“I would consider that high-roller sushi,” Wilson said.

Rising Wages

The concentration of technology workers has helped the area buck the nationwide stagnation in incomes. Since 2008, annual pay for professionals in science, technology, engineering and mathematics increased $14,930, or 18.8 percent. That’s the most of any metropolitan area with at least 100,000 workers in the fields, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

In the housing market, median home prices in the city jumped almost one-third in two years, to $405,742 in May 2014 from $306,371 in May 2012, according to data provider RealtyTrac. Rents rose 7.2 percent to $1,139 in 2013, more than double the 3.2 percent increase nationwide, based on data from Reis Inc., a property-research company. That compares with a 5.6 percent increase in San Francisco.

“It’s a frenzy,” said Seattle real-estate broker Leon Woffinden. The only clients who aren’t surprised by the competition and costs are from Silicon Valley, he said.

Just as in San Francisco, there’s been a backlash, with some people blaming technology workers for widening a wealth gap. Masked protesters in February halted a Microsoft shuttle bus and handed out fliers condemning “hyper-gentrification.” The Seattle rapper Draze released a music video called “The Hood Ain’t the Same,” in which he intones, “I ain’t proud of these new developments, I feel shame.”

Gun Violence

Prosperity isn’t reaching minority-dominated neighborhoods in south Seattle, said Louis Watanabe, a college professor and former technology executive who is now running for the state senate. Officials haven’t responded fast enough to a spike in crime, including more than 70 reports of shootings and 19 gun deaths since April in central and southeast Seattle, Skyway and north Renton, he said.