Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Redwood City's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Redwood City?
Your $100,000 in Redwood City has the same purchasing power as $66,011 in the average US city. You'd need $33,989 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 Redwood City's cost index of 151, sorted by closest match.
These are the reasons people actually move to Redwood City, ordered roughly by what shows up loudest in the data. Above-average earnings, not just for a few people and low unemployment, plenty of openings lead, plus 4 more things worth knowing — the rest unpacked below.
Redwood City's typical household earns $145,620, which puts it in the top tier of US cities for household income. The bottom of the wage distribution isn't necessarily different from anywhere else, but the median and above sit meaningfully higher.
At about 3.9% unemployment, Redwood City's labor market is running on the tight side. Easier to land a role, easier to negotiate, easier to leave one job for a better one — the practical things that matter when you're actually looking.
Reported crime in Redwood City comes in around 2,413 per 100,000 — under the national baseline of about 3,500. Worth digging into specific neighborhoods before settling on one, but the city-level picture is on the safer side.
Average AQI in Redwood City comes in around 44, well into the "good" band. Clean air isn't a thing you appreciate until you've lived somewhere it wasn't — and this is the side of that line you want to be on.
Average commute time in Redwood City runs around 25 minutes one-way — short enough that it doesn't restructure your day. Compared to the 45-plus-minute commutes that are normal in major metros, the difference adds up to a real lifestyle gap.
Redwood City has a college-educated share of about 53% among adults 25+, which is higher than the national norm. It shows up in the local job mix, in the school district's reputation, and in the kind of conversations you have at the coffee shop.
Reasons are pulled from Redwood City'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.
Not really a snow town. With winters averaging 43°F, Redwood City sits in the mild-cold band where snowflakes appear occasionally and everything melts within a day. Most years see one storm worth talking about.
Cool, not cold. Winters in Redwood City sit around 43°F — sweater-and-jacket weather most days, with the occasional cold front that reminds you it's still winter.
Warm without being brutal. Summer in Redwood City sits about 72°F on average. Afternoons can push into the high 80s, but mornings and evenings are usually genuinely pleasant.
Zone 9, give or take a half-zone. Redwood City's typical winter low puts it in that band on the USDA Hardiness map, which is what nurseries label plants against. Use Zone 9 as your starting filter; the USDA's interactive map is more precise for borderline cases.
Barely above the water. Redwood City is at about 3 feet (1 m) elevation, and parts of the city are essentially at sea level. Flood-zone maps are worth checking before buying a house.
Middle of the pack. Redwood City comes in around 2,413 per 100,000, basically the national average. The interesting question is usually which neighborhood, not which city — that's where the real variation lives.
Significantly. Redwood City's index of 151 puts it in the top tier of US cities for cost of living — roughly 51% above the national baseline. The pattern is familiar: housing eats a large share of incomes, and people earning median-equivalent jobs from cheaper metros feel the difference fast.
Redwood City's Walk Score is 4/100, firmly in the car-required tier. The layout assumes you'll drive to the grocery store, drive to work, drive everywhere.
As a rule of thumb, plan on about $106,043 to live in Redwood City the way a $70,000 earner lives in a typical US city. The math gets less forgiving the lower you go below that. Median rent in Redwood City runs about $2,899/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.