An income of more than $100,000 a year for a single person is now listed as low income in four San Francisco Bay Area counties, according to the 2025 State Income Limits set by the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
The four counties are San Mateo, San Francisco, Marin, and Santa Clara. Nearby Santa Cruz County also lists six figures as low income, though it’s not adjacent to the Bay.
The income figures are used to determine residents’ eligibility for certain programs, such as housing assistance. Low income is usually 80 percent of median family income, although the number may be adjusted based on other factors, the report states.
In Santa Clara County, the threshold listed for low income is $111,700 a year, the highest in the state. This figure reflects its highest-in-the-state median income of nearly $200,000, up by more than $10,000 from 2024.
In Sacramento County, by contrast, $72,050 is considered low income. The low-income figure is $84,850 in Los Angeles County and $54,500 in Shasta County.
“When a six-figure income qualifies as low income, it’s a clear sign that too many Californians are struggling to make ends meet,” said Chris Hoene, executive director of the California Budget & Policy Center, in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times.
According to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, households that spend over 30 percent of their income on housing costs such as rent and mortgage are considered “cost-burdened.”
In the city of Santa Clara, more than 52 percent of renter households are cost-burdened, and so are over a quarter of homeowner households, according to housing organization Silicon Valley at Home.
Californians often face a heavier cost burden because the state’s rent and home prices are significantly higher than in most of the nation.
Hoene said that the state’s high cost of living is driven by “soaring housing costs and rising prices on basic needs.”
California currently has the highest regional price parity in the nation, at 12.6 percent higher than the national average, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Housing rent in the state is 57.8 percent above the national average, the bureau reported.
Mid-tier homes in California are more than twice as expensive as typical mid-tier U.S. homes, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office. A bottom-tier home in California is more expensive than a mid-tier home in the rest of the country.
The average home value in San Francisco was priced at more than $1.3 million as of February, according to Zillow.
