Average salary in San Francisco in 2026, and what actually counts as good
A typical job in the San Francisco metro pays $74,260 a year, and the top 10% starts at $203,570. Tech explains less of that than people think: a nurse earns the same median as a software developer. Here is what six senior jobs pay and what rent leaves.
Michael Vavilov
Product leader with a track record of launching AI-driven HR and talent platforms that scale rapidly, boost user acquisition, and create measurable operational efficiencies.
A typical job in the San Francisco metro pays $74,260 a year before tax. $128,760 puts you in the top quarter, and $203,570 in the top 10%.
Those figures come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, the latest release. They cover 2.37 million jobs in San Francisco, Oakland, Fremont, Berkeley, the Peninsula, Marin and the East Bay suburbs. The national median for all jobs is $50,980, so the typical job here pays 46% more. Among the 36 US metros with more than a million jobs, San Francisco ranks second, behind San Jose, and its top-10% line is the second highest in the country.
Most people assume tech explains those numbers. It explains less than you might think. Tech jobs are about 1 in 12 jobs in the metro, a smaller share than in Seattle, and without them the typical salary would still be about $69,000. A registered nurse in the metro earns a median of $186,610, the same as a software developer. This guide shows what six senior jobs pay, where any salary sits on the local scale, how much of it comes from tech, what rent leaves on each side of the Bay, and how San Francisco compares with San Jose and the other cities we have covered.
What six senior jobs pay in San Francisco
We ran six realistic resumes through PayScope's market value model with the location set to San Francisco. Each belongs to a fictional professional with nine to twelve years of experience, at senior level. Three are tech roles: a software engineer, a machine learning engineer and a product manager. The other three are not: an ICU nurse, a biotech scientist of the kind South San Francisco is known for, and a corporate lawyer. PayScope reads the skills and experience in a resume and compares them with people and job openings in the area, so the ranges below describe what the market pays for that kind of profile in San Francisco right now.
| Role (senior level) | Bottom 25% | Median | Top 25% | Top 10% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate counsel, technology transactions | $220K | $255K | $290K | $330K |
| Machine learning engineer | $185K | $215K | $245K | $280K |
| Registered nurse, cardiovascular ICU | $185K | $210K | $235K | $265K |
| Product manager, B2B software | $165K | $195K | $225K | $255K |
| Software engineer, payments | $165K | $190K | $220K | $255K |
| Biotech scientist, biologics process development | $152K | $168K | $188K | $210K |
Source: PayScope market value model, one resume per role, senior level, location San Francisco, CA, run on November 6, 2026. Figures in thousands, as the model displays them. Base pay only: stock grants and bonuses are not included.
Two of the three highest medians belong to people outside tech. The corporate counsel comes out at $255,000, and the senior ICU nurse at $210,000, above the senior software engineer ($190,000) and the product manager ($195,000). The machine learning engineer, at $215,000, is the best-paid tech role of the three. The biotech scientist lands at $168,000, close to the BLS median of $160,180 for all medical scientists in the metro.
The software number needs one caveat. A senior software engineer comes out at $190,000 in San Francisco and at exactly the same $190,000 in Seattle, and well above Los Angeles ($175,000) and Houston ($145,000). Equity is where tech pay in San Francisco pulls away, and neither PayScope's base-pay model nor the BLS survey counts it. For how base pay rises from entry to lead level nationally, see our software engineer salary guide and product manager career path.
The nurse result is the one that surprises most readers. Senior ICU and emergency nurse resumes we ran for other cities came out at $146,000 in Los Angeles and $104,000 in Houston and Chicago. In the San Francisco metro it reaches $210,000. That is in line with the BLS figures for nurses here: half of all registered nurses in the metro earn more than $186,610, and the top quarter more than $215,630.
How pay is spread across the San Francisco area
The BLS surveys employers about what they pay and estimates the pay level at each point of the scale, from the lowest-paid tenth of jobs in the metro to the highest. Find your own salary in the table to see where you sit among everyone working here, whatever their job.
| Where you sit | San Francisco metro | United States | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bottom 10% | $39,260 | $31,200 | 9 in 10 jobs pay more |
| Bottom 25% | $47,280 | $37,590 | 3 in 4 jobs pay more |
| Median (typical) | $74,260 | $50,980 | Half pay more, half pay less |
| Top 25% (good) | $128,760 | $80,520 | You out-earn 3 in 4 jobs |
| Top 10% | $203,570 | $128,560 | You out-earn 9 in 10 jobs |
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, all occupations, San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro, 2,373,920 jobs. The average (mean) is $100,220, or $48.18 an hour, pulled up by the highest earners, which is why we use the median as "typical".
As a monthly figure, the typical salary is about $6,190 before tax, or $35.70 an hour. The metro sits above the national scale at every level, and the gap widens toward the top: the bottom-10% line is $8,060 above the US figure, while the top-10% line is $75,010 above it. The top quarter of jobs starts at $128,760, almost exactly where the national top 10% begins.
The BLS counts jobs by where they are, not where people live, and covers employees only, part-time jobs included. If you count only people who worked full time all year and live in the metro, the Census Bureau's American Community Survey for 2024 puts the median at $99,424. Almost exactly half of them, 49.8%, earned $100,000 or more, against 24.9% nationally. In the city of San Francisco the share is 58.4%.
How much of San Francisco's pay comes from tech?
To answer this, we split the BLS data by occupation. Tech here means the computer and math occupations (software developers, data scientists, systems analysts, IT support and the rest), plus computer and information systems managers and computer hardware and electrical engineers. In the San Francisco metro these jobs add up to about 186,000, or 8% of all jobs. We then rebuilt the pay scale from each occupation's own pay distribution, with and without them.
| Metro | Tech share of jobs | Median, all jobs | Median without tech (est.) | Top 10% line, all jobs | Top 10% line without tech (est.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose (Silicon Valley) | 16.8% | $84,050 | ~$70,000 | $224,240 | ~$200,000 |
| San Francisco | 8.0% | $74,260 | ~$69,000 | $203,570 | ~$186,000 |
| Seattle | 10.4% | $72,610 | ~$67,000 | $167,440 | ~$147,000 |
| Los Angeles | 3.5% | $55,850 | ~$54,500 | $141,370 | ~$134,000 |
Source: BLS OEWS May 2025, all occupations and detailed occupations; PayScope estimate. The rebuilt scale reproduces the published San Francisco figures within about 1%, and the estimates without tech are scaled to the published values. Tech is counted by occupation, so a recruiter or lawyer at a tech company counts as non-tech.
Take tech out and the typical San Francisco salary falls by about $5,300, to roughly $69,000. That is still the highest of the West Coast metros we have covered, above Seattle without tech (about $67,000) and far above Los Angeles. The top-10% line falls by about $17,500, to roughly $186,000. Tech matters more at the top than in the middle: it is 8% of all jobs but about 27% of the jobs above the top-10% line.
Tech is also a smaller part of the San Francisco job market than of Seattle's or San Jose's. In Silicon Valley one job in six is a tech job, twice San Francisco's share, and that is most of the reason San Jose ranks first in the country. Without tech, the two metros pay about the same at the median.
Most of the gap with the rest of the country comes from ordinary occupations that pay far more here than elsewhere. Compare the same job in the metro and nationally:
| Occupation | San Francisco metro | United States | San Francisco premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registered nurses | $186,610 | $97,550 | +91% |
| Police and sheriff's patrol officers | $132,000 | $76,210 | +73% |
| Elementary school teachers | $101,860 | $63,970 | +59% |
| Electricians | $92,830 | $63,190 | +47% |
| Fast food and counter workers | $43,870 | $31,200 | +41% |
| Software developers | $186,640 | $135,980 | +37% |
| Bus drivers, transit | $78,900 | $59,050 | +34% |
| Lawyers | $212,500 | $159,670 | +33% |
| Medical assistants | $59,790 | $45,690 | +31% |
| Home health and personal care aides | $35,950 | $35,800 | 0% |
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro and United States, median annual pay.
A software developer in the metro earns 37% more than the national median for the job. A nurse earns 91% more, a police officer 73% more and an elementary school teacher 59% more. California is the only state that sets minimum nurse-to-patient ratios for hospitals by law, and nurses in the San Francisco and San Jose metros earn far more than the California median for the job, $140,270.
The exception sits at the bottom. The largest occupation in the metro is home health and personal care aides, 119,120 jobs, about one in every 20. Their median is $35,950, or $17.28 an hour, almost exactly the national figure and below the city of San Francisco's own minimum wage. Many of these jobs are outside the city, where lower minimums apply. Retail, cashier, fast food and waiter jobs, another 157,000 or so, pay medians between about $39,000 and $44,000. The real divide in San Francisco pay runs between these service and care jobs and the professional jobs above $130,000, whatever industry they are in.
Is San Francisco expensive to live in on a typical salary?
Rent is where the high salaries stop going far. For rent we use HUD's Fair Market Rents for 2026, which split the metro in two. The San Francisco area (San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties) has a one-bedroom at $2,977 a month and a two-bedroom at $3,604, utilities included, both up 7% to 9% from 2025. The Oakland-Fremont area (Alameda and Contra Costa counties) has $2,385 and $2,912. HUD sets these at the 40th percentile of what recent movers pay, so they describe an ordinary apartment, not a new building in SoMa or Mission Bay.
| Salary | Where it sits | Take-home per month | San Francisco, San Mateo, Marin one-bedroom ($2,977): share | Left after rent | Alameda, Contra Costa one-bedroom ($2,385): share | Left after rent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $40,789 | SF minimum wage, full time | $2,678 | 111% | $299 short | 89% | $293 |
| $47,280 | Bottom 25% | $3,061 | 97% | $84 | 78% | $676 |
| $60,000 | Below median | $3,798 | 78% | $821 | 63% | $1,413 |
| $74,260 | Median | $4,575 | 65% | $1,598 | 52% | $2,190 |
| $100,000 | Above median | $5,795 | 51% | $2,818 | 41% | $3,410 |
| $128,760 | Top 25% | $7,143 | 42% | $4,166 | 33% | $4,758 |
| $150,000 | Top 25% | $8,106 | 37% | $5,129 | 29% | $5,721 |
| $186,640 | Median nurse or software developer | $9,779 | 30% | $6,802 | 24% | $7,394 |
| $203,570 | Top 10% | $10,634 | 28% | $7,657 | 22% | $8,249 |
Source: PayScope calculation with 2026 IRS brackets, FICA, a 5% 401(k), and California's 2026 income tax schedules and SDI of 1.3%. Rent from HUD FY2026 Fair Market Rents. Health insurance not included.
On the typical $74,260, a single person takes home about $4,575 a month. A one-bedroom in the San Francisco area takes 65% of that and leaves about $1,600. Rent only falls to the usual 30% guideline at about $189,500, which is the median pay of a nurse or a software developer in the metro. On the bottom-quarter salary, a one-bedroom takes almost the whole paycheck, and a full-time minimum-wage job in the city does not cover it at all.
Across the Bay the numbers are kinder. In Alameda and Contra Costa counties a one-bedroom takes 52% of the typical take-home and leaves about $2,190, and it reaches 30% at about $146,500. Sharing helps more than moving. Half of a two-bedroom in the San Francisco area costs about $1,800, which reaches 30% of take-home at about $104,500. A couple who both earn the metro median and file jointly take home about $9,150 a month, and a San Francisco two-bedroom takes 39% of that.
HUD's own income limits for the San Francisco area put the scale in context. A single person counts as "very low income" up to $73,550, just $710 below the typical job's pay, and as "low income" up to $117,700. In Los Angeles County the low-income line sits at the local top-quarter wage; here it sits between the median and the top quarter.
San Francisco vs San Jose: which pays more?
The BLS treats San Francisco and San Jose as two separate metros. The San Jose metro is Santa Clara County plus San Benito County: San Jose, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Mountain View, Palo Alto and Cupertino. When rankings name the best-paid metro in the country, they mean this one.
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara | |
|---|---|---|
| Jobs (May 2025) | 2,373,920 | 1,134,970 |
| Median, all jobs | $74,260 | $84,050 |
| Top 25% line | $128,760 | $166,940 |
| Top 10% line | $203,570 | $224,240 |
| Tech share of jobs | 8.0% | 16.8% |
| Median without tech (est.) | ~$69,000 | ~$70,000 |
| Software developers: jobs and median | 69,030 at $186,640 | 87,350 at $213,110 |
| Registered nurses: median | $186,610 | $216,740 |
| Full-time workers' median, residents (2024) | $99,424 | $103,147 |
| HUD one-bedroom rent (2026) | $2,977 (SF, San Mateo, Marin) | $2,982 |
| Typical salary, left after a one-bedroom | $1,598 a month | $2,063 a month |
Source: BLS OEWS May 2025; U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024, table S2001; HUD FY2026 Fair Market Rents; PayScope take-home calculation for a single filer.
San Jose pays more at every level: about $9,800 more at the median and $20,700 more at the top-10% line. Software developers there outnumber those in the much larger San Francisco metro, 87,350 to 69,030, and earn a median of $213,110. Nurses earn even more, $216,740. Rents are almost the same, so a typical San Jose worker keeps about $465 a month more after a one-bedroom. Without tech, though, the median in both metros is about $70,000. The difference between them is mostly Silicon Valley's tech payroll.
San Francisco vs Seattle, Los Angeles, San Diego and other cities after tax and rent
Put the seven metros we have covered side by side and San Francisco moves from first to the middle of the table once rent is paid.
| Metro | Typical salary | Take-home per month | One-bedroom rent | Rent as share of take-home | Left after rent | Salary that brings rent to 30% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle | $72,610 | $4,673 | $2,146 | 46% | $2,527 | ~$118,000 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul | $59,320 | $3,722 | $1,405 | 38% | $2,317 | ~$77,000 |
| Houston | $49,410 | $3,309 | $1,323 | 40% | $1,986 | ~$67,000 |
| Chicago | $54,720 | $3,443 | $1,581 | 46% | $1,862 | ~$88,000 |
| San Francisco | $74,260 | $4,575 | $2,977 | 65% | $1,598 | ~$189,500 |
| San Diego | $58,690 | $3,723 | $2,459 | 66% | $1,264 | ~$152,000 |
| Los Angeles (LA County rent) | $55,850 | $3,560 | $2,328 | 65% | $1,232 | ~$142,500 |
Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 medians; PayScope take-home calculation for a single filer with a 5% 401(k) and each state's taxes and payroll levies; HUD FY2026 Fair Market Rents for each metro's core area. California rows use the 2026 tax schedules published in October 2026, so they are a few dollars a month higher than in our earlier San Diego and Los Angeles guides.
San Francisco has the highest typical salary of the seven. After a one-bedroom it keeps about $1,600 a month, less than Seattle, Minneapolis, Houston and Chicago, and only about $335 more than San Diego. The salary that brings a one-bedroom to 30% of take-home is the highest of the seven at about $189,500.
Seattle is the closest comparison for tech workers, and it comes out ahead. Its typical salary is only $1,650 lower, it has no state income tax, and its one-bedroom costs $831 less. A senior software engineer on the same $190,000 base keeps about $1,020 a month more in Seattle, and about $1,850 more after rent.
California tax on a San Francisco salary
San Francisco takes nothing from a paycheck on its own. The city's old payroll expense tax was paid by employers, not workers, and voters repealed it from 2021 in favor of higher gross receipts taxes on businesses. The deductions are federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, California income tax and California's State Disability Insurance of 1.3% on all wages. California's 2026 tax schedules were raised 3.4% for inflation, with brackets from 1% up to 12.3%.
| Gross salary | San Francisco | Seattle | Houston | Chicago | Minneapolis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $74,260 (SF median) | $4,575 | $4,762 | $4,848 | $4,569 | $4,548 |
| $128,760 (SF top 25%) | $7,143 | $7,716 | $7,865 | $7,373 | $7,252 |
| $186,640 (SF software developer median) | $9,779 | $10,775 | $10,990 | $10,270 | $9,998 |
| $203,570 (SF top 10%) | $10,634 | $11,765 | $11,988 | $11,202 | $10,891 |
Source: PayScope calculation for a single filer with 2026 IRS brackets, FICA and a 5% 401(k); California 2026 FTB schedules, standard deduction $5,900, personal exemption credit $158 and SDI 1.3%; Washington PFML and WA Cares; Illinois 4.95%; 2026 Minnesota brackets and Paid Leave 0.44%. Health insurance not included.
California's tax is light in the middle and heavy at the top. On the typical $74,260, state income tax and SDI come to about $3,270 a year, 4.4% of pay, and a San Francisco worker keeps slightly more than someone on the same salary in Chicago or Minneapolis. On the software developer median of $186,640 the state takes about $14,500 a year, and the take-home is about $1,000 a month lower than in Seattle and $1,210 lower than in Houston.
Jobs that pay a good salary in San Francisco
If "good" means the top quarter of all jobs, these are the large occupations whose typical pay in the San Francisco metro is above the $128,760 line. The figures are BLS medians across all experience levels, so a senior person in these jobs usually earns more.
| Occupation | Jobs in the metro | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Software developers | 69,030 | $186,640 |
| General and operations managers | 43,520 | $149,990 |
| Registered nurses | 41,750 | $186,610 |
| Computer and information systems managers | 23,830 | $232,890 |
| Project management specialists | 20,770 | $135,040 |
| Lawyers | 18,470 | $212,500 |
| Sales managers | 17,770 | $170,810 |
| Financial managers | 17,040 | $216,150 |
| Medical and health services managers | 11,980 | $166,310 |
| Computer systems analysts | 11,180 | $134,460 |
| Marketing managers | 11,170 | $220,480 |
| Civil engineers | 10,990 | $130,160 |
| Data scientists | 10,460 | $170,110 |
| Financial and investment analysts | 9,910 | $130,520 |
| Police and sheriff's patrol officers | 7,990 | $132,000 |
| Medical scientists | 7,310 | $160,180 |
| Personal financial advisors | 7,130 | $160,610 |
| Natural sciences managers | 5,530 | $225,230 |
| Construction managers | 5,160 | $166,030 |
| Mechanical engineers | 5,150 | $161,370 |
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro, occupations with at least 5,000 jobs (selection).
Software developers lead the list by size and nurses come third, after general and operations managers. Most of the rest is management, law, finance, science and engineering. Life sciences stand out: biological scientists are five times as common here as nationally and medical scientists almost three times, the South San Francisco and Mission Bay biotech cluster. Police officers clear the line too, at $132,000, against $76,210 nationally.
Sixteen occupations with at least 1,000 jobs have a median above the top-10% line of $203,570. Only two of them are tech jobs: computer and information systems managers and computer hardware engineers. The rest are managers, lawyers, doctors, nurse practitioners, health sciences professors, airline pilots and veterinarians.
San Francisco, Oakland, Fremont and the rest of the metro
The BLS publishes one set of figures for the whole metro, but the Census Bureau's survey of residents can be split by county and city. Among people who worked full time all year in 2024, here is the median by where they live.
| City or county | Median | Margin of error |
|---|---|---|
| San Mateo (city) | $122,652 | ±$15,101 |
| Fremont | $122,144 | ±$3,406 |
| San Francisco (city and county) | $116,752 | ±$6,251 |
| Berkeley | $112,409 | ±$10,714 |
| Marin County | $108,256 | ±$8,291 |
| San Mateo County | $101,920 | ±$1,549 |
| Metro as a whole | $99,424 | ±$1,993 |
| Redwood City | $92,178 | ±$15,672 |
| Alameda County | $91,719 | ±$1,899 |
| Contra Costa County | $86,578 | ±$2,801 |
| Oakland | $84,490 | ±$5,531 |
| Concord | $75,705 | ±$8,060 |
| Hayward | $71,935 | ±$4,162 |
| Daly City | $70,431 | ±$6,685 |
| Richmond | $65,032 | ±$7,894 |
| San Leandro | $61,785 | ±$4,526 |
| Antioch | $61,526 | ±$4,078 |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates, table S2001, in 2024 dollars. Places under 65,000 people, such as South San Francisco and Emeryville, have no 1-year estimate. Pleasanton, Livermore, Walnut Creek and the city of Alameda are not shown because their figures are less reliable.
The city of San Francisco is near the top, at $116,752, and Fremont and the city of San Mateo are higher still. Oakland sits at $84,490, below Alameda County as a whole, and the East Bay cities along the Bay and in eastern Contra Costa, from Hayward and San Leandro to Richmond and Antioch, sit between about $61,000 and $72,000. These figures describe who lives in each place, not what employers there pay, since many people commute into San Francisco, the Peninsula and Silicon Valley.
Average salary in California
For the whole state the median job pays $58,240, the top quarter starts at $97,880 and the top 10% at $159,080, across 18.2 million jobs in the BLS survey. The San Francisco metro is 27% above the state median. Among the other California metros, the median is $84,050 in San Jose, $58,690 in San Diego, $55,850 in Los Angeles and $59,750 in Sacramento.
Among people who worked full time all year, the Census Bureau puts the California median at $69,440 for 2024, and 32.3% of them earned $100,000 or more, against 49.8% in the San Francisco metro and 24.9% nationally.
Why your number may differ from the average
The metro median tells you where the middle of the whole job market sits. It says very little about what you should be paid.
Your role and level set the range. In San Francisco every senior profile we tested came out at $168,000 or more at the median, and the nurse and the lawyer out-earned the software engineer. Your specific skills then decide whether you sit in the bottom or top quarter of your own role, which for the senior software engineer is the difference between $165,000 and $220,000. Even after tax, that gap is worth almost a year of San Francisco rent.
The useful comparison is with people doing your job, at your level, in this metro. Upload your resume to PayScope and you get that comparison: a San Francisco range for your profile and where your current pay sits inside it.
FAQ
What is a good salary in San Francisco?
On the job scale, $128,760 puts you in the top quarter of jobs in the San Francisco metro and $203,570 in the top 10% (BLS, May 2025). For a single person renting a one-bedroom alone in San Francisco, San Mateo or Marin, rent falls to 30% of take-home at about $189,500, the median pay of a nurse or software developer here. In Alameda or Contra Costa County it takes about $146,500, and with a roommate in San Francisco about $104,500.
Is $100,000 enough to live in San Francisco?
For a single person, yes, but not with much room. $100,000 is above the metro median of $74,260 and out-earns roughly two in three jobs. A single filer takes home about $5,800 a month after federal and California tax, FICA and a 5% 401(k). A typical San Francisco one-bedroom at $2,977 takes 51% of that and leaves about $2,820. In the East Bay a one-bedroom takes 41%, and sharing a two-bedroom in San Francisco brings it to 31%.
Is $70,000 enough to live in San Francisco?
$70,000 is a little below the metro median of $74,260. A single filer takes home about $4,370 a month, and a typical San Francisco one-bedroom takes 68% of it, leaving about $1,390. Living alone is tight on that salary. With a roommate, half of a two-bedroom takes about 41%, and an East Bay one-bedroom takes 55%.
Is $200,000 a good salary in San Francisco?
Yes. $200,000 is just under the top-10% line of $203,570 and about 2.7 times the metro median. A single filer takes home about $10,450 a month, and a typical one-bedroom takes 28% of it. It is still close to the median pay of a senior software engineer, nurse or product manager in the city, so in those professions it is a solid salary rather than an unusual one.
How much do you need to make to live comfortably alone in San Francisco?
Using the common rule that rent should be no more than 30% of take-home pay, a single person needs about $189,500 a year to rent a typical one-bedroom ($2,977 a month) in San Francisco, San Mateo or Marin County. In Alameda or Contra Costa County ($2,385) the figure is about $146,500. Sharing a two-bedroom in San Francisco brings it down to about $104,500.
What is the average software engineer salary in San Francisco?
The BLS median for software developers in the San Francisco metro is $186,640 across all experience levels (May 2025), 37% above the national median of $135,980. In San Jose it is $213,110. PayScope's model puts a senior software engineer in San Francisco at $165,000 to $220,000 for the middle half, with a median of $190,000, base pay only. Stock grants come on top and can be large at public tech companies.
What is considered low income in San Francisco?
HUD's 2026 limits for the San Francisco area (San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties) count a single person as low income up to $117,700 a year and very low income up to $73,550. For a family of four the low-income line is $168,100. The typical job in the metro pays $74,260, just above the very-low-income line for one person.
What is the minimum wage in San Francisco in 2026?
$19.61 an hour since July 1, 2026, which comes to $40,789 for a full-time year. It rises each July 1 with inflation. Berkeley's minimum is also $19.61 and Emeryville's $20.34. California's statewide minimum is $16.90 in 2026 and rises to $17.40 on January 1, 2027.
What is the average salary in San Francisco per month and per hour?
The typical (median) job in the San Francisco metro pays $74,260 a year, which is about $6,190 a month or $35.70 an hour before tax. After federal and California tax, FICA and a 5% 401(k), a single filer takes home about $4,575 a month. The mean is higher, $100,220 a year or $48.18 an hour, because high earners pull it up.
What income puts you in the top 10% in San Francisco?
$203,570 a year, about $97.87 an hour, puts a job in the top 10% of the San Francisco metro (BLS, May 2025). The top 25% starts at $128,760. Both are the second highest among large US metros, after San Jose ($224,240 and $166,940). After tax, $203,570 is about $10,630 a month for a single filer.
