Riverside, CA
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Riverside ranks 96th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 48th for income. A household earns $91,013 a year while median rent runs $2,006/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 6% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is household income (48th of 300), while air quality is the soft spot (300th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 284th and home prices 271st among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Riverside, your take-home is worth about $54,768 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it less than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 48th of 300↑28.3%$91,013
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 279th of 300106 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $85,505
- Per-capita income
- $36,900
- Full-time pay
- $45,068
Housing
- Median rent
- 284th of 300↑42%$2,006/mo
- Home value
- 271st of 300↑53.1%$579,500
- Property tax
- $4,092/yr · 0.7%
- Sales tax
- 8.80%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 252nd of 3005.7%
- Bachelor's+
- 251st of 30025.2%
- Avg commute
- 297th of 30034.2 min
People
- Population
- 4,744,214
- Population change
- +2%
- Median age
- 36.4 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 22.3%
- Broadband
- 94.9%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 300th of 30097
- Natural-hazard loss
- 289th of 300$43/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 281st of 30024.7%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 13.6%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Affordability
- + Household income
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Job market
- – Education
- – Commute
- – Air quality
- – Hazard safety
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — barstow-daggett ap.
What jobs pay in Riverside
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $298,890
- IT managers
- $176,320
- Pharmacists
- $161,870
- Financial managers
- $160,230
- Registered nurses
- $133,940
- Software developers
- $133,270
- Civil engineers
- $115,120
- General & operations managers
- $102,260
- Police officers
- $101,870
- Secondary school teachers
- $100,130
- Elementary school teachers
- $98,520
- Accountants & auditors
- $83,920
- Electricians
- $72,790
- Web developers
- $72,400
- Carpenters
- $70,880
- Plumbers
- $63,920
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $60,580
- Construction laborers
- $59,500
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $53,560
- Customer service reps
- $47,150
- Janitors
- $40,860
- Retail salespersons
- $36,720
- Cashiers
- $35,700
- Waiters & waitresses
- $34,800
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Riverside metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in California are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Arizona4,924
- Texas4,620
- Washington4,360
- Nevada2,271
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Riverside
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Riverside metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Riverside metro?
- Median gross rent across the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA Metro Area is $2,006 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Riverside.
- What is the median household income in the Riverside metro?
- A typical household in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA Metro Area earns $91,013 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Riverside expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA Metro Area runs about 6% above the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are higher than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Riverside metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $85,505 (versus its face value of $91,013). CityLedger rates the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Riverside metro?
- The median home value across the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA Metro Area is $579,500 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Riverside metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA Metro Area is 5.7% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).