What an $80,000 Gravity Payments Salary Buys by City

By the compensation data desk, covering U.S. wages and labor markets
Last reviewed: July 10, 2026

Gravity Payments’ $80,000 salary floor exceeds MIT’s 2026 basic-needs budget for a single adult by $29,151 in Boise, $19,242 in Seattle and $15,866 in Honolulu. Add one child, though, and the same salary falls short in all three markets, with the gap ranging from $7,160 in Boise to $36,972 in Honolulu. Those differences are calculated from the MIT Living Wage Calculator’s February 2026 location data and Gravity’s published salary policy.

The payment-processing company moved its minimum salary from $70,000 to $80,000 in March 2022. Gravity describes itself as remote-first but says many employees live in high-cost Seattle and Honolulu; it also incorporated 49 Boise employees through a 2017 acquisition.

One salary produces three different household budgets

An $80,000 annual salary equals approximately $38.46 per hour when divided across 2,080 working hours. MIT’s Living Wage Calculator uses that same full-time assumption when estimating the income required to meet basic household expenses.

For a single adult without children, MIT calculates a living wage of $29.21 per hour in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, $24.45 in Boise City and $30.83 in Honolulu County. The corresponding required pre-tax annual incomes are $60,758, $50,849 and $64,134.

Sources: MIT Living Wage Calculator pages updated February 15, 2026. Percentages and salary margins are arithmetic comparisons using Gravity’s published $80,000 floor.

The floor looks strongest in Boise. It provides 57% more than MIT’s single-adult basic-needs estimate there, compared with 32% in Seattle and 25% in Honolulu.

That conclusion changes once household structure changes.

MIT estimates that one adult supporting one child requires $109,951 before taxes in Seattle, $87,160 in Boise and $116,972 in Honolulu. An $80,000 salary therefore leaves calculated shortfalls of $29,951, $7,160 and $36,972, respectively.

The salary is comfortably above a modeled single-person budget. It is not a universal family-supporting wage across Gravity’s better-known employment markets.

What BLS pay data shows across Gravity markets

MIT measures estimated basic expenses. The Bureau of Labor Statistics measures wages actually paid across local employers. The two datasets answer different questions.

BLS reported an average wage of $44.13 per hour across all Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue occupations in May 2025. Boise City averaged $31.02, while Urban Honolulu averaged $34.59. The national figure was $33.54.

Gravity’s $38.46 hourly equivalent sits $5.67 below Seattle’s all-occupation average, $7.44 above Boise’s and $3.87 above Honolulu’s. These comparisons do not establish company-specific competitiveness because a metropolitan average mixes executives, engineers, servers, nurses, office workers and hundreds of other occupations.

They do reveal the local wage environment.

Sources: BLS, Occupational Employment and Wages in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Boise City, and Urban Honolulu, May 2025. Gravity’s hourly figure is calculated from an $80,000 annual salary over 2,080 hours.

Gravity’s floor exceeds the BLS mean for broad sales and office-support groups in all three locations. It falls below the business-and-financial and computer-and-mathematical group averages everywhere.

This is the most useful occupational split. The same policy can be unusually generous for support work and uncompetitive as a standalone benchmark for specialized technical work.

Boise is where the floor stretches furthest

Gravity says its 2017 purchase of a Boise company brought 49 employees into the business and tripled their minimum pay. The company does not publish those employees’ earlier salaries, but its current $80,000 floor stands $29,151 above MIT’s 2026 single-adult budget for Boise.

BLS’s May 2025 Boise averages reinforce the point. Sales workers averaged $26.13 per hour and office-support workers $23.77, while Gravity’s annual floor converts to $38.46.

Boise creates the clearest wage premium for lower-paid occupational groups.

Seattle changes what “above market” means

Seattle’s labor market is much more expensive and much better paid. BLS measured an overall average of $44.13 per hour, 31.6% above the $33.54 national average in May 2025. Computer and mathematical occupations averaged $72.96 per hour, while business and financial operations averaged $54.30.

Gravity’s floor remains well above Seattle’s $30.27 office-support average and $32.67 sales average. It does not approach Seattle’s broader technology or finance pay levels.

Local expenses narrow the advantage further. MIT assigns a single adult in the Seattle metro $23,247 in annual housing expenses, $8,850 for transportation and $5,012 for food. Its total required pre-tax income reaches $60,758. For one adult with one child, childcare alone is estimated at $20,137, pushing required income to $109,951.

This is where the national publicity surrounding the wage floor can distort the picture. An $80,000 salary is high relative to many support roles, but it does not place a Seattle employee among the region’s better-paid technical or financial workers.

Honolulu leaves the smallest single-worker cushion

Honolulu has the highest MIT living-wage rate of the three reviewed areas at $30.83 per hour for one adult without children. Its required annual income of $64,134 leaves a $15,866 margin beneath Gravity’s floor.

Housing accounts for $22,640 of MIT’s modeled single-adult Honolulu budget, close to Seattle’s $23,247 despite lower local wages. Transportation adds $10,091, compared with $8,850 in Seattle and $9,630 in Boise.

Price pressure has not disappeared. BLS reported that Urban Hawaii consumer prices rose 5.1% during the 12 months ending in May 2026. Shelter increased 5.4%, food increased 3.0%, and energy increased 28.8% over the same period.

Honolulu’s all-occupation wage averaged $34.59 per hour in May 2025, below Gravity’s $38.46 equivalent. Its computer-and-mathematical average reached $49.70, while business-and-financial operations averaged $41.90.

Gravity’s floor clears the general labor-market average there. It offers much less room once a child or a technical occupation enters the comparison.

Where the $88,000 headline misleads

Gravity reported that employees received more than $8,000 each through profit sharing for 2024, lifting that year’s stated minimum total compensation to $88,000. The company says the plan began with a $1,000 payment in 2023 and bases annual distributions on company profit growth.

That $8,000 changes the geographic calculation, but only for a year in which it is paid.

At $88,000, compensation would exceed MIT’s single-adult budget by $27,242 in Seattle, $37,151 in Boise and $23,866 in Honolulu. It would also sit $840 above Boise’s estimated requirement for one adult with one child. Seattle would remain $21,951 short and Honolulu $28,972 short for the same household structure. Those differences are calculations based on Gravity’s 2024 distribution and MIT’s February 2026 budgets.

Profit sharing is variable compensation. The fixed salary floor remains $80,000.

Software pay sits outside the floor story

The national BLS median for software developers was $133,080 in May 2024. The lowest-paid 10% earned below $79,850, almost exactly Gravity’s current companywide floor, while the finance-and-insurance industry median was $132,880.

BLS projects software-developer employment to grow 16% from 2024 through 2034, adding an estimated 267,700 positions.

A companywide minimum should not be mistaken for an expected software salary. In Seattle, the entire computer-and-mathematical group averaged $72.96 per hour in May 2025, equivalent to more than $151,000 across 2,080 hours. Boise averaged $50.81 and Honolulu $49.70.

The analytical result is uneven. Gravity’s policy compresses the bottom of its wage distribution upward, especially for support and sales jobs. It does not eliminate market pressure at the technical end.

What the available data cannot establish

No reviewed source provides Gravity salaries by city, occupation, tenure or remote-work location. The company also does not disclose whether location affects starting offers above the floor.

MIT’s calculator estimates basic household costs rather than actual employee spending. Its budgets do not measure individual debt, savings goals, housing choices, employer health-plan value or another adult’s income. BLS metro figures are occupational averages covering many employers, not Gravity payroll records.

The available evidence supports a narrower finding: $80,000 is a powerful floor in Boise, a meaningful but less exceptional salary in Seattle and Honolulu, and an incomplete benchmark for employees supporting children or working in software.

FAQ

Is $80,000 a living wage in Seattle?

MIT’s February 2026 model requires $60,758 before taxes for one adult without children in Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, so $80,000 exceeds that estimate by $19,242. One adult with one child requires $109,951, leaving a $29,951 shortfall.

Does Gravity Payments pay more in Seattle than Boise?

Gravity publishes a companywide $80,000 minimum but does not disclose city-specific salary schedules. Public materials therefore cannot establish whether comparable employees receive location adjustments.

Where does an $80,000 Gravity salary go furthest?

Among the three reviewed locations, Boise has the lowest MIT single-adult requirement at $50,849. The resulting $29,151 margin is larger than Seattle’s $19,242 and Honolulu’s $15,866.

Is Gravity’s $88,000 figure guaranteed?

No. Gravity’s $88,000 figure combined the $80,000 salary floor with more than $8,000 in 2024 profit sharing. The company says distributions depend on annual growth and profit.

Is the salary competitive for sales and support work?

Gravity’s $38.46 hourly equivalent exceeds BLS May 2025 averages for sales and office-support groups in Seattle, Boise and Honolulu. Specific jobs may differ in duties, commissions and experience requirements.

Is $80,000 competitive for software developers?

The BLS national software-developer median was $133,080 in May 2024, while the lowest 10% earned below $79,850. The $80,000 floor is near the occupation’s national lower boundary rather than its midpoint.

Gravity’s uniform floor removes some of the wage differences normally seen across locations. The remaining difference is practical: Boise employees receive the largest modeled cushion, while Honolulu workers supporting a child face the widest gap between the headline salary and estimated basic expenses.