Santa Rosa, CA
Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Santa Rosa ranks 19th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 13th for income. A household earns $107,274 a year while median rent runs $2,229/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 8% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is air quality (4th of 300), while rent is the soft spot (295th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 295th and home prices 290th 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 Santa Rosa, your take-home is worth about $54,086 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
- 13th of 300↑22.1%$107,274
- 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.
- 282nd of 300108 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $99,527
- Per-capita income
- $57,313
- Full-time pay
- $53,723
Housing
- Median rent
- 295th of 300↑26.9%$2,229/mo
- Home value
- 290th of 300↑23.7%$822,400
- Property tax
- $5,787/yr · 0.7%
- Sales tax
- 8.80%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 216th of 3005.1%
- Bachelor's+
- 77th of 30040.1%
- Avg commute
- 193rd of 30025.4 min
People
- Population
- 485,375
- Population change
- -1.8%
- Median age
- 43.4 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 16.7%
- Broadband
- 95.4%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 4th of 30019
- Natural-hazard loss
- 290th of 300$43/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 122nd of 30017.7%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 8.8%
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
- + Air quality
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Job market
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — santa rosa sonoma co ap.
What jobs pay in Santa Rosa
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $258,500
- Lawyers
- $181,560
- Registered nurses
- $174,550
- IT managers
- $173,840
- Pharmacists
- $170,570
- Financial managers
- $164,140
- Software developers
- $148,630
- Police officers
- $125,910
- Civil engineers
- $111,740
- General & operations managers
- $109,970
- Web developers
- $103,530
- Secondary school teachers
- $101,730
- Elementary school teachers
- $99,060
- Accountants & auditors
- $94,690
- Carpenters
- $80,520
- Electricians
- $77,380
- Plumbers
- $64,700
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $62,620
- Construction laborers
- $60,270
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $58,170
- Customer service reps
- $51,810
- Retail salespersons
- $39,570
- Janitors
- $39,210
- Cashiers
- $38,440
- Waiters & waitresses
- $36,830
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 Santa Rosa 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.
- Florida483
- Washington424
- Nevada368
- Texas330
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Santa Rosa
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Santa Rosa metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Santa Rosa metro?
- Median gross rent across the Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA Metro Area is $2,229 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Santa Rosa.
- What is the median household income in the Santa Rosa metro?
- A typical household in the Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA Metro Area earns $107,274 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Santa Rosa expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA Metro Area runs about 8% 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 Santa Rosa metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $99,527 (versus its face value of $107,274). CityLedger rates the Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Santa Rosa metro?
- The median home value across the Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA Metro Area is $822,400 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Santa Rosa metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA Metro Area is 5.1% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).