Seattle's rental market is pet-friendly, except for big dogs

In a city awash in doggos (with two new dog parks coming), finding housing with your furry family members can be challenging—especially if they are large dogs.

KUOW put itself in the shoes of an average renter with pets—hardly a difficult feat in an office with a Slack channel dedicated to pets. We pulled data on pet-friendly rental listings from Zillow, and found that as the number of bedrooms goes up, so do the restrictions on large dogs.

This counterintuitive factoid comes down to Seattle’s limited housing stock. The majority of 3+ bedroom rental listings on Zillow are houses or townhomes, which are less likely to allow large dogs (22%) than apartments and condos (34%). There are also fewer 3+ bedroom rental options than any other category on Zillow—and no agreed-upon definition of "large dog," leaving it up to individual landlords.

Note: This data represents a snapshot in time (April 18 and April 21) on Zillow, a housing search site. It may not reflect all available listings and cannot account for errors in listing descriptions. The data available does not categorize breed restrictions.

Over the past 12 months, 75% of Zillow rental listings noted “pets allowed”—but that number doesn’t differentiate between cats, small dogs, and large dogs. It also doesn’t take into account breed restrictions or number of pets.

From KUOW’s snapshot search, we can see that nearly 70% of listings are pet-friendly—in step with the yearly average—but only 39% are listed as “allows large dogs.” This is a known concern to pet owners of large dogs and specific breeds.

The website My Pitbull is Family allows renters to self-report breed and size restrictions. Its database lists six apartment complexes in Seattle with no breed restrictions, and only five with no breed or weight restrictions. (Note: This is incomplete, self-reported data.)

If you’re a family looking for 3+ bedrooms with a large dog, you have the fewest options available—with only 27% of bigger home listings stating that large dogs are allowed. One reason families cite for returning pets to shelters is housing insecurity. Melissa Mixon, a Seattle Animal Shelter spokesperson, said she has heard similar anecdotes from residents returning pets to Seattle’s overwhelmed animal shelters.

Of course, finding housing is just the first step. Many pet-friendly rental properties come with pet deposits, rents, and fees.

Seattle has some protections in place for pet owners who rent. City law limits pet deposits to one per household—rather than per individual pet—and caps pet deposits at 25% of the first full month’s rent. The city has also banned non-refundable pet fees. These provisions provide some protection, but in Seattle’s hot rental market that still means a family with rent of $2,000 could be charged a pet deposit of $500.

While pet fees are banned, pet rent is not. The City of Seattle does not currently track pet rent, so it is difficult to know what Seattleites are paying on average for pet rent.

Local organizations are helping pet owners keep furry family members with them. Seattle Humane provides support to pet owners experiencing housing insecurity and funds to cover pet deposits and rents (along with veterinary bills).

From the looks of it, Seattle’s housing market might best be described as small pet-friendly.