What salary do you need to live comfortably in San Francisco?
According to the Census Bureau, the median salary for San Francisco residents is $119,136. However, if you want to follow the 30% rule and only spend 30% on your monthly income on rent, you need an income of $93,720 to live comfortably in a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco.
The average salary in San Francisco is $88,264. A good hourly wage in San Francisco is $36.06 per hour. That works out to a good weekly wage of $1,442 per week and a good monthly wage of $6,250 per month. However, using the median income is only one way to calculate a good salary in San Francisco.
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5 cities where $100,000 barely covers your basics.
| Rank | City | Amount leftover after paying basic bills |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Francisco | -$2,734 |
| 2 | San Jose | $1,800 |
| 3 | Oakland | $8,448 |
| 4 | Los Angeles | $9,689 |
Households earning around $80,000 to $165,000 qualify as “middle income” here, depending on the location and family size, compared with a national median income of $67,521.
People living in the Bay Area consider an average of $7,810 monthly salary or about $93,720 annually as good. With this amount, you'll be able to live comfortably in the Bay Area.
Jobs are ranked by average annual salary with information up to date as of May 2021. In San Francisco, the annual mean wage is $86,590 or 48.6% higher than national mean of $58,260, while the highest-paying occupation makes $377,980.
How much does an Upper Class make in California? As of Jul 23, 2022, the average annual pay for the Upper Class jobs category in California is $56,023 a year. Just in case you need a simple salary calculator, that works out to be approximately $26.93 an hour. This is the equivalent of $1,077/week or $4,669/month.
An annual salary of $120,000 would sound like a pretty good deal anywhere around the world. But that may not always be the case in Silicon Valley, where soaring rent prices and its brutal cost of living make $120,000 look almost average — even though it's more than double the US median household income.
That's up from $1.9 million last year. In Southern California (which the survey grouped Los Angeles and San Diego), the threshold for what is considered wealthy is $3.9 million. It's the second-highest total in the survey, trailing San Francisco, where the "wealthy" net worth is $5.1 million.
For example, HUD defined “Low Income Limits” in San Francisco as $82,200 for an individual and $117,400 for a family of four in 2018, based on 80% of the area's median income. However, the federal poverty guidelines in 2018 were only $12,140 for an individual and $25,100 for a family of four.
Can you live in San Francisco on 50K?
Get Savvy To Live In San Francisco On A Low Salary
If you are savvy, you can make $50K work in San Francisco. But, housing cost will be your biggest issue. If you can move to the western side of SF (Outer Sunset or Richmond), housing costs are about 40% – 60% cheaper than downtown or the north side.
Anyone who is making just the minimum wage in San Francisco, $14 per hour, can comfortably afford a $728 rent payment, according to the coalition. The minimum wage worker would need to put in 161 hours of work per week to afford a one bedroom alone.
In order to comfortably raise a family in an expensive coastal city like San Francisco or New York, you've probably got to make at least $300,000 a year. Thanks to elevated inflation, $300,000 or more may be required for you to live a middle-class lifestyle today. You can certainly raise a family earning less. Most do.
Of those earning between $40,000 and $60,000 a year, 7% consider themselves “rich.” But when it comes to high-earners, those making $90,000 to $150,000 a year, just 9% consider themselves “rich” and 5% actually classify themselves as “poor.” “The higher your income,” the report concludes, “the higher you set the bar.”
In the five-county Bay Area, Richmond has the lowest threshold for upper class at around $122,000 while Los Altos has the highest at about $416,600, according to 2017 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the most recent available. Nationwide, households making more than $115,300 are considered upper class.
| Annual Salary | Monthly Pay | |
|---|---|---|
| Top Earners | $168,021 | $14,001 |
| 75th Percentile | $127,136 | $10,594 |
| Average | $93,085 | $7,757 |
| 25th Percentile | $52,646 | $4,387 |
How much does an Average make in California? As of Jul 25, 2022, the average annual pay for the Average jobs category in California is $66,157 a year.
With a $500,000+ income, you are considered rich, wherever you live! According to the IRS, any household who makes over $500,000 a year in 2022 is considered a top 1% income earner. Of course, some parts of the country require a higher income level to be in the top 1% income, e.g. Connecticut at $580,000.
In 2021, the median household income is roughly $68,000. An upper class income is usually considered at least 50% higher than the median household income. Therefore, an upper class income in America is $100,000 and higher.
Pew defines “middle class” as a person earning between two-thirds and twice the median American household income, which in 2019 was $68,703, according to the United States Census Bureau. That puts the base salary to be in the middle class just shy of $46,000.
What can you afford with 120k salary?
If you make $120,000 a year, you can go up to $33,600 a year, or $2,800 a month—as long as your other debts don't push you beyond the 36 percent mark.
A good salary in New York, NY is anything over $54,000. That's because the median income in New York is $54,000, which means if you earn more than that you're earning more than 50% of the people living in New York. The average salary in New York is $64,741. A good hourly wage in New York is $25.96 per hour.
- Top 1% income threshold: $745,314.
- Top 5% income threshold: $291,277.
With the median U.S. income being about $80,000 a year, a household of four earning between roughly $52,000 and $175,000 a year is considered middle class.
A family earning between $32,048 and $53,413 was considered lower-middle class. For high earners, a three-person family needed an income between $106,827 and $373,894 to be considered upper-middle class, Rose says. Those who earn more than $373,894 are rich.
In San Francisco, the 24/7 writers estimate a monthly living cost of $5,194 (including $1,742 in housing costs), or a cost of $11,165 for a family of four.
- Glen Park.
- Western Addition. ...
- South of Market. ...
- Outer Sunset. ...
- Tenderloin. ...
- Inner Richmond. ...
- Vallejo. The Bay Area of San Francisco is undoubtedly one of California's hottest destinations. ...
- Castro-Upper Market. No one is going to say that Castro-Upper Market is a budgeter's dream. ...
San Francisco is one of the wealthiest and most expensive cities in America. San Francisco's high cost of living is due to its booming tech industry and proximity to Silicon Valley. The Bay Area could become even more expensive given the high number of tech companies expected to go public this year.
In the U.S., New York City is the most pricey to live in, followed by San Francisco—however, NYC is only #9 on the world's most expensive cities.
- South San Francisco.
- San Bruno.
- San Rafael.
- San Mateo.
- Pacifica.
- Berkeley.
- Daly City.
- Hayward.
Is it worth moving to San Francisco?
...
1. Yes, San Francisco is expensive.
| 1-bedroom apartment average rent | $2,750 |
|---|---|
| Median sales price for homes | $1.3 million |
July 28, 2022 Updated: July 28, 2022 1:45 p.m. Rents in Oakland and other Bay Area cities are increasingly out of reach many workers. It now takes a full-time income of more than $61 an hour to comfortably afford the rent for an average two-bedroom apartment in the San Francisco metro area.
The top 1% represents about 1.3 million households who roughly make more than $500,000 a year -- out of a total of almost 130 million.
The lowest average income to be considered in rich Oakland is $161,345. In comparison, that number stands at $66,139 for 50th-ranked Detroit — almost a $100,000 difference. To be considered rich in San Jose, one needs to make an average of at least $214,975. That number is at $239,840 for San Francisco.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, less than 5% of households earn $350,000 or more a year. While $350,000 might sound like a lot of money, it'll go quickly when you're raising a family in an expensive city.
By the Pew Research Center's definition, middle-class Americans earn 67% to 200% of the median household income. In San Francisco, that's annual earnings between $67,809 and $203,428 — anything above that figure is technically upper class, but the figures aren't adjusted for cost of living.
If you make $250,000 a year living in the region of California, USA, you will be taxed $93,731. That means that your net pay will be $156,269 per year, or $13,022 per month. Your average tax rate is 37.5% and your marginal tax rate is 46.7%.
If you make $200,000 a year living in the region of California, USA, you will be taxed $70,374. That means that your net pay will be $129,626 per year, or $10,802 per month. Your average tax rate is 35.2% and your marginal tax rate is 46.7%.
A person working in San Francisco typically earns around 104,000 USD per year. Salaries range from 26,400 USD (lowest average) to 466,000 USD (highest average, actual maximum salary is higher). This is the average yearly salary including housing, transport, and other benefits.
In the U.S., New York City is the most pricey to live in, followed by San Francisco—however, NYC is only #9 on the world's most expensive cities.
What is the average annual income in San Francisco?
| Population | |
|---|---|
| Mean travel time to work (minutes), workers age 16 years+, 2016-2020 | 33.3 |
| Income & Poverty | |
| Median household income (in 2020 dollars), 2016-2020 | $119,136 |
| Per capita income in past 12 months (in 2020 dollars), 2016-2020 | $72,041 |
| COST OF LIVING | San Francisco | California |
|---|---|---|
| Housing | 596.2 | 239.1 |
| Median Home Cost | $1,471,200 | $684,800 |
| Utilities | 97.5 | 102.4 |
| Transportation | 158.2 | 133.1 |
Anyone who is making just the minimum wage in San Francisco, $14 per hour, can comfortably afford a $728 rent payment, according to the coalition. The minimum wage worker would need to put in 161 hours of work per week to afford a one bedroom alone.
For example, HUD defined “Low Income Limits” in San Francisco as $82,200 for an individual and $117,400 for a family of four in 2018, based on 80% of the area's median income. However, the federal poverty guidelines in 2018 were only $12,140 for an individual and $25,100 for a family of four.
San Francisco, CA
The cost of living in San Francisco is the highest in the country. Jobs in the City by the Bay pay well, with average annual incomes of over $100,000.
Get Savvy To Live In San Francisco On A Low Salary
If you are savvy, you can make $50K work in San Francisco. But, housing cost will be your biggest issue. If you can move to the western side of SF (Outer Sunset or Richmond), housing costs are about 40% – 60% cheaper than downtown or the north side.
In the Bay Area, Lower Rent Just Means Less Unaffordable
According to the Zumper National Rent Report, San Francisco was the second-most expensive rental market in America in June. The median one-bedroom costs $3,000 a month, second only to New York's $3,600.
Cost of living in San Francisco, California (United States) is 13% more expensive than in Los Angeles, California (United States)
How much does a Public School Teacher make in San Francisco, CA? The average Public School Teacher salary in San Francisco, CA is $68,737 as of June 28, 2022, but the range typically falls between $57,415 and $83,812.
The median household income in San Francisco is $107,898 — about 74% more than the national median household income of $61,937. The city has the third-highest number of billionaires in the US thanks to its technology sector , according to Wealth-X's 2019 Billionaire Census report.
