Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Sacramento's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Sacramento?
Your $100,000 in Sacramento has the same purchasing power as $84,710 in the average US city. You'd need $15,290 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 Sacramento's cost index of 118, sorted by closest match.
Wondering whether you should move to Sacramento? It depends on what you're optimizing for, but the city has real arguments in its favor: solidly above-average earnings and genuinely walkable, not just walkable-on-paper, plus 1 more things worth knowing. The data behind each is below.
Median household income in Sacramento is $78,954, a step above the national median of about $75k. The local job market leans toward industries that pay better than average, and that shows up in the take-home for most working households here.
Sacramento's Walk Score is 92/100 — top-tier walkability by US standards. Groceries, coffee, work, social life: most of it lands within reasonable foot range of wherever you live. A lot of residents skip car ownership entirely, which is its own form of savings on top of the lifestyle change. Transit Score comes in at 50/100 too, so even the trips that are too far to walk are usually doable on a bus or train.
Sacramento's Bike Score is 99/100 — the kind of number you only get when a city has built real bike infrastructure (protected lanes, connected routes, drivers who expect cyclists). For commuting or just for getting around, the bike is a serious option here, not a hobby.
Reasons are pulled from Sacramento'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.
Now and then. Sacramento's winters are cool rather than truly cold — about 40°F on average — so most of the precipitation falls as rain. A snowy morning happens a few times a season; sustained accumulation is rare.
Mild on the cold side. Sacramento's winter average of about 40°F is the kind of weather where you want a jacket but the heating bill is manageable. Snow is rare, frost is occasional, and the lawn never really browns out.
Genuinely hot. Summer in Sacramento averages about 91°F, and peak afternoons run well over a hundred. Outdoor plans move to mornings and evenings; AC is the most-used appliance in the house.
Sacramento falls in roughly USDA Zone 9. The zone classification is based on average annual minimum temperatures, so it's the right lookup for whether perennials and trees will overwinter here. Note that this is approximate from our winter-temperature data — check the USDA map for the exact zone before betting an expensive plant on it.
Sacramento sits at about 30 feet (9 m) above sea level — low-lying, but with enough cushion that day-to-day life isn't affected by ocean levels.
Higher than average. Sacramento reports about 4,159 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, noticeably. Sacramento's cost-of-living index runs 118, about 18% above the US baseline. Housing usually accounts for most of the markup; groceries and services run higher too but with less drama.
Genuinely so. Sacramento's Walk Score of 92 out of 100 puts it in "Walker's Paradise" territory — daily errands don't require a car at all. Transit Score is 50 out of 100. Many residents skip car ownership entirely.
Roughly $82,635 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 Sacramento runs about $1,592/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.