San Jose, CA
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, San Jose ranks 1st for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 1st for income. A household earns $164,801 a year while median rent runs $2,827/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 10% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is affordability (1st of 300), while home prices is the soft spot (300th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 300th and home prices 300th 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 Jose, your take-home is worth about $52,794 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
- 1st of 300↑25.9%$164,801
- 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.
- 292nd of 300110 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $149,245
- Per-capita income
- $80,811
- Full-time pay
- $75,510
Housing
- Median rent
- 300th of 300↑19.1%$2,827/mo
- Home value
- 300th of 300↑36.9%$1,528,500
- Property tax
- $10,001/yr · 0.7%
- Sales tax
- 8.80%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 230th of 3005.3%
- Bachelor's+
- 3rd of 30056.3%
- Avg commute
- 244th of 30027.5 min
People
- Population
- 1,995,484
- Population change
- +0.2%
- Median age
- 38.2 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 41.3%
- Broadband
- 96.6%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 234th of 30051
- Natural-hazard loss
- 280th of 300$37/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 45th of 30016%
- 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 — salinas ap.
What jobs pay in San Jose
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $351,760
- Lawyers
- $301,320
- IT managers
- $291,660
- Financial managers
- $225,280
- Registered nurses
- $216,740
- Software developers
- $213,110
- Pharmacists
- $199,040
- Web developers
- $166,670
- General & operations managers
- $163,860
- Police officers
- $136,140
- Civil engineers
- $130,280
- Accountants & auditors
- $121,700
- Secondary school teachers
- $108,230
- Plumbers
- $107,560
- Elementary school teachers
- $102,860
- Electricians
- $91,030
- Carpenters
- $80,190
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $70,730
- Construction laborers
- $68,470
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $63,220
- Customer service reps
- $60,480
- Retail salespersons
- $44,220
- Janitors
- $43,870
- Cashiers
- $42,960
- Waiters & waitresses
- $41,920
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 Jose 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.
- Texas3,133
- Washington2,510
- New York2,403
- Illinois2,113
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like San Jose
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
San Jose metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the San Jose metro?
- Median gross rent across the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metro Area is $2,827 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of San Jose.
- What is the median household income in the San Jose metro?
- A typical household in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metro Area earns $164,801 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is San Jose expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metro Area runs about 10% 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 Jose metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $149,245 (versus its face value of $164,801). CityLedger rates the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the San Jose metro?
- The median home value across the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metro Area is $1,528,500 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the San Jose metro?
- The unemployment rate in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metro Area is 5.3% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).