Concrete driveway cost in Seattle, WA

Extras that change the Seattle total

Add-ons start from national price ranges and are scaled by 1.21 for Seattle, which is the average of the area's wage index (1.38) and goods price index (1.04). The estimator above can add them to your total.

Specs and site conditions that change a Seattle bid

• Thickness

  HomeGuide prices a standard 4-inch driveway at $6-$15/sq ft and a 6-inch one, recommended for heavy vehicles, at $8-$20/sq ft.

• Old driveway removal

  Tearing out the old surface adds about $2-$6 per sq ft, and some cities want the haul-off documented.

• Grading and drainage

  Professional grading runs $3-$8 per sq ft or $700-$2,500 for a typical job. A sloped lot or poor soil raises it.

Seattle against nearby metros and the rest of Washington

Of the five closest metros, all are cheaper than Seattle. Portland is the lowest at about $7,650 (midpoint, 600 sq ft), 135 miles away.

Out of the 300 metros we cover, Seattle ranks #7 for the cost of this job (#1 is the most expensive). Statewide, Seattle is 4% above the Washington figure.

Elsewhere in Washington

Metros of a similar size

Big cities and small ones price differently, so here is Seattle against the 4 metros with the closest total employment.

Planning more than one job in Seattle?

Jobs that often go together with concrete driveway are priced below at their usual sizes, using the same Seattle wage and price inputs. Compared with national midpoints, asphalt driveway comes out highest (+26%) and concrete slab lowest (+18%); the gap comes from the trades each job uses.

What local crews earn in Seattle

The labor line is built from BLS wage data, one trade at a time. This job draws on 4 trades. We compare each trade's local median with the US median, weight the ratios by how much of the job each trade does, and apply the blend to the national labor cost. For Seattle the blend is 1.38.

Cement masons and concrete finishers (47-2051), 50% of the weighting: a median of $38.88 an hour, 42% above the US median of $27.41. The middle half of them earn between $29.14 and $52.52 an hour. About 2,140 work in the metro. That is 10.3 per 10,000 jobs, compared with 13.3 nationally, so expect fewer local crews to bid.

For construction laborers (47-2061, weighted 30%) the local median is $28.72 an hour, which is 27% above the national $22.66. The middle half of them earn between $23.67 and $37.03 an hour. BLS counts 13,040 of them working in the area, 62.5 for every 10,000 jobs (US: 70.5), so the local bench is about average.

Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators (47-2073), 10% of the weighting: a median of $46.04 an hour, 60% above the US median of $28.78. The middle half of them earn between $36.13 and $58.78 an hour. About 4,860 work in the metro. That is 23.3 per 10,000 jobs, compared with 30.7 nationally, so expect fewer local crews to bid.

Carpenters (47-2031), 10% of the weighting: a median of $36.74 an hour, 26% above the US median of $29.12. The middle half of them earn between $30.64 and $47.93 an hour. About 14,970 work in the metro. That is 71.8 per 10,000 jobs, compared with 43.1 nationally, which suggests plenty of local crews to bid.

A quick sensitivity check: moving the lead trade (cement masons and concrete finishers) from the median to the 75th percentile wage adds about $1,100 to the midpoint estimate; the 25th percentile takes off about $780. That is a swing of roughly 9.6% to 13.4% of the total, which is useful for judging whether a bid reflects wages or something else, such as scope or margin.

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue has 2,086,210 jobs in total (BLS, May 2025), ranking 13th by size among the 300 metros on this site.

Pick a size, pick a tier: concrete driveway pricing in Seattle

The cited range is split into basic, standard and premium bands, then scaled to Seattle. Bands overlap, because plenty of standard jobs cost as much as a light premium one. Sizes run from 1-car (12x20), 240 sq ft to 3-car (900 sq ft).

Seattle weather and the concrete driveway calendar

Climate numbers on this page come from NOAA's 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals at the nearest suitable station, Seattle Sand Pt Wsfo (5 miles from the city center). They are 30-year averages, so any one year can run hotter, colder or wetter.

For pouring concrete, the comfortable months in Seattle are April through November: 8 of 12. Outside them, January, February, March and December have an average overnight low of 40°F or below.

The 40°F line is a deliberately cautious stand-in. The American Concrete Institute's cold-weather guide (ACI 306R-16) defines cold-weather concreting around an average daily air temperature below 40°F, which is colder than our test of an average overnight low at or below 40°F, so we flag a few extra shoulder months. In cold weather crews may need heated enclosures, insulating blankets or accelerated mixes, and those measures can raise a quote.

Seattle gets about 38 inches of precipitation in a normal year, including roughly 4 inches of snow. The wettest months are January, November and December (5.8 inches in November). Inside the workable window, July and August are the driest, at 0.8 and 1.0 inches. The station averages about 2 days a year at 90°F or above.

We do not adjust the estimate by month, because we have no reliable published data on seasonal pricing. It is still worth asking contractors whether an off-peak start date changes their bid.