The median monthly apartment rental rate for a one bedroom apartment in San Francisco Bay Area was the highest in Mountain View as of May 2023, at nearly 3,500 U.S. dollars. The median monthly rent for a one bedroom apartment in Vallejo, on the other hand, was aproximately 1,600 U.S. dollars per month.

The monthly rent for two-bedroom apartments in San Francisco and Bay Area has fluctuated since 2015. In 2023, the median monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment in San Francisco was 3,795 U.S. dollars, down from 3,970 U.S. dollars in 2021.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR List Rents (EC9)

FULL MEASURE NAME List Rents

LAST UPDATED October 2016

DESCRIPTION List rent refers to the advertised rents for available rental housing and serves as a measure of housing costs for new households moving into a neighborhood, city, county or region.

DATA SOURCE real Answers (1994 – 2015) no link

Zillow Metro Median Listing Price All Homes (2010-2016) http://www.zillow.com/research/data/

CONTACT INFORMATION vitalsigns.info@mtc.ca.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator) List rents data reflects median rent prices advertised for available apartments rather than median rent payments; more information is available in the indicator definition above. Regional and local geographies rely on data collected by real Answers, a research organization and database publisher specializing in the multifamily housing market. real Answers focuses on collecting longitudinal data for individual rental properties through quarterly surveys. For the Bay Area, their database is comprised of properties with 40 to 3,000+ housing units. Median list prices most likely have an upward bias due to the exclusion of smaller properties. The bias may be most extreme in geographies where large rental properties represent a small portion of the overall rental market. A map of the individual properties surveyed is included in the Local Focus section.

Individual properties surveyed provided lower- and upper-bound ranges for the various types of housing available (studio, 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom, etc.). Median lower- and upper-bound prices are determined across all housing types for the regional and county geographies. The median list price represented in Vital Signs is the average of the median lower- and upper-bound prices for the region and counties. Median upper-bound prices are determined across all housing types for the city geographies. The median list price represented in Vital Signs is the median upper-bound price for cities. For simplicity, only the mean list rent is displayed for the individual properties. The metro areas geography rely upon Zillow data, which is the median price for rentals listed through www.zillow.com during the month. Like the real Answers data, Zillow's median list prices most likely have an upward bias since small properties are underrepresented in Zillow's listings. The metro area data for the Bay Area cannot be compared to the regional Bay Area data. Due to afore mentioned data limitations, this data is suitable for analyzing the change in list rents over time but not necessarily comparisons of absolute list rents. Metro area boundaries reflects today’s metro area definitions by county for consistency, rather than historical metro area boundaries.

Due to the limited number of rental properties surveyed, city-level data is unavailable for Atherton, Belvedere, Brisbane, Calistoga, Clayton, Cloverdale, Cotati, Fairfax, Half Moon Bay, Healdsburg, Hillsborough, Los Altos Hills, Monte Sereno, Moranga, Oakley, Orinda, Portola Valley, Rio Vista, Ross, San Anselmo, San Carlos, Saratoga, Sebastopol, Windsor, Woodside, and Yountville.

Inflation-adjusted data are presented to illustrate how rents have grown relative to overall price increases; that said, the use of the Consumer Price Index does create some challenges given the fact that housing represents a major chunk of consumer goods bundle used to calculate CPI. This reflects a methodological tradeoff between precision and accuracy and is a common concern when working with any commodity that is a major component of CPI itself. Percent change in inflation-adjusted median is calculated with respect to the median price from the fourth quarter or December of the base year.

The average rent for warehouses and distribution centers in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, has increased year-on-years since 2017. In the first quarter of 2024, the average rent amounted to 16.52 U.S. dollars per square foot. That was significantly higher than the average warehouse rent in the United States.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR
Rent Payments (EC8)

FULL MEASURE NAME
Median rent payment

LAST UPDATED
January 2023

DESCRIPTION
Rent payments refer to the cost of leasing an apartment or home and serves as a measure of housing costs for individuals who do not own a home. The data reflect the median monthly rent paid by Bay Area households across apartments and homes of various sizes and various levels of quality. This differs from advertised rents for available apartments, which usually are higher. Note that rent can be presented using nominal or real (inflation-adjusted) dollar values; data are presented inflation-adjusted to reflect changes in household purchasing power over time.

DATA SOURCE
U.S. Census Bureau: Decennial Census - https://nhgis.org
Count 2 (1970)
Form STF1 (1980-1990)
Form SF3a (2000)

U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey - https://data.census.gov/
Form B25058 (2005-2021; median contract rent)

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Consumer Price Index - https://www.bls.gov/data/
1970-2021

CONTACT INFORMATION
vitalsigns.info@mtc.ca.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator)
Rent data reflects median rent payments rather than list rents (refer to measure definition above). American Community Survey 1-year data is used for larger geographies – Bay counties and most metropolitan area counties – while smaller geographies rely upon 5-year rolling average data due to their smaller sample sizes. Note that 2020 data uses the 5-year estimates because the ACS did not collect 1-year data for 2020.

1970 Census data for median rent payments has been imputed from quintiles using methodology from California Department of Finance as the source data only provided the mean, rather than the median, monthly rent. Metro area boundaries reflects today’s metro area definitions by county for consistency, rather than historical metro area boundaries.

Inflation-adjusted data are presented to illustrate how rent payments have grown relative to overall price increases; that said, the use of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) does create some challenges given the fact that housing represents a major chunk of consumer goods bundle used to calculate CPI. This reflects a methodological tradeoff between precision and accuracy and is a common concern when working with any commodity that is a major component of CPI itself.

In 2022, San Mateo, San Francisco, and Santa Clara were the most expensive districts for housing in the San Francisco Bay Area. In San Francisco, the average square footage price of single-family homes exceeded 1,000 U.S. dollars per square foot. Housing in Solano, on the other hand, was most affordable, with the average square footage price for single family homes at 370 U.S. dollars.

How expensive is buying a home in San Francisco? Few metros in the U.S. are more expensive than San Francisco, CA. In 2022, the median sales price of existing single-family homes in San Francisco was about 1.4 million U.S. dollars, making it the second priciest market in the U.S. House prices in the Golden City, were not always so high: in 2014, a two-bedroom house in the Bay Area would sell for less than 500,000 U.S. dollars but since then, the median price has more than doubled.

How much does renting an apartment cost? Despite rents falling in 2020, renting in San Francisco is still far from cheap. Renting a two-bedroom apartment cost close to 4,000 U.S. dollars in 2021. California is one of the least affordable states for renters. In fact, to afford to rent such an apartment, a household needs approximately three full time jobs at minimum wage or two full time jobs at mean wage.

The average annual rent for manufacturing space in the San Francisco Bay Area soared between 2020 and 2024. In the first quarter of 2024, the rental cost amounted to 18.47 U.S. dollars per square foot. That was higher than the average rent for manufacturing space in the United States.

The median rent for one- and two-bedroom apartments in San Francisco, CA, amounted to about 2,620 U.S. dollars at the end of 2023. Rents decreased drastically after the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic - by over 25 percent between December 2019 and December 2020. This trend reversed in 2021, and as of December 2021, the annual rental growth stood at 15 percent. Among the different states in the U.S., California ranks as the second most expensive rental market in 2023.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR
Home Prices (EC7)

FULL MEASURE NAME
Home Prices

LAST UPDATED
December 2022

DESCRIPTION
Home prices refer to the cost of purchasing one’s own house or condominium. While a significant share of residents may choose to rent, home prices represent a primary driver of housing affordability in a given region, county or city.

DATA SOURCE
Zillow: Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI) - http://www.zillow.com/research/data/
2000-2021

California Department of Finance: E-4 Historical Population Estimates for Cities, Counties, and the State - https://dof.ca.gov/forecasting/demographics/estimates/
2000-2021

US Census Population and Housing Unit Estimates - https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest.html
2000-2021

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Consumer Price Index - http://data.bls.gov
2000-2021

US Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) - https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography/guidance/geo-areas/zctas.html
2020 Census Blocks

CONTACT INFORMATION
vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator)
Housing price estimates at the regional-, county-, city- and zip code-level come from analysis of individual home sales by Zillow based upon transaction records. Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI) is a smoothed, seasonally adjusted measure of the typical home value and market changes across a given region and housing type. It reflects the typical value for homes in the 35th to 65th percentile range. ZHVI is computed from public record transaction data as reported by counties. All standard real estate transactions are included in this metric, including REO sales and auctions. Zillow makes a substantial effort to remove transactions not typically considered a standard sale. Examples of these include bank takeovers of foreclosed properties, title transfers after a death or divorce and non arms-length transactions. Zillow defines all homes as single-family residential, condominium and co-operative homes with a county record. Single-family residences are detached, which means the home is an individual structure with its own lot. Condominiums are units that can be owned in a multi-unit complex, such as an apartment building. Co-operative homes are slightly different from condominiums in that the homeowners own shares in the corporation that owns the building, not the actual units themselves.

For metropolitan area comparison values, the Bay Area metro area’s median home sale price is the population-weighted average of the nine counties’ median home prices. Data is adjusted for inflation using Bureau of Labor Statistics metropolitan statistical area (MSA)-specific series. Inflation-adjusted data are presented to illustrate how home prices have grown relative to overall price increases; that said, the use of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) does create some challenges given the fact that housing represents a major chunk of consumer goods bundle used to calculate CPI. This reflects a methodological tradeoff between precision and accuracy and is a common concern when working with any commodity that is a major component of the CPI itself.

The average rent per square foot in the largest research and development (R&D) and life science real estate markets in the United States varied greatly in the first half of 2023. New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco Bay Area were the most expensive markets to rent life science real estate in the first half of 2023. On average, a square foot of life science real estate cost about 1,055 U.S. dollars to buy in the same period.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR Home Prices (EC7)

FULL MEASURE NAME Home Prices

LAST UPDATED August 2019

DESCRIPTION Home prices refer to the cost of purchasing one’s own house or condominium. While a significant share of residents may choose to rent, home prices represent a primary driver of housing affordability in a given region, county or city.

DATA SOURCE Zillow Median Sale Price (1997-2018) http://www.zillow.com/research/data/

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Consumer Price Index All Urban Consumers Data Table (1997-2018; specific to each metro area) http://data.bls.gov

CONTACT INFORMATION vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator) Median housing price estimates for the region, counties, cities, and zip code come from analysis of individual home sales by Zillow. The median sale price is the price separating the higher half of the sales from the lower half. In other words, 50 percent of home sales are below or above the median value. Zillow defines all homes as single-family residential, condominium, and co-operative homes with a county record. Single-family residences are detached, which means the home is an individual structure with its own lot. Condominiums are units that you own in a multi-unit complex, such as an apartment building. Co-operative homes are slightly different from condominiums where the homeowners own shares in the corporation that owns the building, not the actual units themselves.

For metropolitan area comparison values, the Bay Area metro area’s median home sale price is the population-weighted average of the nine counties’ median home prices. Home sales prices are not reliably available for Houston, because Texas is a non-disclosure state. For more information on non-disclosure states, see: http://www.zillow.com/blog/chronicles-of-data-collection-ii-non-disclosure-states-3783/

Inflation-adjusted data are presented to illustrate how home prices have grown relative to overall price increases; that said, the use of the Consumer Price Index does create some challenges given the fact that housing represents a major chunk of consumer goods bundle used to calculate CPI. This reflects a methodological tradeoff between precision and accuracy and is a common concern when working with any commodity that is a major component of CPI itself.

The asking rent per square foot of self-storage space was the highest in New York City, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area. In New York City, self-storage rent stood at 2.69 U.S. dollars per square foot. This twice as high as the average price in the United States.