Voucher Landlord HubSection 8 rents and payment standards, with sources
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Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) · effective November 21, 2023

Seattle, WA Section 8 payment standards

The voucher payment standards Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) publishes, copied from its own schedule[1], with HUD's FY2027 Fair Market Rents for comparison.

Not legal advice — verify current state law and have an attorney review for your state. Payment standards change, and the housing authority's rent-reasonableness review, utility allowance and the family's income decide what it will actually pay. Verify the current amount with the housing authority before you set a rent.

Official schedule. Market Rate standards adopted 11/20/2023, effective 11/21/2023; Affordable Housing standards effective 6/17/2024 (current on SHA's page when retrieved).[1] Retrieved October 21, 2026.

Payment standards

ScheduleStudio1 BR2 BR3 BR4 BR5 BR6 BR
Market Rate (most private-market units)$2,042$2,100$2,455$3,297$3,847$4,424$5,001
Affordable Housing (nonprofit or tax-credit units)$1,581$1,694$2,034$2,351$2,623$2,892$2,892

SHA lists the 6-bedroom amount as "6 and above".

King County Housing Authority, which serves most of the county outside Seattle, publishes its own schedule.

HUD FY2027 Fair Market Rents: King County, WA

HUD area: Seattle-Bellevue, WA HUD Metro FMR Area. A housing authority's schedule can be based on an earlier FMR year or on ZIP-level Small Area FMRs, so it won't always match these figures.

Unit sizeFY2027 FMR
Studio$2,091[2]
1 BR$2,180[2]
2 BR$2,549[2]
3 BR$3,324[2]
4 BR$3,954[2]

Full King County FMR page

How landlords use this

It caps the subsidy, not your rent

The payment standard is the most the housing authority will count toward rent plus tenant-paid utilities. The rent still has to pass its rent-reasonableness review.

The 40% rule at move-in

For a new lease, if the gross rent is above the payment standard, the family's share can't be more than 40% of its monthly adjusted income.

Treat every applicant the same

Use the same written screening criteria for voucher holders as for everyone else. Many states and cities prohibit refusing renters because they pay with a voucher; check your local law.

Sources

  1. SHA, Voucher Payment Standards (retrieved October 21, 2026): https://www.seattlehousing.org/housing/housing-choice-vouchers/renting-voucher/voucher-payment-standards
  2. HUD USER, FY2027 Fair Market Rents, county-level file (FY27_FMRs.xlsx) (retrieved October 21, 2026): https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/fmr2027/FY27_FMRs.xlsx