Tacoma is Pierce County's rent bargain. Spanaway and Gig Harbor now cost more than Seattle

Typical rent in Tacoma was $1,740 a month in August 2026, a record but still $494 below Seattle's $2,234, according to RentDataNow data built on the Zillow Observed Rent Index. Several of Tacoma's own suburbs cost more than either city. Typical rent is $2,829 in Spanaway, $2,844 in Gig Harbor, and $2,659 in Bonney Lake.

Most of that gap is about what's for rent. In Spanaway and Bonney Lake, roughly three-quarters of households own their homes, so the rentals that do come up are mostly houses. In Tacoma, 44% of households rent, and the typical rental is more often an apartment.

Bonney Lake has the fastest rise of these cities, up 6.5% in a year. It also has the highest incomes on the list, with a median household income of $136,845 in the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 survey. Spanaway's typical rent is up 28.0% since 2021, an average of about 5% a year, though the past year's gain was a slower 2.8%.

Parkland, next to Pacific Lutheran University, is the only place on the list where rent fell, by 0.9%, and its 98444 zip code has a typical rent of $1,539. Lakewood, home to the Joint Base Lewis-McChord gates, is about 1% below its December 2025 high at $1,748.

Inside Tacoma, rent runs from $1,587 in 98408, in South Tacoma, to $2,209 in 98406 in the North End, which is up 4.5%. The Hilltop and Central area's 98405 is $1,656, and downtown's 98402 is $1,725. Typical rent is $2,174 in 98407, which covers the north end around Ruston and Point Defiance.

What's on the market and what current tenants pay line up closely in Tacoma and not at all in Spanaway. Tacoma's Census median gross rent, which includes utilities and covers leases signed from 2020 to 2024, was $1,676, only about $64 below today's typical asking rent. In Spanaway, it was $1,813, about $1,016 below, because the rentals listed today are mostly houses.

Renters in Tacoma earned a median $58,876 in that survey, so a year of today's typical rent would take about 35% of it, and 54.9% of renter households already spent 30% or more on housing. In Parkland, that share was 62.4%. Spanaway's renters earned more, a median $82,828, but the typical Spanaway rent would still take about 41% of it. Over the past 11 years, Tacoma rent has usually been lowest in December and highest in August.

Tacoma's median household earned $85,884 in the 2020-2024 survey, so a year of typical rent equals about 24% of it. For the King County side, see Seattle rent prices, and if you're stationed at the base, how to break a lease for a PCS or deployment.

Sources

• RentDataNow city and zip code rent data, anchored to the Zillow Observed Rent Index, August 2026
• US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020-2024, for household income and the share of households that rent, plus renter income, median gross rent, and the share of renters spending 30% or more on housing