Asphalt driveway cost in Washington

How Washington compares with nearby states

Washington ranks 3 of 51 (the 50 states plus DC) for asphalt driveway, where 1 is the most expensive. The costliest is Hawaii at $7,500 and the cheapest Mississippi at $4,600, both for 600 sq ft at the midpoint. Washington sits at $6,350. The five states closest by workforce center are listed below.

Washington metro-by-metro prices

3 of the 7 metros sit above the statewide midpoint of $6,350, and the top-to-bottom gap is 16%. Each row prices the default size with that metro's own BLS wages and BEA price levels, so the gap between rows is real local variation rather than a flat markup.

Quality levels and sizes in Washington

The cited range is cut into three overlapping bands (basic, standard and premium) and scaled to statewide Washington wages and prices. The grid prices the same bands at 4 common sizes.

Weather windows across Washington

Season matters for asphalt driveway. For each Washington metro below we took NOAA's 1991-2020 monthly normals from the nearest suitable station and counted comfortable months for digging and ground work.

Seattle has the longest comfortable season of the metros we cover in Washington at 12 months; Yakima has the shortest at 6 (April through June and August through October). Rainfall runs from 8 inches a year in Kennewick to 57 inches in Bremerton.

We do not adjust prices by month, because we have no reliable published data on seasonal pricing. Timing is still worth raising when you collect bids.

Asphalt driveway: what moves the price in Washington

• New versus overlay

  Resurfacing an existing driveway runs $3-$7 per sq ft; a full new driveway runs $5-$12+ (HomeGuide). Tearing out and replacing one is higher still.

• Base work

  Four to eight inches of compacted aggregate under the asphalt is where cheap quotes cut corners. Base typically runs $1-$3 per sq ft.

• Small jobs cost more per foot

  Paving crews move a paver, roller and trucks to your address, so a 400 sq ft driveway carries more mobilization per square foot than a 1,000 sq ft one.

• Hot-mix price

  Hot-mix asphalt is $100-$200 per ton delivered and moves with oil prices (PaveGauge).

• Sealcoating

  Sealing is $1-$2 per sq ft and is a maintenance cost, not part of the install.

Washington labor market for asphalt driveway

Statewide wages come from BLS's state-level estimates, which blend big cities with small towns and rural areas. 3 trades drive the labor line for this job, and the weighted ratio against the national wage level is 1.46 for Washington.

For paving, surfacing and tamping equipment operators (47-2071, weighted 40%) the local median is $43.53 an hour, which is 70% above the national $25.64. The middle half of them earn between $35.49 and $49.04 an hour. BLS counts 530 of them working in the state, 1.5 for every 10,000 jobs (US: 2.7), so the local bench is thinner than average.

Construction laborers (47-2061), 30% of the weighting: a median of $27.75 an hour, 22% above the US median of $22.66. The middle half of them earn between $22.56 and $34.69 an hour. About 25,060 work in the state. That is 70.6 per 10,000 jobs, compared with 70.5 nationally, so the supply of crews looks typical.

For operating engineers and other construction equipment operators (47-2073, weighted 30%) the local median is $39.28 an hour, which is 36% above the national $28.78. The middle half of them earn between $30.96 and $55.12 an hour. BLS counts 10,290 of them working in the state, 29.0 for every 10,000 jobs (US: 30.7), so the local bench is about average.

A crew paid at the 75th percentile for paving, surfacing and tamping equipment operators ($49.04 an hour) would add about $180 to the statewide midpoint; one at the 25th percentile ($35.49) would take off about $270. Use that as a rough guide to how far a bid can sit from our midpoint on wages alone.

BLS counts 3,550,970 jobs across Washington (May 2025), which is 2.3% of US employment.

Optional extras in Washington

Extras are quoted nationally and then scaled to Washington by the average of the local wage index (1.46) and goods index (1.04), a factor of 1.25. Tick any of them in the estimator above to add them to your total. Treat these as planning figures: an add-on touches different trades than the main job, so the scaling is an approximation.

Other Washington jobs that often go with asphalt driveway

The table prices neighboring jobs at their usual sizes using statewide Washington wages and prices. Against national midpoints, concrete driveway comes out highest (+22%) and concrete slab lowest (+16%), because each job leans on different trades.