San Francisco, CA
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, San Francisco ranks 1st for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 2nd for income. A household earns $135,590 a year while median rent runs $2,435/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 16% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is affordability (1st of 300), while cost of living is the soft spot (300th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 299th and home prices 299th 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 San Francisco, your take-home is worth about $50,424 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
- 2nd of 300↑18.2%$135,590
- 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.
- 300th of 300116 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $117,279
- Per-capita income
- $74,649
- Full-time pay
- $70,670
Housing
- Median rent
- 299th of 300↑18.4%$2,435/mo
- Home value
- 299th of 300↑20.4%$1,132,900
- Property tax
- $8,777/yr · 0.8%
- Sales tax
- 8.80%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 240th of 3005.5%
- Bachelor's+
- 9th of 30053.8%
- Avg commute
- 293rd of 30032.7 min
People
- Population
- 4,648,486
- Population change
- -1.8%
- Median age
- 40.8 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 32.4%
- Broadband
- 95.5%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 255th of 30053
- Natural-hazard loss
- 273rd of 300$34/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 99th of 30016.9%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 7.1%
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
- + Education
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Job market
- – Commute
- – Air quality
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — oakland intl ap.
What jobs pay in San Francisco
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $304,560
- IT managers
- $232,890
- Financial managers
- $216,150
- Lawyers
- $212,500
- Software developers
- $186,640
- Registered nurses
- $186,610
- Pharmacists
- $177,410
- Web developers
- $152,450
- General & operations managers
- $149,990
- Police officers
- $132,000
- Civil engineers
- $130,160
- Accountants & auditors
- $110,730
- Secondary school teachers
- $102,880
- Elementary school teachers
- $101,860
- Electricians
- $92,830
- Carpenters
- $89,200
- Plumbers
- $77,880
- Construction laborers
- $72,610
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $66,450
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $63,630
- Customer service reps
- $57,830
- Janitors
- $44,180
- Retail salespersons
- $43,850
- Cashiers
- $41,270
- Waiters & waitresses
- $38,860
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 San Francisco 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.
- New York8,797
- Washington5,132
- Texas4,555
- Illinois4,234
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like San Francisco
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
San Francisco metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the San Francisco metro?
- Median gross rent across the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA Metro Area is $2,435 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of San Francisco.
- What is the median household income in the San Francisco metro?
- A typical household in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA Metro Area earns $135,590 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is San Francisco expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA Metro Area runs about 16% 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 San Francisco metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $117,279 (versus its face value of $135,590). CityLedger rates the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the San Francisco metro?
- The median home value across the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA Metro Area is $1,132,900 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the San Francisco metro?
- The unemployment rate in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA Metro Area is 5.5% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).