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CityLedger

Sacramento vs San Juan

Metro-area medians — Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA Metro Area vs San Juan-Bayamón-Caguas, PR Metro Area — not the cities proper.

Sacramento comes out ahead, winning 5 of the 8 clearly-decided measures.

Sacramento and San Juan cost about the same to live in, but Sacramento households earn about 222% more.

For your salary & household

Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.

Sacramento, CA
$58,296
take-home / yr · 22% to tax
$54,651
real value after local prices
San Juan, PR
$61,314
take-home / yr · 18% to tax
No local price index — real value not shown.

On $75,000 for just you, San Juan leaves you about $6,662/yr better off after tax and local prices.

Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.

Measure
Sacramento
San Juan
Livability (CityLedger)
59/100
38/100
Cost of living (price level, US = 100)
106.7
—
Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
$92,599
—
Median household income
$98,775
$30,640
Median rent
$1,904/mo
$620/mo
Median home value
$605,500
$152,300
Unemployment
5.9%
7.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher
38.3%
33%
Average commute
27.7 min
30 min
Air quality (median AQI)
55
49
Avg temperature
63°F
76°F

Choose Sacramento for

  • + Livability (CityLedger)
  • + Median household income
  • + Unemployment
  • + Bachelor's degree or higher
  • + Average commute
Full Sacramento profile →

Choose San Juan for

  • + Median rent
  • + Median home value
  • + Air quality (median AQI)
Full San Juan profile →

Sacramento vs San Juan — frequently asked

Which has higher household income, Sacramento or San Juan?
Sacramento has the higher median household income — $98,775 versus $30,640 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 222% more.
Which has cheaper rent, Sacramento or San Juan?
San Juan has cheaper rent — a median of $620/mo versus $1,904/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).