{"h1":"Best cities for pay after cost of living in California","faq":[{"a":"Foster City leads California for pay after the cost of living: its median posted salary buys what $209k buys at average US prices.","q":"Which city ranks first: best cities for pay after cost of living in california?"},{"a":"32 cities have at least 100 openings with pay posted, so the list has 32 entries.","q":"How many cities are ranked?"},{"a":"The score is a city's median posted annual salary (the midpoint of each posted range) divided by its local price level, with the United States at 100. Price levels are the Bureau of Economic Analysis regional price parities for the city's metro area, or its state where no metro figure exists. Only cities with at least 50 listings that post a salary are ranked. A city where one employer posts more than 50% of its openings is not ranked, so a single company cannot decide a city's score.","q":"How is the ranking calculated?"},{"a":"Every month. This is the November 2026 edition. Older editions stay on this site at their own dated addresses.","q":"How often is it updated?"}],"lead":"Foster City leads California for pay after the cost of living: its median posted salary buys what $209k buys at average US prices.","minN":100,"rows":[{"n":201,"bar":1,"key":"CA|foster city","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/foster-city","name":"Foster City","rank":1,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$232k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+11%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"201"}],"value":209349.593495935,"change":null,"employers":["Gilead Sciences","Zoox","Replit"],"valueLabel":"$209k"},{"n":623,"bar":0.9585834985050559,"key":"CA|san mateo","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/san-mateo","name":"San Mateo","rank":2,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$232k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+16%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"623"}],"value":200679.0657439446,"change":null,"employers":["Roblox","Verkada","Skydio"],"valueLabel":"$201k"},{"n":824,"bar":0.9215913887716335,"key":"CA|mountain view","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/mountain-view","name":"Mountain View","rank":3,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$213k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+10%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"824"}],"value":192934.7826086956,"change":null,"employers":["Intuit","Google","Waymo"],"valueLabel":"$193k"},{"n":503,"bar":0.9147788565264293,"key":"CA|sunnyvale","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/sunnyvale","name":"Sunnyvale","rank":4,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$212k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+11%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"503"}],"value":191508.5817524842,"change":null,"employers":["Applied Intuition","Amazon","Wayve"],"valueLabel":"$192k"},{"n":657,"bar":0.9134261057173678,"key":"CA|santa clara","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/santa-clara","name":"Santa Clara","rank":5,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$212k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+11%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"657"}],"value":191225.3839205059,"change":null,"employers":["Nvidia","Pure Storage","Advanced Micro Devices"],"valueLabel":"$191k"},{"n":386,"bar":0.8902226677923173,"key":"CA|palo alto","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/palo-alto","name":"Palo Alto","rank":6,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$206k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+10%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"386"}],"value":186367.7536231884,"change":null,"employers":["SpaceX","Rivian Automotive","Stanford Health Care"],"valueLabel":"$186k"},{"n":6390,"bar":0.8883999059361039,"key":"CA|san francisco","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/san-francisco","name":"San Francisco","rank":7,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted 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AI"],"valueLabel":"$167k"},{"n":148,"bar":0.778856526429342,"key":"CA|oakland","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/oakland","name":"Oakland","rank":14,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$181k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+11%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"148"}],"value":163053.2971996387,"change":null,"employers":["Pacific Gas & Electric","Blue Shield of California","Fivetran"],"valueLabel":"$163k"},{"n":78,"bar":0.7421467098166127,"key":"CA|newark","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/newark","name":"Newark","rank":15,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$172k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+11%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"78"}],"value":155368.1120144535,"change":null,"employers":["Lucid Motors","Applied Industrial Technologies","Stratus Technologies"],"valueLabel":"$155k"},{"n":122,"bar":0.7335490830636462,"key":"CA|santa ana","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/santa-ana","name":"Santa Ana","rank":16,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$170k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+11%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"122"}],"value":153568.2023486902,"change":null,"employers":["Anduril Industries","First American Financial","Anduril"],"valueLabel":"$154k"},{"n":144,"bar":0.7271628910463861,"key":"CA|fremont","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/fremont","name":"Fremont","rank":17,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$169k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+11%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"144"}],"value":152231.2556458898,"change":null,"employers":["LAM Research","Coherent","Agility Robotics"],"valueLabel":"$152k"},{"n":77,"bar":0.7192017259978425,"key":"CA|santa monica","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/santa-monica","name":"Santa Monica","rank":18,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted 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Technologies","Valar Atomics","Neros"],"valueLabel":"$149k"},{"n":52,"bar":0.7091693635382955,"key":"CA|santa barbara","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/santa-barbara","name":"Santa Barbara","rank":21,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$164k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+11%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"52"}],"value":148464.3179765131,"change":null,"employers":["AppFolio","Hilton Worldwide Holdings","Arthrex"],"valueLabel":"$148k"},{"n":63,"bar":0.7080258899676376,"key":"CA|pleasanton","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/pleasanton","name":"Pleasanton","rank":22,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$164k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+11%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"63"}],"value":148224.9322493225,"change":null,"employers":["Kaiser Permanente","10X Genomics","IonQ"],"valueLabel":"$148k"},{"n":490,"bar":0.6903991370010787,"key":"CA|irvine","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/irvine","name":"Irvine","rank":23,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$160k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+11%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"490"}],"value":144534.7786811201,"change":null,"employers":["Anduril Industries","Field AI","Rivian Automotive"],"valueLabel":"$145k"},{"n":362,"bar":0.6903991370010787,"key":"CA|el segundo","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/el-segundo","name":"El Segundo","rank":24,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$160k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+11%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"362"}],"value":144534.7786811201,"change":null,"employers":["Chaos Industries","Radiant","Varda Space 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diego","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/san-diego","name":"San Diego","rank":27,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$155k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+12%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"723"}],"value":138516.5326184093,"change":null,"employers":["Qualcomm Inc/De","Qualcomm Technologies","General Atomics"],"valueLabel":"$139k"},{"n":1667,"bar":0.6517503076712704,"key":"CA|los angeles","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/los-angeles","name":"Los Angeles","rank":28,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$155k"},{"label":"Local prices vs US average","value":"+14%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"1,667"}],"value":136443.661971831,"change":null,"employers":["K2 Space","Cedars-sinai Medical Center","Apex Space"],"valueLabel":"$136k"},{"n":65,"bar":0.6472491909385113,"key":"CA|newport beach","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/newport-beach","name":"Newport Beach","rank":29,"stats":[{"label":"Median 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average","value":"+11%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"51"}],"value":126919.6025293586,"change":null,"employers":["Amazon","Scopely","Apple"],"valueLabel":"$127k"},{"n":58,"bar":0.4851672060409924,"key":"CA|corona","sub":"CA","href":"/places/california/city/corona","name":"Corona","rank":32,"stats":[{"label":"Median posted pay","value":"$112k"},{"label":"State prices vs US average","value":"+11%"},{"label":"Openings with pay posted","value":"58"}],"value":101569.5573622403,"change":null,"employers":["Monster Energy Company","Lubrizol","Gallagher"],"valueLabel":"$102k"}],"slug":"best-cities-for-pay-vs-cost-of-living-in-california","unit":"openings","scope":{"id":"california","kind":"state","name":"California"},"title":"Best cities for pay after cost of living in California","family":"Pay","method":["The score is a city's median posted annual salary (the midpoint of each posted range) divided by its local price level, with the United States at 100.","Price levels are the Bureau of Economic Analysis regional price parities for the city's metro area, or its state where no metro figure exists. Only cities with at least 50 listings that post a salary are ranked.","A city where one employer posts more than 50% of its openings is not ranked, so a single company cannot decide a city's score."],"builtAt":"2026-11-04T03:37:37.436Z","edition":"2026-11","measure":"paycost","sources":["NextChapter job data: posted annual salary ranges","Bureau of Economic Analysis regional price parities 2024 (metro areas and states)"],"baseline":{"label":"the typical city in our data","valueLabel":"$159k"},"keyFacts":["#1 Foster City, CA: $209k","#2 San Mateo, CA: $201k","#3 Mountain View, CA: $193k","32 cities ranked in California","Data as of November 2026"],"placeNoun":"cities","commentary":["The top ten is tightly packed: Foster City leads on $209k, and #10 San Carlos is at $176k.","San Carlos reaches #10 on a sample of 96 openings with pay posted, a smaller market than most of the top ten, so its rank can move more from month to month.","San Francisco is the largest market in the top ten, with 6,390 openings with pay posted behind its figure.","Cities with fewer than 100 openings with pay posted are not ranked, and small differences between neighbouring ranks are not meaningful."],"license":"Free to use and share with a link to https://launchyournextchapter.com/rankings/best-cities-for-pay-vs-cost-of-living-in-california"}