Junk removal cost
in Seattle (2026)

How Seattle pricing works

Two ways: single items have set prices, and big jobs (basements, whole homes) are priced by how much of the truck they fill. Everything is quoted flat from a photo before we arrive — labor, stair-carry, drive, and disposal already in it. The $100 minimum covers the trip and Seattle's high transfer-station tip fee.

Furniture

Mattresses

Appliances

Electronics & exercise

Truck-fill (basement, estate & whole-home)

$100 minimum on any job — a single microwave or a single TV still books at $100, because the truck, the driver and the trip to the transfer station cost the same either way. Multiple items are priced as a set, not stacked: send one photo of everything and if the pile is bigger than a few pieces we quote the truck-fill tier instead, which is almost always the cheaper of the two. Disposal is included, and the price is fixed before the truck rolls.

Third-party context. Homeyou and Yelp Costs put the average Seattle junk-removal job at roughly $253–$325, across a range of about $170–$433. Local rules of thumb run $111–$186 for a quarter truck, $300–$450 for a half and $450–$700+ for a full load. Our ladder sits squarely inside those bands — what's different is that you see the number before anyone is standing in your driveway.

What the other Seattle haulers publish

These are competitors' own advertised figures, not ours, and they're worth knowing before you book anything. Note which ones commit to a number in advance and which only quote once a crew is on your property.

Why junk removal costs what it does in Seattle

Seattle isn't expensive because haulers here are greedy. It's expensive because Puget Sound tipping fees are among the highest in the country — roughly ten to sixteen times what a Texas hauler pays per ton — and every legitimate operator is paying them. Here are the published numbers, so you can check the math yourself.

Read the top line again: a single mattress at a King County station is a $40.25 minimum load plus a $30 special-item fee before anybody has driven anywhere or lifted anything. That is why our Seattle minimum is $100 — the floor isn't a markup, it's the gate fee plus the trip. We'd rather show you the receipt logic than quote a fake $69 and find $30 of "disposal surcharge" at your door.

If you'd rather have the city do it: inside Seattle limits, SPU collects "special items" at $30 per item, by appointment, curbside only, scheduled to your next regular garbage day — details at seattle.gov/specialitems. That's the cheapest option on this page by a mile, and it's the right call if your item is already at the curb and you can wait. Outside city limits — Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Sammamish, Issaquah, Renton, Newcastle, Mercer Island — there is no equivalent city pickup; it's King County self-haul at the rates above, at Factoria, Houghton, Shoreline, Bow Lake, Renton, Enumclaw or Vashon. Neither authority comes inside your house, and neither one carries a sleeper sofa up basement stairs. The full two-authority explainer is on the Seattle hub →

How the WA tax works (it's not what you think)

Washington does not apply its ~10.35% retail sales tax to the junk-removal service — that rate is for tangible goods. Instead, the state charges a small 3.6% Refuse/Solid Waste Collection Tax (RCW 82.18) on the disposal portion, which may show on your receipt. So the number you're quoted is close to the number you pay — no big sales-tax surprise at checkout.

This trips up nearly every out-of-state comparison, and it's worth being precise about: a Seattle hauler who charges you 10.35% on the service is charging you something Washington doesn't ask for, and one who promises "no tax at all" is quietly absorbing — or not remitting — a tax that does exist. The local incumbent Junk B Gone openly itemizes the same 3.6% refuse line on its invoices. Two operators naming the same statute the same way is what a correct answer looks like.

How donation and recycling lower your bill

Diversion in King County isn't a green talking point, it's arithmetic. Yard waste and clean wood tip at roughly $115 per ton against $243.38 for garbage — less than half. Electronics cost nothing at all: TVs, monitors, laptops and desktops are banned from Washington garbage and recycled free statewide through WA E-Cycle. And anything donated never enters the disposal stream in the first place, which also keeps it out of the 3.6% refuse-tax base, so the tax line on your receipt is smaller too.

That's why every load gets sorted before it's tipped. Resellable furniture and household goods go to Evergreen Goodwill, the Salvation Army (1-800-SA-TRUCK), Habitat for Humanity ReStore or St. Vincent de Paul of Seattle/King County — ask and we'll get you a donation receipt. Metal goes to scrap. Fridges and freezers get EPA-certified freon recovery before the shell is recycled. Wood, cardboard and yard waste are source-separated, which Seattle's SMC 21.36 ban requires anyway: a garbage load more than about 10% contaminated with recyclables, food scraps, compostable paper or yard waste gets a violation tag rather than a collection.

Those savings are already baked into the ladder above. We don't bill "recycling fees" on top and we don't charge extra to make the donation stop.

What doesn't change the price

Seattle's geography is where most hourly haulers make their money back. Ours doesn't move:

• Stairs. A third-floor Capitol Hill walk-up with no elevator costs the same as a ground-floor unit. No stair fee, no per-flight charge.
• Hills. Queen Anne Ave N's Counterbalance runs roughly an 18–19% grade and the city has 100+ public stairways. Still no surcharge.
• Basements and attics. The Craftsman full basement is the signature Seattle job — Ballard, Wallingford, Ravenna, Wedgwood — and carrying it up is included, not extra.
• Towers. Downtown, Belltown, SLU, First Hill and downtown Bellevue buildings want a COI naming management (typically $1M general liability) and a freight elevator reserved days ahead. We file it and book it inside the flat price.
• Docks. About 507 floating homes sit on roughly 70 Lake Union docks. Hand-carrying down the dock takes longer; it doesn't cost more.
• Same-day. Booking today rather than next week doesn't move the number either.

When people price this out

• Move season, April–September. Leases turn and sales close; the sofa that won't fit the new place needs a number this week, not a callback.
• UW move-out. Dorm deadline is noon Saturday, June 13, 2026, with June 10–13 the crush and a bigger off-campus wave in late August. Mattress plus couch plus mini-fridge is the classic combination — priced as a set, it's usually a 2/8 or 3/8 truck-fill.
• Amazon and Microsoft relocations, year-round. A furnished SLU or Redmond apartment cleared between tenants typically runs mid-ladder on truck-fill.
• Pre-sale staging. Agents want the basement and garage empty before photos; that's a truck-fill quote from three photos.
• Estate and downsizing. Whole-home clears price at the top of the ladder, with donation receipts as part of the job.
• January declutter and the March–April donation run. The two quietest, easiest weeks to book.

Why Seattle books this price

• The number comes first. Photo in, flat price out, before a truck is dispatched. No on-site estimate theater.
• The ladder is public. Every figure on this page is the price the quote engine charges — not a "starting at" teaser.
• The minimum is explained, not hidden. $100, and above you can see the King County and SPU gate fees that set it.
• Carrying is included. Basement, attic, walk-up, tower, dock — that labor is the job, and it isn't a line item.
• The tax is named correctly. 3.6% refuse tax on disposal, not 10.35% on the service.

What customers say about the price

Seattle cost questions, answered

How much does junk removal cost in Seattle?

Flat and photo-quoted: sofa $126, loveseat $119, 3-piece sectional $185, queen mattress $103, king $114, box spring $92, fridge $164, washer $133, dryer $128, dishwasher $109, TVs $62–$73, treadmill $115, Peloton $80, home gym $241. Truck-fill runs $241 (2/8) to $732 (8/8). $100 minimum, disposal included. Third-party sources put the Seattle average at roughly $253–$325.

Why is the minimum $100?

King County tips at $243.38 per ton with a $40.25 minimum load and a $25 unsecured-load fee; SPU's stations publish about $35 per trip and $165 per ton. A mattress alone carries a $30 special-item fee on top. The $100 floor covers the gate and the trip.

Is there sales tax on the service?

No — Washington's ~10.35% retail sales tax doesn't apply to junk removal. A 3.6% state Refuse/Solid Waste Collection Tax (RCW 82.18) applies to the disposal portion and may show as a line on your receipt.

How does truck-fill work?

By eighths of the truck bed: 2/8 $241, 3/8 $338, 4/8 $431, 5/8 $513, 6/8 $587, 7/8 $661, 8/8 $732. A typical Seattle basement lands between 3/8 and 6/8, quoted from photos.

Is this cheaper than 1-800-GOT-JUNK?

Their published range is $400–$600 for a half truck and $700–$1,000 for a full one, estimated on site only. Ours is $431 for a 4/8 load and $732 for a full one, quoted flat from a photo first. Those are their numbers and ours — compare them yourself.

Would self-hauling be cheaper?

With your own truck and a free Saturday, sometimes. $40.25 minimum plus $243.38 a ton, $25 more if the load isn't strapped, $30 per mattress — plus fuel, a second pair of hands and the basement stairs. Most people run the numbers once and book.

Do stairs, hills or a high-rise cost extra?

No. No stair fee, no hill fee, no tower surcharge, and COIs and freight-elevator bookings are included.

Does donating lower what I pay?

It's already in the price. Donation and free WA E-Cycle recycling keep material out of a $243-per-ton waste stream and out of the 3.6% tax base, which is exactly what lets the ladder sit where it does.

Pricing across Seattle & the Eastside

Frequently asked questions