Cost of living in San Jose, CA
The San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metro area (1,995,484 people) ranks #9 of 149 for prices among the U.S. metro areas we cover. Here's what it costs to live there.
Hover over or tap a dot to see its value.
See all 149 cities
Price level, from cheaper to pricier.
- The Villages, FL 85.4
- McAllen, TX 85.9
- Springfield, MO 88.6
- Wichita, KS 88.9
- Jackson, MS 89.0
- Tulsa, OK 89.2
- Columbus, GA 89.3
- Little Rock, AR 89.4
- El Paso, TX 89.9
- Oklahoma City, OK 90.4
- Sioux Falls, SD 90.6
- Baton Rouge, LA 90.8
- Clarksville, TN 90.9
- Fargo, ND 90.9
- Killeen, TX 91.1
- Spartanburg, SC 91.1
- Fayetteville, AR 91.4
- Chattanooga, TN 91.5
- Toledo, OH 91.5
- Birmingham, AL 91.6
- Des Moines, IA 91.7
- Augusta, GA 91.9
- Omaha, NE 91.9
- Fayetteville, NC 92.0
- Winston-Salem, NC 92.0
- Jacksonville, NC 92.1
- Memphis, TN 92.2
- Kansas City, MO 92.5
- Fort Wayne, IN 92.6
- Knoxville, TN 92.6
- New Orleans, LA 92.6
- Dayton, OH 92.7
- Greensboro, NC 92.9
- Lexington, KY 92.9
- Huntsville, AL 93.1
- Louisville, KY 93.1
- Greenville, SC 93.3
- Akron, OH 93.4
- Billings, MT 93.5
- Myrtle Beach, SC 93.6
- Columbia, SC 93.7
- Cleveland, OH 93.9
- Daphne, AL 94.7
- Pittsburgh, PA 94.7
- San Antonio, TX 94.7
- St. Louis, MO 95.1
- Ocala, FL 95.2
- Savannah, GA 95.2
- Cincinnati, OH 95.4
- Albuquerque, NM 95.5
- Columbus, OH 95.5
- Grand Rapids, MI 95.5
- Indianapolis, IN 95.7
- Syracuse, NY 95.7
- Buffalo, NY 95.8
- Nashville, TN 96.3
- Wilmington, NC 96.4
- Asheville, NC 96.5
- Cheyenne, WY 96.5
- Gainesville, FL 96.7
- Milwaukee, WI 96.9
- Tucson, AZ 96.9
- Crestview, FL 97.0
- Rochester, NY 97.0
- Lakeland, FL 97.1
- Charlotte, NC 97.3
- Madison, WI 97.3
- Panama City, FL 97.3
- Durham, NC 97.6
- Pensacola, FL 97.7
- Richmond, VA 97.9
- Virginia Beach, VA 97.9
- Hilton Head Island, SC 98.0
- Austin, TX 98.1
- Provo, UT 98.2
- Raleigh, NC 98.2
- Prescott, AZ 98.3
- Boise, ID 98.4
- Houston, TX 98.6
- Harrisburg, PA 98.7
- Daytona Beach, FL 99.4
- Jacksonville, FL 99.5
- Albany, NY 99.6
- Allentown, PA 100.0
- Palm Bay, FL 100.0
- Atlanta, GA 100.1
- Greeley, CO 100.2
- Las Vegas, NV 100.2
- Port St. Lucie, FL 100.2
- Detroit, MI 100.3
- Ogden, UT 100.3
- Spokane, WA 100.3
- Norwich, CT 100.4
- Punta Gorda, FL 100.5
- Colorado Springs, CO 100.7
- Ann Arbor, MI 100.9
- Bakersfield, CA 100.9
- Burlington, VT 100.9
- Salt Lake City, UT 100.9
- Tampa, FL 100.9
- Charleston, SC 101.0
- Reno, NV 101.0
- Fort Collins, CO 101.1
- Orlando, FL 101.4
- Eugene, OR 101.6
- Providence, RI 101.8
- Portland, ME 101.9
- Fresno, CA 102.2
- Cape Coral, FL 102.3
- Sarasota, FL 102.4
- Worcester, MA 102.5
- Philadelphia, PA 102.6
- Hartford, CT 102.7
- Dallas, TX 103.1
- Naples, FL 103.2
- Trenton, NJ 103.2
- Phoenix, AZ 103.3
- Bend, OR 103.6
- Chicago, IL 103.6
- Olympia, WA 103.7
- Baltimore, MD 104.5
- New Haven, CT 104.6
- Minneapolis, MN 104.8
- Stockton, CA 105.1
- Boulder, CO 105.2
- Anchorage, AK 105.4
- Portland, OR 105.4
- Bremerton, WA 105.6
- Manchester, NH 105.7
- Denver, CO 105.8
- Riverside, CA 106.4
- Sacramento, CA 106.7
- Bridgeport, CT 106.9
- Santa Rosa, CA 107.8
- Boston, MA 108.3
- Vallejo, CA 108.5
- Santa Barbara, CA 108.8
- Washington, D.C. 108.9
- Salinas, CA 109.0
- Poughkeepsie, NY 109.4
- San Jose, CA 110.4
- Oxnard, CA 110.5
- Honolulu, HI 111.0
- Seattle, WA 111.1
- San Diego, CA 111.9
- New York, NY 112.6
- Los Angeles, CA 113.6
- Miami, FL 114.2
- San Francisco, CA 115.6
Compare San Jose with your city
See what you'd need to earn in San Jose to keep your lifestyle, after taxes and local prices. The calculator starts from San Francisco, CA, which sends the most households here of the metros we cover (IRS, 2022–2023), using its median household income as an illustrative single-earner salary. Household income can include several earners and other income; it is not a typical individual wage. Pick your own city, salary and filing status.
Equal salary in San Jose: $127,700
Compare any two of 149 U.S. metro areas. All cities
To keep the same lifestyle, you need about $127,700 in San Jose, CA to match $135,000 in San Francisco, CA ($7,300 less), after 2026 taxes and local prices.
Single filer, W-2 salary. Both are in California, so state income tax is the same; neither city levies a resident income tax.
Prices and housing cover the metro area; taxes use California, its principal state. A metro can span several states; living in its other state can change the tax result.
What things cost in San Jose
The vertical line marks the U.S. average (100). BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 for the metropolitan area.
Taxes in San Jose
In this fixed example, one single filer earning a $165,000 W-2 salary keeps $110,943 after 2026 federal tax ($28,334), Social Security and Medicare ($12,623) and California income tax ($10,956), plus $2,145 in state payroll programs. The salary is rounded from median household income, not an observed individual wage. This example stays fixed when you change the calculator.
Housing
| Measure | San Jose area |
|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,827/mo |
| Median home value | $1,528,500 |
| Median property tax | $10,000+/yr |
| Monthly cost to own the median home (20% down) | $9,289+ |
| Median household income | $164,801 |
Climate and jobs in San Jose
In the San Jose area the average January low is 42°F and the average July high 81°F, and the area has about 16 days a year at 90°F or hotter. Unemployment averaged 4.3% in 2025, the same as the U.S. rate (4.3%), and the median wage across all jobs was $84,050 a year, 65% above the U.S. median.
| Climate | 1991–2020 average |
|---|---|
| January low | 42°F |
| July high | 81°F |
| Days 90°F or hotter | 16 a year |
| Precipitation | 13 in a year |
| Snowfall | 0 in a year |
| Jobs and pay | Metro area | U.S. |
|---|---|---|
| Unemployment rate, 2025 average | 4.3% | 4.3% |
| Median wage, all jobs (May 2025) | $84,050 | $50,980 |
| Wage and salary jobs (May 2025) | 1.1 million | 155.5 million |
Climate: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020 averages at the San Jose station (USW00023293), with snowfall from San Jose (USC00047821) because the main station doesn't record it. Weather varies across a metro area, especially with elevation and distance from the coast. Jobs: unemployment from BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics; wages and job counts from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, which count wage and salary jobs, not the self-employed; wages are before taxes. The 2025 average covers 11 months: October 2025 data were not collected during the federal government shutdown.
Retiring in San Jose
Our modeled retiree budget is at least $4,040 a month here with a home owned outright, or about $5,388 renting. It uses spending benchmarks for households with a reference person age 65 or older (BLS 2024), adjusted for local prices. These are household-based estimates, not observed spending by a single retiree in San Jose. See where your budget goes furthest.
Where people move to and from San Jose
- San Jose to San Francisco
- San Jose to Los Angeles
- San Jose to Sacramento
- San Jose to Stockton
- San Jose to New York
- San Jose to Seattle
- San Jose to San Diego
- San Jose to Austin
- San Francisco to San Jose
- Los Angeles to San Jose
- New York to San Jose
- Sacramento to San Jose
- Seattle to San Jose
- San Diego to San Jose
IRS county-to-county migration data, 2022–2023, aggregated to the 149 metro areas we cover.
Natural hazard risk
RelocateMath's population-weighted mean of FEMA county risk scores for the San Jose area is 99.3 of 100 (very high county-score mean), with modeled expected losses of about $1,023 per resident per year. A mean of county percentiles is not an official FEMA metro rating or a national metro percentile. It describes the counties in the metro; your property's risk can differ. Disaster risk by county in California.
The vertical line marks county-score scale midpoint (50).
Frequently asked questions
What salary do you need to live in San Jose?
In a fixed single-filer W-2 example living inside the principal city, about $91,700 in San Jose matches the buying power of $75,000 in an average-priced area with no state income tax. The example uses 2026 federal taxes, California state taxes and modeled resident local taxes where applicable. It stays fixed when calculator inputs change. Renting the median home at 30% of income takes $113,080, and buying the median home with 20% down takes at least $398,119.
Is San Jose expensive?
The San Jose metro area's price level is 110.4 (U.S. = 100), #9 of the 149 metro areas we cover, from most to least expensive. Its housing rents price index is 211.9, 112% above the U.S. average.
Are people moving to San Jose?
Counting moves to and from the other 148 metro areas we cover, San Jose had a net loss of about 7,585 households in 2022–2023 (IRS county migration data).
What is the weather like in San Jose?
In NOAA's 1991–2020 climate normals for the San Jose area (San Jose weather station), the average January low is 42°F and the average July high 81°F. The area has about 16 days a year at 90°F or hotter and gets 13 inches of precipitation a year and almost no snow.
What are jobs and pay like in San Jose?
The San Jose metro area's unemployment rate averaged 4.3% in 2025, the same as the U.S. rate (4.3%). The median wage across all jobs was $84,050 a year in May 2025, 65% above the U.S. median of $50,980 (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
What natural disasters affect San Jose?
RelocateMath's population-weighted mean of FEMA county risk scores is 99.3 out of 100 (very high county-score mean). This is not an official FEMA metro rating or a national metro percentile. The highest county-score means by hazard are earthquake, landslide, drought.
Compare San Jose with other cities
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Cities with similar prices
- Oxnard, CA 110.5
- Honolulu, HI 111.0
- Seattle, WA 111.1
- Poughkeepsie, NY 109.4
- Salinas, CA 109.0
- Washington, D.C. 108.9
- Moving from California
State-agency links identify the responsible tax office; they do not verify every modeled rule. Use forms and guidance for the year you are filing.