Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Cerritos's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Cerritos?
Your $100,000 in Cerritos has the same purchasing power as $71,942 in the average US city. You'd need $28,058 more here to maintain that standard of living.
Demographics and workforce data from the US Census ACS 5-Year.
bachelor's or higher
Climate, safety, and walkability indicators.
See a side-by-side breakdown of cost of living, housing, and salaries.
Popular comparisons
Sorted by affordability — most affordable first.
Within 10 points of Cerritos's cost index of 139, sorted by closest match.
People moving to Cerritos usually have at least one specific reason. Most of them line up with what the data shows: above-average earnings, not just for a few people, daily errands don't require a car, plus 1 more things worth knowing. Here's what's actually on the table.
Median household income in Cerritos is $124,460 — well above the US median of roughly $75k. It's a city where high-paying industries (tech, finance, professional services) cluster, and the income distribution tilts noticeably upward relative to most of the country.
Cerritos earns a Walk Score of 59/100 — above the US median, with denser neighborhoods scoring higher than the citywide aggregate suggests. A car is still useful for longer trips, but everyday life works on foot for a lot of residents.
55% of adults 25 and over in Cerritos hold a bachelor's degree or higher — meaningfully above the US average of around 36%. That correlates with the things you'd expect: stronger schools, more white-collar employers, more bookstores than the population alone would predict.
Reasons are pulled from Cerritos's actual data — Census ACS, BLS, BEA, NOAA, EPA AQS, FBI, and Walk Score. We don't list positives that aren't supported by the numbers, which is why different cities show different sections.
Almost never. Cerritos's winter average of about 50°F is too warm for snow most years. A measurable snowfall is the kind of event that closes schools and gets photographed for the local paper.
Barely. Winter in Cerritos averages around 50°F — short, mild, mostly an excuse to break out a light jacket. Some plants don't even drop their leaves.
Pleasantly warm. Cerritos's summer averages around 75°F — comfortable for outdoor evenings, hot enough on peak days to warrant AC but mild compared to the Sun Belt.
Zone 10, give or take a half-zone. Cerritos's typical winter low puts it in that band on the USDA Hardiness map, which is what nurseries label plants against. Use Zone 10 as your starting filter; the USDA's interactive map is more precise for borderline cases.
Cerritos sits at about 59 feet (18 m) above sea level — low-lying, but with enough cushion that day-to-day life isn't affected by ocean levels.
Higher than average. Cerritos reports about 4,182 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the US average of around 3,500. Citywide numbers are often dragged up by a few hotspots; specific neighborhoods can be very safe in cities that don't look great on paper, and vice versa.
Yes — Cerritos is one of the more expensive places to live in the US. The cost-of-living index is 139, about 39% above the national average. Housing is the dominant factor, and salaries here have to be high to compensate.
Somewhat. Cerritos earns a Walk Score of 59/100 — many daily errands are doable on foot, especially in the denser neighborhoods, but a car still helps for longer trips.
Roughly $97,300 a year would match the lifestyle of someone earning $70,000 in an average US city. That's a starting point, not a target — negotiate higher when you can. Median rent in Cerritos runs about $2,743/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.