Salinas, CA vs Sacramento, CA
Moving from Salinas to Sacramento? Here's what changes — from your equivalent salary to housing ($850,461 → $582,707 median home) and taxes.
Salinas vs Sacramento at a glance
Bars scaled to the range across all 200 metros; labels show actual values.
To keep the same standard of living as $100,000 in Salinas, CA, you'd need about $96,386 in Sacramento, CA (−$3,614).
Livability — Salinas, CA: 42 · Sacramento, CA: 49 (0–100).
What your home budget buys
A $500,000 home budget gets you about 882 sqft in Salinas vs 1,287 sqft in Sacramento ($567 vs $389 per sqft).
Annual cost breakdown (at $100,000)
| Category | Salinas, CA | Sacramento, CA | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing | $34,740 | $27,396 | −$7,344 |
| Groceries | $5,247 | $5,247 | +$0 |
| Transportation | $5,125 | $5,125 | +$0 |
| Utilities | $3,804 | $3,804 | +$0 |
| Insurance | $1,500 | $1,500 | +$0 |
| Taxes | $20,881 | $20,410 | −$471 |
| Total | $71,297 | $63,482 | −$7,815 |
Side by side
| Metric | Salinas, CA | Sacramento, CA |
|---|---|---|
| Cost-of-living index | 113.2 | 109.1 |
| Unemployment rate | 5.30% | 5.74% |
| Population growth (5-yr) | 1.0% | 5.6% |
| Air quality (median AQI) | 42 | 42 |
| Big Mac price (est.) | $6.44 | $6.21 |
| Median home price | $850,461 | $582,707 |
| Home price ÷ income | 9.3× | 6.5× |
| 1-yr home appreciation | -0.9% | -1.6% |
| Price per square foot | $567 | $389 |
| Median rent | $2,895 | $2,283 |
| Total tax burden (% income) | 13.5% | 13.5% |
| Combined sales tax | 8.82% | 8.82% |
| Capital gains tax | 13.30% | 13.30% |
| Property tax rate | 0.66% | 0.79% |
| Healthcare (annual) | $7,200 | $7,200 |
| Childcare (annual, infant) | $19,000 | $19,000 |
| Vehicle property tax | 0.65% | 0.65% |
| Avg commute (min) | 25 | 28 |
| Home insurance / yr | $1,500 | $1,500 |
| Auto insurance / yr | $2,400 | $2,400 |
| Flood insurance / yr | $750 | $750 |
| Earthquake insurance / yr | $950 | $950 |
| Electricity ¢/kWh | 35.3 | 35.3 |
| Gas $/gal | 4.85 | 4.85 |
| Natural gas / mo | $72 | $72 |
| Water & sewer / mo | $138 | $138 |
| Home internet / mo | $83 | $83 |
| Violent crime /100k | 500 | 500 |
| Avg summer high °F | 84 | 84 |
| Avg winter low °F | 45 | 45 |
| Annual precipitation (in) | 13.5 | 19.2 |
| Annual snowfall (in) | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Sunshine (% possible) | 72% | 78% |
| Permit difficulty (1–5) | 5 | 5 |