value. Second, a city-level change is not a valuation. Within Bellevue, a Somerset home on a strong assignment and a 1970s Crossroads rambler did not move together in the first half of 2026, and averaging them produces a number that describes neither.
Greater Seattle single-family price per square foot, H1 2026 vs H1 2025
| Rank | City | H1 2026 $/sq ft | H1 2025 $/sq ft | Change | H1 2026 sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Enumclaw | $365.95 | $340.42 | +7.5% | 91 |
| 2 | DuPont | $295.32 | $275.14 | +7.3% | 62 |
| 3 | Edmonds | $560.38 | $526.67 | +6.4% | 195 |
| 4 | Sultan | $308.30 | $293.44 | +5.1% | 74 |
| 5 | Lakewood | $336.11 | $322.24 | +4.3% | 219 |
| 6 | University Place | $350.28 | $337.12 | +3.9% | 144 |
| 7 | Arlington | $381.81 | $371.80 | +2.7% | 87 |
| 8 | Tacoma | $329.15 | $326.98 | +0.7% | 1,094 |
| 9 | Everett | $401.69 | $402.37 | -0.2% | 283 |
| 10 | Des Moines | $377.65 | $378.43 | -0.2% | 106 |
| 11 | Gig Harbor | $392.06 | $393.08 | -0.3% | 335 |
| 12 | Shoreline | $515.81 | $518.52 | -0.5% | 229 |
| 13 | Auburn | $322.83 | $326.20 | -1.0% | 288 |
| 14 | Newcastle | $589.72 | $597.59 | -1.3% | 75 |
| 15 | North Bend | $464.60 | $471.02 | -1.4% | 60 |
| 16 | Burien | $412.93 | $419.35 | -1.5% | 161 |
| 17 | Seattle | $571.12 | $585.22 | -2.4% | 2,545 |
| 18 | Marysville | $350.38 | $359.12 | -2.4% | 415 |
| 19 | Puyallup | $303.54 | $311.72 | -2.6% | 191 |
| 20 | Maple Valley | $376.97 | $387.78 | -2.8% | 148 |
| 21 | Federal Way | $321.58 | $331.79 | -3.1% | 281 |
| 22 | Monroe | $347.69 | $359.20 | -3.2% | 97 |
| 23 | Lynnwood | $447.21 | $462.04 | -3.2% | 116 |
| 24 | Mukilteo | $435.83 | $450.63 | -3.3% | 75 |
| 25 | Covington | $338.42 | $352.39 | -4.0% | 138 |
| 26 | Mill Creek | $473.20 | $493.48 | -4.1% | 52 |
| 27 | Bonney Lake | $313.08 | $326.79 | -4.2% | 121 |
| 28 | Kent | $345.09 | $360.32 | -4.2% | 335 |
| 29 | Bothell | $538.12 | $563.16 | -4.4% | 162 |
| 30 | Renton | $422.46 | $443.82 | -4.8% | 296 |
| 31 | Lake Stevens | $359.29 | $378.54 | -5.1% | 199 |
| 32 | Duvall | $435.38 | $460.05 | -5.4% | 64 |
| 33 | Mountlake Terrace | $498.15 | $527.78 | -5.6% | 66 |
| 34 | Lake Forest Park | $469.28 | $497.85 | -5.7% | 75 |
| 35 | Snoqualmie | $470.86 | $500.35 | -5.9% | 51 |
| 36 | Mercer Island | $796.65 | $848.60 | -6.1% | 95 |
| 37 | Issaquah | $599.99 | $639.90 | -6.2% | 115 |
| 38 | Redmond | $697.07 | $746.35 | -6.6% | 169 |
| 39 | Kenmore | $504.69 | $541.83 | -6.9% | 100 |
| 40 | Kirkland | $713.91 | $767.70 | -7.0% | 399 |
| 41 | Bellevue | $714.82 | $770.88 | -7.3% | 501 |
| 42 | Sammamish | $600.07 | $650.44 | -7.7% | 290 |
| 43 | Edgewood | $310.93 | $338.91 | -8.3% | 81 |
| 44 | Stanwood | $302.85 | $337.95 | -10.4% | 76 |
| 45 | Black Diamond | $350.38 | $404.39 | -13.4% | 108 |
| 46 | Buckley | $282.66 | $326.52 | -13.4% | 84 |
The pattern: the premium tier gave back more than the value tier
Line up the bottom of the ranking and a clear group appears — Bellevue, Kirkland, Sammamish, Redmond, Kenmore, Issaquah and Mercer Island all fell between 6% and 8% per square foot. These are the highest-priced markets in the region and the ones most tightly coupled to technology compensation, equity vesting and relocation. When buyers in that tier hesitate, they hesitate together, and the effect shows up as a broad Eastside repricing rather than a few discounted sales.
Seattle's -2.4% is the important contrast. The city closed 2,545 single-family sales in the first half, more than any other market in the region, and a market that deep is far harder to move. Its per-square-foot value slipped modestly while the Eastside gave back roughly three times as much. For a buyer choosing between the two, that is the first time in five years the relative math has favored the Eastside.
The gainers are affordability plays, with one exception
Enumclaw, DuPont, Sultan, Lakewood, University Place and Arlington all sit under $400 per square foot, and all gained. That is the classic pattern of a market where the payment, not the price, is the binding constraint: demand rolls outward until it finds a monthly number that works. Tacoma's +0.7% across 1,094 sales matters more than its small size suggests, because a market that large moving up at all means the South Sound bid is broad rather than anecdotal.
Edmonds is the exception worth studying. At $560 per square foot it is a premium market, and it gained 6.4% while every comparable premium market fell. The drivers are the ones we hear directly in showings — a genuine walkable downtown, waterfront and ferry access, and a supply of homes that simply cannot expand. Buyers who would have targeted Kirkland five years ago increasingly write on Edmonds instead, and the north-end pipeline of relocating families has not thinned.
Reading the outliers honestly
Black Diamond and Buckley both show double-digit declines, and both are heavily influenced by new construction. When a builder closes out a phase of larger homes in one half and opens a phase of smaller plans in the next, the city's average price per square foot moves sharply without a single existing homeowner losing value. Stanwood and Edgewood carry a similar caveat at smaller scale. If you own in one of these cities, do not price your home off the citywide number — price it off closed sales of comparable plans in your own community.
What this means if you are buying in the second half of 2026
The most actionable read is that the Eastside premium has compressed. Bellevue at $715 per square foot versus Seattle at $571 is a 25% premium; a year ago the same comparison was 32%. If an Eastside school assignment or commute was your goal and the gap was what stopped you, the gap is the smallest it has been since 2021. Run the numbers again before you conclude the Eastside is out of reach.
If your constraint is the monthly payment rather than the location, the ranking points the other way, and it points to cities where value per square foot is still rising — which is generally a sign of durable local demand rather than a discount. Between Enumclaw, Lakewood, University Place, Marysville and Tacoma, the question to answer first is commute tolerance, because every one of these markets trades price for drive time.
What this means if you are selling
Use your own city's number, not the regional narrative. A Sammamish seller pricing off 2025 comparables is asking roughly 8% above where the market is clearing per square foot, and in a market carrying three-plus months of supply, that gap does not get negotiated — it gets ignored, and then it gets reduced after thirty days at a cost greater than pricing correctly would have been. An Edmonds seller has the opposite problem, and is more likely to underprice by anchoring to last year.
In both cases, the practical move is the same: pull closed sales from the last sixty days, in your own neighborhood, at your own home's size and vintage, and price to that. Six-month averages are for understanding the market. Sixty-day comparables are for pricing a house.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average price per square foot in Seattle?
Single-family homes in the city of Seattle averaged $571 per square foot in the first half of 2026, down 2.4% from $585 in the first half of 2025, per Redfin data through June 30, 2026.
Which Greater Seattle city has the highest price per square foot?
Among cities with a reportable sample, Mercer Island leads at $797 per square foot, followed by Bellevue at $715, Kirkland at $714 and Redmond at $697. Several very small Eastside cities price higher still but close too few homes to report reliably.
Why did Bellevue and Kirkland fall the most?
Both are premium markets tied closely to technology compensation and relocation demand, and both saw months of supply rise sharply in the same period. When the highest-priced tier slows, its per-square-foot values reprice faster than the mid-market's.
Is price per square foot a good way to value my home?
It is a good way to compare markets and a poor way to value a specific property. Lot, condition, vintage, view and school assignment routinely swing a home's value further than the citywide average moves in a year. Use it for orientation, then price off sixty-day comparables.
Where is value per square foot still rising in Greater Seattle?
Enumclaw (+7.5%), DuPont (+7.3%), Edmonds (+6.4%), Sultan (+5.1%), Lakewood (+4.3%), University Place (+3.9%), Arlington (+2.7%) and Tacoma (+0.7%) were the eight reportable cities with positive change in the first half of 2026.
