Salinas, CA
Salinas, CA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Salinas, CA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Salinas ranks 96th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 42nd for income. A household earns $93,290 a year while median rent runs $2,007/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 9% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is household income (42nd of 300), while home prices is the soft spot (289th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 285th and home prices 289th 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 Salinas, your take-home is worth about $53,462 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
- 42nd of 300↑20.4%$93,290
- 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.
- 288th of 300109 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $85,554
- Per-capita income
- $38,649
- Full-time pay
- $40,792
Housing
- Median rent
- 285th of 300↑21%$2,007/mo
- Home value
- 289th of 300↑34.1%$808,600
- Property tax
- $5,016/yr · 0.6%
- Sales tax
- 8.80%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 120th of 3004.1%
- Bachelor's+
- 214th of 30028.8%
- Avg commute
- 209th of 30025.9 min
People
- Population
- 436,251
- Population change
- +0.5%
- Median age
- 36.0 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 30.4%
- Broadband
- 92.9%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 52nd of 30039
- Natural-hazard loss
- 263rd of 300$30/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 284th of 30025.4%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 16.2%
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
- + Air quality
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Education
- – Commute
- – Hazard safety
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — salinas ap.
What jobs pay in Salinas
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $410,370
- IT managers
- $167,160
- Lawyers
- $166,940
- Pharmacists
- $166,470
- Financial managers
- $153,370
- Software developers
- $135,160
- Registered nurses
- $134,910
- Civil engineers
- $122,160
- Police officers
- $118,220
- General & operations managers
- $105,680
- Secondary school teachers
- $101,590
- Elementary school teachers
- $100,220
- Accountants & auditors
- $83,810
- Electricians
- $78,780
- Carpenters
- $67,530
- Plumbers
- $64,440
- Construction laborers
- $61,680
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $53,390
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $50,760
- Customer service reps
- $48,010
- Janitors
- $43,570
- Retail salespersons
- $37,970
- Cashiers
- $37,080
- Waiters & waitresses
- $35,540
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 Salinas 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.
- Florida930
- Colorado819
- Arizona634
- Hawaii507
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Salinas
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Salinas metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Salinas metro?
- Median gross rent across the Salinas, CA Metro Area is $2,007 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Salinas.
- What is the median household income in the Salinas metro?
- A typical household in the Salinas, CA Metro Area earns $93,290 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Salinas expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Salinas, CA Metro Area runs about 9% 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 Salinas metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $85,554 (versus its face value of $93,290). CityLedger rates the Salinas, CA Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Salinas metro?
- The median home value across the Salinas, CA Metro Area is $808,600 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Salinas metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Salinas, CA Metro Area is 4.1% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).