Do cars really cost more in Seattle? Unfortunately, yes

I was curious if the pnw “everything costs more” thing held up for used cars. pulled all the 2024 toyota rav4 XLEs (20-60k miles) across major states:

• seattle area (WA, n=37): avg $31,851

• phoenix area (AZ, n=34): avg $29,468

• colorado (n=25): avg $28,882

• texas (n=66): avg $28,446

same trim, same year, similar miles (40-42k avg). seattle is ~$3,400 above the texas median, ~$2,400 above colorado.

not surprising on the surface — winter demand, awd, sales tax all push up. but the gap is bigger than i expected for a non-luxury crossover, especially when it’s borne out across 37 cars not just one or two listings.

happy to run the same cut for any other model if folks are curious — i track this stuff for a side project.