Real Wage

City guide · Figures as of 23 Oct 2026

What a job in San Francisco really pays per hour

At the typical local salary of $100,220, a full-time office job you reach by public transit pays $27.19 for each hour it actually takes, not the $48.18 the salary suggests. Done fully remotely, the same job pays $34.48 an hour.

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The local figures

Typical salary$100,220 a year (BLS mean annual wage, San Francisco–Oakland metro, May 2025)
Effective tax rate27.4% at that salary
Public transit$10.36 a day in BART fares, 86 minutes round trip
Driving$14.92 a day in gas & Bay Bridge toll, plus $20.77 parking; 65 minutes round trip
Other job costsAbout $65 a week at five office days and $20 when remote (estimates)

Every figure is sourced at the bottom of this page.

Four ways to do the same job

The same salary and 40 paid hours a week, with no unpaid overtime. Only where you work and how you get there change.

SetupReal hourly wageJob costs a yearCommuting a year
Office five days, by transit$27.19$6,074373 hours
Office five days, by car$25.45$12,659282 hours
Office two days, by transit$31.27$3,053149 hours
Fully remote$34.48$1,0400 hours

Commuting by transit five days a week costs $2,694 a year in fares and takes 373 hours, about 47 eight-hour days. Going in two days a week instead gives back 224 hours and lifts the real wage to $31.27.

Driving instead of taking transit costs $6,586 more a year and gives back 91 hours, so the real wage by car is lower: $25.45 against $27.19 by transit.

What an office job here has to pay

For a five-day office job reached by transit to pay as much per hour as a fully remote job at $100,220, it would need a salary of about $124,853: $24,633, or 25%, more. By car, it would need about $129,602.

This uses the same effective tax rate for both salaries. Extra salary is usually taxed at a higher marginal rate, so the real break-even is somewhat higher. How the break-even salary works.

Where these numbers come from

Figures are in USD. Round-trip times are average one-way commutes doubled. Driving assumes 14.4 miles each way at 27.2 miles per gallon unless noted. The methodology explains the method and its limits.

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