Overall
115.6
Expensive
Metro cost profile · 2024 BEA RPP
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
Cost-of-living indicators for San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA, from Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities, overall, goods, services, and rents vs the U.S. average of 100.
- 115.6
- Overall RPP
- #1
- of 387 metros
- 194.7
- Rents RPP
- $86K
- $100K national buys
San Francisco ranks #1 of 387 U.S. metros by cost, and its overall price index has fallen 3.5 points since 2008.
- falling since 2008
- similar cost to Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach
The verdict
San Francisco is more expensive than 99% of U.S. metros, an overall cost index of 115.6, 15.6% above the national average, led by rents at 194.7.
- top 1%
- by overall cost, nationwide
- 108.5
- goods RPP, tradable items
- 172.6
- services RPP, labor-priced
A $100,000 national salary carries the purchasing power of about $86,495 here; matching a $100K lifestyle takes roughly $115,613.
Latest BEA release change
What changed from 2023 to 2024
San Francisco's overall RPP fell -1.9 points, from 117.6 in 2023 to 115.6 in 2024. The largest category movement was services, changing from 162.2 to 172.6. This is a relative change against the national benchmark, not a household's dollar bill.
RPP History (2008-2024)
The cost of living has been trending downward, decreasing by 3.5 points over this period. The largest single-year move was in 2017, when the index jumped 5.2 points from the year before, a bigger swing than the full 2008-2024 change.
San Francisco overall RPP, 2008-2024
Every year on record, national average = 100
| Year | Overall |
|---|---|
| 2008 | 119.1 |
| 2009 | 115.2 |
| 2010 | 113.9 |
| 2011 | 112.4 |
| 2012 | 112.5 |
| 2013 | 112.9 |
| 2014 | 114.0 |
| 2015 | 115.8 |
| 2016 | 116.4 |
| 2017 | 121.6 |
| 2018 | 122.3 |
| 2019 | 119.7 |
| 2020 | 119.6 |
| 2021 | 120.0 |
| 2022 | 118.0 |
| 2023 | 117.6 |
| 2024 | 115.6 |
San Francisco vs every U.S. metro
Where this metro sits in the national cost distribution
116 Top 1% higher than 99% of 387 US metros
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US metros. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities · 2024
San Francisco cost breakdown
BEA RPP by category, 100 = national average
- Rents
Rents
194.7 RPP
- Services
Services
172.6 RPP
- Overall
Overall
115.6 RPP
- Goods
Goods
108.5 RPP
What this shows San Francisco's cost structure is housing-led: rents at 194.7 depart furthest from 100, while services sits at 172.6. This is a rent-sensitive profile, not a claim that every local expense moves together.
Goods vs. housing, where San Francisco's cost comes from
Metros near San Francisco's overall cost, plotted by their goods price (horizontal) and housing price (vertical). Same headline RPP, very different structures.
Read the chart as text
- San Francisco (San Francisco, this metro): goods RPP 108.5, rents RPP 194.7
- Miami: goods RPP 103.6, rents RPP 155.6
- Los Angeles: goods RPP 106.6, rents RPP 170.4
- New York: goods RPP 110.3, rents RPP 148.6
- Napa: goods RPP 105.2, rents RPP 197.4
- San Diego: goods RPP 108, rents RPP 179.3
- Seattle: goods RPP 104, rents RPP 151.3
Price Index Summary
Goods
108.5
Above avg
Services
172.6
Expensive
Rents
194.7
Expensive
Housing-led cost profile
How San Francisco's cost structure works
Housing is the defining pressure in San Francisco: rents index at 194.7, the furthest component above the national benchmark. The overall index of 115.6 places San Francisco as the single most expensive metro in the country; the rent line explains why a similar headline RPP can still require a different housing budget.
Across all reported metros, the closest component-profile matches are San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA, Napa, CA, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA. They resemble San Francisco across goods, services, and rents together, so they are stronger structure peers than a place selected only because its overall RPP happens to be nearby.
Across 2008-2024, San Francisco's overall index has fallen by 3.5 points. This is a relative price-level history, not a prediction or a personal affordability recommendation; pair it with current local wages and housing options before making a decision.
Salary Equivalent
A $100,000 salary at the national average cost of living equals:
$115,613
in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA purchasing power
$50,000 nationally
$57,807
$75,000 nationally
$86,710
$125,000 nationally
$144,516
$150,000 nationally
$173,420
$200,000 nationally
$231,226
Use the salary calculator for custom amounts.
Affordability score
F
1/100
How far the median local paycheck goes here, combining income and housing cost
Purchasing power
Not reported
Housing affordability F
1st percentile
A weighted composite (60% purchasing power, 40% housing affordability) percentile-ranked against every other tracked metro; a missing input redistributes its weight rather than deflating the score. Sources: Census ACS 5-Year 2023 (income) + BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 (cost). Vintages differ by design; see methodology.
CA-relative analysis
Goods prices is San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA's strongest outlier among CA metros
Among the 25 CA metros PlainCost tracks with reported goods prices data, San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA ranks #1 - the 96th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide rank above: it compares San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA only against its own state's metros, not the full US field.
Goods prices
#1 of 25
96th percentile in CA
Services prices
#2 of 25
92nd percentile in CA
Rent prices
#3 of 25
88th percentile in CA
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "more expensive is worse", see the national comparison above for direction context. This is a comparison within CA only, not a livability score.
Nationwide metros with similar overall cost or rent prices
Two BEA RPP-derived peer sets for San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA: nearest metros by overall regional price parity and by rents RPP. These are cross-state neighborhoods, not the in-state metro list below.
Similar overall RPP
Nearest metros by overall regional price parity (115.6 here).
Similar rents RPP
Nearest metros by rents regional price parity (194.7 here).
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA Rents 179.3 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Rents 211.9 Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA Rents 171.1 Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Rents 164.3 Boulder, CO Rents 157.0 Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA Rents 151.4 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA Rents 151.3 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Rents 151.1
Other CA Metros
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA 113.6 Napa, CA 112.6 San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA 111.9 Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA 110.5 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA 110.4 Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA 109.9
View all CA metros → Cheapest in CA → Most expensive in CA →
Decision peers
Metros with a similar cost mix
These metros are closest to San Francisco's combined goods, services, and rents profile. They may not have the same overall RPP, but their price pressures are shaped in a similar way.
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA
Goods 108.0 · Services 174.2 · Rents 179.3 Napa, CA
Goods 105.2 · Services 156.5 · Rents 197.4 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
Goods 105.2 · Services 156.7 · Rents 211.9 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
Goods 106.6 · Services 158.6 · Rents 170.4 Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA
Goods 105.2 · Services 152.9 · Rents 171.1 Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA
Goods 105.2 · Services 152.7 · Rents 164.3
Metros with Similar Cost of Living
These metros have an overall RPP closest to San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA's index of 115.6.
Showing the 6 closest of 387 metro areas tracked nationally.
Shareable data card
Take this cost snapshot with you
Download the data card or share this exact metro record. The card uses the same BEA-derived values shown above.
Cost of living guides →, cheapest and most-expensive metro rankings, salary negotiation with RPP data, and step-by-step comparison walkthroughs.
Compare to Other Metros
What this means for San Francisco
How to read San Francisco's cost of living before a move, a job offer, or a budget.
- Budget to local prices, not headline pay, a $100K national salary spends like about $86,495 in San Francisco. Salary calculator
- Start with rents: it indexes at 194.7, the largest departure from the national benchmark in this metro's BEA cost mix. Compare it with the other components before treating the overall RPP as a complete household budget.
- Compare San Francisco head-to-head against a specific destination before you decide. Compare metros
RPP is BEA's annual price-level benchmark for the data year shown, not a live market quote. Pair it with current local wages and housing costs before deciding.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cost of living in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA?
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA has a Regional Price Parity (RPP) index of 115.6, meaning it is 15.6% more expensive than the national average. Goods are indexed at 108.5, services at 172.6, and rents at 194.7. It ranks #1 out of 387 U.S. metro areas by overall cost.
What salary do I need in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA to match $100K nationally?
To maintain the same purchasing power as a $100,000 salary at the national average, you would need approximately $115,613 in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA. Conversely, $100K earned in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA has the purchasing power of $86,495 at the national average.
How expensive is rent in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA?
Rents in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA are indexed at 194.7, which is 94.7% above the national average. This is significantly higher than typical U.S. rents.
Is San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA getting more expensive?
From 2008 to 2024, San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA's overall cost index changed by -3.5 points (from 119.1 to 115.6). The cost of living has been declining.
What costs the most in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA?
The priciest category in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA is rents at 194.7, 94.7% above the national average. The most affordable category is goods at 108.5, 8.5% above average, still the lowest of the three categories.
What metros have a similar cost of living to San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA?
Metros with the most similar overall cost index include Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, New York-Newark-Jersey City. These areas have RPP values within a few points of San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA's 115.6.
Data sources
- BEA Regional Price Parities (RPP), the cost-of-living indices shown on this page
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS), gross-rent observations behind the rents component
- BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI), goods and services price relatives
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), labor-driven services component
- HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR), 40th-percentile rent cross-reference
Every figure on PlainCost is rendered directly from BEA Regional Price Parity source data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, our changelog, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-08-11. Rankings measure the published cost-of-living index only; we don't recommend where to live or rate any metro's quality of life.