What salary do you need to live in San Francisco, CA?

San Francisco housing costs at a glance

Renters in San Francisco pay a median $2,680 a month for two bedrooms. Size matters: one bedroom is $2,217, three bedrooms $3,209, so going from the smallest to the largest of the three adds $11,904 a year.

Homeowners in San Francisco report a median home value of $1,140,700. Local median household income is $136,027, so the median home is 8.4× a typical income — high enough that ownership weighs heavily in the score unless income is well above the median.

The Regional Price Parity, BEA's index of local prices with the US at 100, is 115.6 here. Above 100 means a paycheck stretches less: $100,000 in San Francisco has the buying power of roughly $86,495 at national average prices.

Income needed for each grade in San Francisco

The salary lines for a two-bedroom household land at $167,000 for Tight, $336,000 for Okay and $676,000 for Comfortable. The gap between the Okay and Comfortable lines alone is $340,000, which says how much extra income it takes to make housing feel roomy here rather than merely workable.

Royal is out of reach at any income here. The price-level part of the score is fixed by the metro's parity of 115.6, so even when rent and home prices become tiny next to income the total tops out at 80, short of the 85 the top band needs.

How they were found: the same scoring function the calculator runs was evaluated at rising incomes until each cutoff was crossed, and the crossing rounded up to a whole $1,000.

Scores at $50K, $75K, $100K and $150K in San Francisco

On $75,000, a one-bedroom scores 5 and a three-bedroom 0, both Stretched; the extra bedrooms cost points but not a grade.

None of the four salaries reaches Comfortable for two bedrooms; even $150,000 scores 22, Stretched, which fits the $676,000 line above.

Where San Francisco falls nationally

On price level San Francisco is 1st of 387 (1 = most expensive); on two-bedroom rent it is 2nd, and on median home value 2nd. The two rankings agree, both falling in the top 10%.

For a sense of scale, the metros just above and below it on two-bedroom rent are San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA ($2,926) and Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA ($2,376).

San Francisco in a California context

Compared with California as a whole, two-bedroom rent in San Francisco is 27% higher ($2,680 vs. $2,103) and the median home is 55% higher ($1,140,700 vs. $734,700).

On statewide medians, a two-bedroom budget reaches Comfortable at $439,000 — below San Francisco's $676,000 line.

Within California, the metros closest to San Francisco on rent and overall prices are San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA, Napa, CA, and Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA. Their Comfortable lines for two bedrooms sit at $711,000, $523,000, and $536,000.

The median San Francisco household

A household at the San Francisco median income of $136,027 would see a two-bedroom score of 19 — Stretched — with rent at 24% of income. Reaching Comfortable would take $539,973 more than the median household earns. For California as a whole, the median household income of $99,122 scores 23 against statewide rents. Household income can include more than one earner, so a single salary of the same size goes less far.

Estimates use pre-tax income and public data; they are not financial advice.