These Bay Area Cities Ranked Best In Nation For Working Class Families

SAN JOSE, CA — The best metropolitan area in the country for middle- and working-class households is San Jose, according to a recent analysis by the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity.

The San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara region came first in the institute's ranking of the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan areas. San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward was third.

“The high cost of living is more-than offset by high wages in the San Jose and San Francisco markets, making the Bay Area the best performing region for middle- and working-class households,” according to a news release from the institute.

To compile the rankings, the institute used a cost-of-living metric that tracks price changes for essentials, a calculation of adjusted median weekly workforce earnings and the percent of the population that is functionally unemployed.

Adjusted median weekly earnings in 2022 were $1,515 for San Jose and $1,370 for San Francisco, according to the institute. A median household with two adults and two children had 25.4 percent of their income left over after covering basic needs in San Jose and 18.2 percent left over in San Francisco, the institute reported.

On the other end of the spectrum, Fresno came in last, due to rising housing costs and lost buying power that has left the average household 21.5 percent short of covering necessities, with nearly 60 percent of households unable to meet their basic needs.

The Austin-Round Rock area was ranked second by the institute. Baltimore-Columbia-Towson came in fourth and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria was fifth.

Fresno was not the only California metropolitan area in the bottom ten. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario tied for 40th with Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim ranked 43rd.