San Francisco, CA → Sacramento, CA
Moving to Sacramento costs you $256 a month
−$3,072 a year for the same registered nurse, the same household size, and the same number of bedrooms.
In 2022-2023, 6,939 households moved San Francisco → Sacramento (avg AGI $114,168). 4,315 went the other way. The whole move →
| Per month | San Francisco | Sacramento | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | $10,458 | $8,039 | −$2,420 |
| Income and payroll tax | $3,056 | $2,101 | −$954 |
| Take-home pay | $7,403 | $5,938 | −$1,465 |
| Rent | $2,609 | $1,677 | −$932 |
| Getting around | $558 | $600 | +$42 |
| Groceries | $512 | $424 | −$88 |
| Healthcare | $576 | $477 | −$99 |
| Utilities | $320 | $265 | −$55 |
| Everything else | $448 | $371 | −$77 |
| Left over | $2,380 | $2,124 | −$256 |
To break even in Sacramento, you'd need to earn
$101,500
Household gross, versus $125,500 today. That's the salary that leaves you exactly as much at the end of the month as San Francisco does now.
The tax difference alone
+$2,700
A year, in state and local income tax. Effective rates: 29.2% in San Francisco, 26.1% in Sacramento.
More about Sacramento
San Francisco, CA in full
Dense, walkable, cold in July, and priced for two incomes.
Sacramento, CA in full
Bay Area access at two-thirds the rent, with California's tax bill intact.
The reverse move
Same two cities, but starting from Sacramento on Sacramento wages.
Sacramento → San Francisco →Rent is Zillow's asking rent for each metro; taxes and living costs are modelled. An estimate, not a quote or tax advice. How this is calculated.