Newly released federal data shows the Bay Area was the most expensive region to live in the U.S. last year.
The Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis released its annual report on Tuesday, revealing differences in price levels in metropolitan areas and states during 2020. Five metropolitan areas located in the Bay Area were among the 20 most expensive in the country, as were two others just outside of it.
Weighing the costs of goods, housing and services, prices in the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley Metropolitan Statistical Area were 17.4% higher than the rest of the country, making the area the most expensive in the U.S. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (12.1% percent higher) was fourth. One of those two metropolitan areas has been the country’s most expensive every year since 2015, while San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley has held the top spot for three years running.
Napa (11.4% higher) was 10th, Santa Rosa-Petaluma (9.8% higher) was 16th and Vallejo (8.4% higher) was 20th. Just outside of the Bay Area, Salinas (10.7% higher) and Santa Cruz-Watsonville (9.4% higher) were 12th and 18th, respectively.
Rental data was compiled in 2019 rather than 2020 because housing data surveys were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Housing costs were 130.6% higher than the national average in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, 107.3% higher in San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, 77.9% higher in Napa, 68% higher in Santa Rosa-Petaluma and 50% higher in Vallejo.
Although rental data reflected 2019, prices have rebounded in the Bay Area nearly two years after the region was the first country to issue shelter-in-place orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The median rental cost of a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco ($2,800) last month was 3.7% higher than last November, according to data gathered by the rental company Zumper, while a two-bedroom apartment ($3,800) was 6.4% higher. Median one-bedroom rentals in Oakland ($2,030) and San Jose ($2,310) were up 1.5% and 10.5%, respectively.
It’s possible the Bay Area maintains its spot next year, too. Global inflation and continued supply chain disruption have pushed the Bay Area’s costs even higher this year. In the nine Bay Area counties, a gallon of unleaded gasoline cost at least $4.67 as of Tuesday, according to AAA. Nationally, a gallon cost $3.32 on Tuesday.
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