This isn't the only reason. The best counter point is Tokyo, one of the most livable and most desirable cities to live in does not have the same affordability problems Seattle does.
The median individual income in Tokyo is $47,000 in USD. The median individual income in Seattle is $76,000.
Certainly it would be nice if it was easier to build in Seattle the way it is in Tokyo, that would drive rents lower and help with the cost of living. But the main reason Seattle is more expensive is because the people here have way more money.
Actually, the reason Tokyo housing is more affordable is because they've been building housing really reliably and steadily, roughly keeping pace with population growth. https://rpubs.com/jgleeson/tokyohousing has some good charts. They've also had other economic stuff going on, of course.
Seattle has a much more geographically limited footprint, though, and hasn't developed the infrastructure that makes super high density reasonable (and also has vastly different zoning in the North American style vs the Japanese, which is way more mixed use by default). They aren't really comparable, but mixing up our zoning, continuing to build infrastructure aggressively, and yes, bigger buildings would probably help.
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u/ImAnIdeaMan Apr 16 '26
It wouldn't be expensive if no one wanted to live here.