Prices, pay, taxes, homes and family budgets, county by county, from the same official data the site's calculators use.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures price levels in every state against a national average of 100. California scores 110.7 overall, so a $75,000 salary at average US prices buys what $83,040 buys here. Compare any salary with another state.
| Price level | California (US = 100) | Rank, most expensive first |
|---|---|---|
| Everything | 110.7 | 1st of 51 |
| Rents | 154.3 | 2nd of 51 |
| Goods | 106.1 | — |
| Other services | 102.6 | — |
Home electricity averaged 31.97 cents a kilowatt-hour in 2024, against 17.06 across all states. A gallon of regular gas cost $5.68 at the end of August 2026, against $4.12.
Across all 18,213,700 jobs the Bureau of Labor Statistics counts in California, the median pay is $58,240 a year, or $28.00 an hour; that ranks 10th of the 50 states and DC. One worker in ten earns less than $35,950 and one in ten more than $159,080.
California taxes wages in brackets, with a top rate of 13.3% (using its 2025 tables, the latest the site has). The brackets in California. A single filer on the median $58,240, with no retirement or health deductions, takes home about $46,933 a year, or $1,805 every two weeks, after $4,809 of federal income tax, $4,455 of Social Security and Medicare and $2,043 of state income tax. Work out your own paycheck in California.
The five occupations employing the most people, with their median annual pay:
| Occupation | Jobs | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 970,150 | $34,320 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 449,840 | $42,280 |
| Retail Salespersons | 376,460 | $38,440 |
| Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand | 355,500 | $44,710 |
| Registered Nurses | 338,940 | $140,270 |
Of the 20 largest occupations, the best paid are software developers ($174,410), registered nurses ($140,270), general and operations managers ($124,390). See what common jobs pay in every state.
Across the 58 California counties with their own Zillow home value, the median typical home is worth $503,136, and across the 50 with their own rent figure the median typical rent is $2,452 a month. A typical home costs 5.16 years of the county's median family income, at the median county.
With 10% down at 7.03%, the average 30-year rate on September 24, 2026, that home costs about $3,908 a month with tax, insurance and mortgage insurance, which takes $167,471 a year of income under the usual 28% guideline. The median family can afford its own county's typical home in 0.0% of California's counties, against 44.9% of counties nationally. Try it with your own income.
At the median county, home values changed −0.1% over the past year and +7.3% over five years, and rents +3.0% over the past year.
The most expensive California counties are Santa Clara County ($1,598,562), San Mateo County ($1,596,366) and Marin County ($1,495,814); the least expensive are Modoc County ($197,967), Lassen County ($236,910) and Trinity County ($255,104).
The Economic Policy Institute prices what a modest but adequate standard of living costs in every county: housing, food, transport, healthcare, childcare, other necessities and taxes. In the median California county, that comes to $58,396 a year for one adult and $137,151 for two adults and two children, of which $23,506 is childcare. The national averages are $47,367 and $101,771. Median family income in the median county is $93,991.
| Two adults, two children | Per year, median county | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Housing | $18,965 | $1,580 |
| Food | $13,218 | $1,102 |
| Transportation | $20,248 | $1,687 |
| Healthcare | $22,016 | $1,835 |
| Childcare | $23,506 | $1,959 |
| Other necessities | $10,089 | $841 |
| Taxes | $24,608 | $2,051 |
Each line is its own median across counties, so the lines do not add up exactly to the total.
The Department of Education's College Scorecard lists 664 colleges in California, 180 of them public. The median public college reports a cost of attendance of $17,696 a year, covering tuition, housing, books and other expenses. Ten years after enrolling, the median school's former students earn $41,472. Compare degrees and schools.
| Alameda County | $1,062,132 | −2.3% | $2,937 | $155,116 | $203,506 |
| Alpine County | $513,891 | −2.0% | — | $119,659 | $138,401 |
| Amador County | $423,490 | −1.0% | $1,935 | $101,722 | $134,270 |
| Butte County | $401,873 | +0.3% | $1,527 | $90,047 | $120,169 |
| Calaveras County | $441,854 | −2.9% | $2,196 | $93,976 | $146,357 |
| Colusa County | $378,127 | +0.6% | — | $89,214 | $132,953 |
| Contra Costa County | $781,899 | −1.8% | $2,915 | $146,002 | $202,596 |
| Del Norte County | $365,333 | −0.4% | $1,975 | $84,188 | $128,632 |
| El Dorado County | $662,307 | −0.1% | $2,482 | $128,943 | $145,166 |
| Fresno County | $409,814 | +1.0% | $2,062 | $81,068 | $108,044 |
| Glenn County | $363,196 | +4.1% | $1,378 | $81,208 | $123,714 |
| Humboldt County | $423,013 | −2.3% | $1,619 | $83,309 | $135,813 |
| Imperial County | $385,952 | +5.8% | $1,682 | $64,569 | $102,705 |
| Inyo County | $533,690 | +5.1% | — | $89,948 | $134,770 |
| Kern County | $364,981 | −0.3% | $1,803 | $75,186 | $99,486 |
| Kings County | $367,819 | +2.9% | $2,005 | $74,578 | $101,006 |
| Lake County | $308,951 | −1.9% | $1,740 | $80,539 | $133,123 |
| Lassen County | $236,910 | +1.4% | $1,014 | $78,028 | $132,730 |
| Los Angeles County | $885,635 | +0.4% | $2,815 | $98,839 | $143,972 |
| Madera County | $426,495 | +1.7% | $2,147 | $82,186 | $108,990 |
| Marin County | $1,495,814 | +3.8% | $3,831 | $190,681 | $234,720 |
| Mariposa County | $401,223 | −0.9% | — | $82,228 | $125,928 |
| Mendocino County | $492,380 | −0.4% | $1,924 | $81,500 | $139,275 |
| Merced County | $419,758 | −1.0% | $2,075 | $73,010 | $110,151 |
| Modoc County | $197,967 | +4.1% | — | $62,857 | $126,649 |
| Mono County | $764,272 | +2.3% | $2,925 | $109,698 | $158,616 |
| Monterey County | $852,464 | +0.3% | $2,834 | $100,520 | $155,956 |
| Napa County | $882,200 | −2.5% | $2,873 | $129,463 | $175,874 |
| Nevada County | $622,930 | +0.1% | $2,740 | $106,554 | $156,541 |
| Orange County | $1,190,239 | +2.2% | $3,220 | $128,689 | $167,227 |
| Placer County | $693,033 | +0.4% | $2,601 | $137,395 | $153,286 |
| Plumas County | $372,124 | −0.7% | — | $88,167 | $137,263 |
| Riverside County | $610,513 | −0.6% | $2,605 | $100,461 | $129,104 |
| Sacramento County | $530,397 | −1.4% | $2,189 | $103,270 | $148,262 |
| San Benito County | $774,114 | −1.3% | $2,803 | $118,578 | $203,333 |
| San Bernardino County | $553,673 | +0.3% | $2,497 | $89,923 | $121,330 |
| San Diego County | $934,169 | 0.0% | $3,008 | $118,115 | $162,121 |
| San Francisco County | $1,416,641 | +11.6% | $4,539 | $165,603 | $220,468 |
| San Joaquin County | $527,766 | −3.0% | $2,467 | $98,914 | $117,079 |
| San Luis Obispo County | $906,846 | +1.5% | $2,882 | $116,900 | $171,180 |
| San Mateo County | $1,596,366 | +2.5% | $3,867 | $184,583 | $245,257 |
| Santa Barbara County | $1,003,268 | +3.4% | $3,258 | $108,953 | $166,646 |
| Santa Clara County | $1,598,562 | −0.1% | $3,787 | $182,053 | $220,405 |
| Santa Cruz County | $1,158,616 | +3.9% | $3,539 | $131,966 | $204,846 |
| Shasta County | $377,855 | −0.4% | $1,688 | $91,000 | $137,017 |
| Sierra County | $335,302 | −0.2% | — | $73,529 | $144,547 |
| Siskiyou County | $287,007 | −1.6% | $1,700 | $71,583 | $127,832 |
| Solano County | $577,335 | −1.8% | $2,437 | $113,873 | $142,189 |
| Sonoma County | $791,825 | −0.9% | $2,700 | $124,032 | $166,825 |
| Stanislaus County | $467,986 | −0.5% | $2,046 | $89,051 | $109,910 |
| Sutter County | $441,035 | +0.5% | $2,033 | $88,263 | $128,640 |
| Tehama County | $325,205 | +3.1% | $1,566 | $77,022 | $128,256 |
| Trinity County | $255,104 | −2.4% | — | $73,582 | $131,057 |
| Tulare County | $365,399 | +1.1% | $1,784 | $71,096 | $104,403 |
| Tuolumne County | $395,230 | −1.6% | $1,465 | $94,005 | $137,039 |
| Ventura County | $883,335 | +0.2% | $2,964 | $122,868 | $188,150 |
| Yolo County | $620,245 | −1.2% | $2,468 | $118,018 | $157,370 |
| Yuba County | $421,931 | −1.7% | $2,020 | $82,918 | $112,269 |
A dash means the source publishes no figure for that county. Home values and rents are Zillow's own county figures only; counties Zillow does not cover are left blank rather than filled with a state average.
Los Angeles, CA (typical rent $2,944), San Francisco, CA (typical rent $3,372), Riverside, CA (typical rent $2,547), San Diego, CA (typical rent $3,008), Sacramento, CA (typical rent $2,296), San Jose, CA (typical rent $3,782), Fresno, CA (typical rent $2,062), Bakersfield, CA (typical rent $1,803), Oxnard, CA (typical rent $2,964), Stockton, CA (typical rent $2,467).
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County figures are medians across California's counties, each counting once, so they describe the spread of places rather than of people. Property tax and insurance vary widely; the calculators let you use your own.