Modesto vs Stockton
Metro-area medians — Modesto, CA Metro Area vs Stockton-Lodi, CA Metro Area — not the cities proper.
Stockton comes out ahead, winning 6 of the 8 clearly-decided measures.
Modesto and Stockton cost about the same to live in, but Stockton households earn about 18% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in Stockton.
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, Modesto leaves you about $523/yr better off after tax and local prices.
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.
Choose Stockton for
- + Livability (CityLedger)
- + Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
- + Median household income
- + Unemployment
- + Bachelor's degree or higher
- + Air quality (median AQI)
Modesto vs Stockton — frequently asked
- Is Modesto cheaper than Stockton?
- They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Modesto and Stockton metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
- Which has higher household income, Modesto or Stockton?
- Stockton has the higher median household income — $93,038 versus $78,673 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 18% more.
- Does a paycheck go further in Modesto or Stockton?
- A paycheck stretches further in Stockton. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $88,533 there versus $75,569 in Modesto.
- Which has cheaper rent, Modesto or Stockton?
- Rents are close — $1,753/mo in the Modesto metro versus $1,788/mo in Stockton (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).