Landlord Atlas

Average Rent in California (2027) — HUD Fair Market Rents

HUD data · effective Oct 1, 2026 California landlord-tenant laws →

The average two-bedroom rent in California is $2,632 per month by HUD's FY 2027 Fair Market Rent data (population-weighted); two-bedroom FMRs range from $1,084 to $4,254 across 51 rent areas.

Fair Market Rent is HUD's annual estimate of what a modest rental costs in each local market — the 40th percentile of gross rents (rent plus tenant-paid utilities) for recent movers, published for studio through four-bedroom units and used to set Section 8 / Housing Choice Voucher payment standards. FMRs are a federal benchmark, not an asking-rent average: use them to sanity-check your pricing (statewide, California's typical two-bedroom FMR moved -1.4% versus FY 2026).

All 51 California FMR areas

Sorted by two-bedroom rent, highest first. 30 metro areas; the rest are non-metro county areas. "vs FY 2026" is the two-bedroom change from last year's FMR for the same area.

Area Studio1 BR2 BR3 BR4 BR 2 BR vs FY 2026
Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA MSA Metro $3,230$3,390$4,254$5,531$5,748 +0.9%
San Francisco, CA HUD Metro FMR Area Metro
3 counties Marin County · San Francisco County · San Mateo County
$2,574$3,003$3,697$4,832$5,439 +2.6%
Napa, CA MSA Metro $2,350$2,580$3,375$4,201$5,094 +1.8%
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA HUD Metro FMR Area Metro $2,458$2,778$3,272$4,396$4,688 -6.1%
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA MSA Metro $2,479$2,711$3,106$3,990$4,557 -0.6%
Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA HUD Metro FMR Area Metro $2,580$2,610$3,057$4,153$4,964 -5.5%
San Benito County, CA HUD Metro FMR Area Metro $2,279$2,296$3,004$4,160$4,555 +3.5%
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA HUD Metro FMR Area Metro $2,151$2,402$2,964$3,760$4,208 +2.1%
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA MSA Metro $2,192$2,335$2,823$3,743$4,526 -5.9%
Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA MSA Metro $1,980$2,155$2,819$3,903$4,295 -0.3%
Oakland-Fremont, CA HUD Metro FMR Area Metro
2 counties Alameda County · Contra Costa County
$2,088$2,290$2,805$3,592$4,250 -3.7%
San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA MSA Metro $1,894$2,079$2,720$3,634$4,208 +1.8%
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA MSA Metro $1,827$2,035$2,424$3,287$3,816 -10.0%
Salinas, CA MSA Metro $1,956$2,009$2,416$3,261$3,551 -10.0%
Vallejo, CA MSA Metro $1,706$1,876$2,342$3,053$3,483 +7.5%
Sacramento--Roseville--Arden-Arcade, CA HUD Metro FMR Area Metro
3 counties El Dorado County · Placer County · Sacramento County
$1,742$1,793$2,201$2,887$3,329 -2.4%
Yolo, CA HUD Metro FMR Area Metro $1,659$1,670$2,135$2,956$3,095 +1.5%
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA MSA Metro
2 counties Riverside County · San Bernardino County
$1,605$1,705$2,103$2,771$3,336 -4.5%
Stockton-Lodi, CA MSA Metro $1,525$1,628$2,015$2,790$3,368 +15.7%
Mono County, CA Non-metro $1,342$1,550$1,927$2,374$3,185 +15.0%
Nevada County, CA Non-metro $1,313$1,441$1,885$2,610$3,151 +4.0%
Modesto, CA MSA Metro $1,276$1,378$1,803$2,410$2,827 +2.6%
Amador County, CA Non-metro $1,373$1,381$1,765$2,219$2,568 +3.9%
Fresno, CA HUD Metro FMR Area Metro $1,354$1,363$1,685$2,333$2,671 +1.3%
Mendocino County, CA Non-metro $1,209$1,287$1,683$2,330$2,610 -1.8%
Bakersfield-Delano, CA MSA Metro $1,265$1,273$1,656$2,293$2,768 +11.7%
Lake County, CA Non-metro $1,233$1,235$1,616$2,238$2,701 +4.3%
Tuolumne County, CA Non-metro $1,116$1,271$1,603$2,082$2,679 +0.9%
Yuba City, CA MSA Metro
2 counties Sutter County · Yuba County
$1,159$1,367$1,600$2,216$2,674 +3.2%
Redding, CA MSA Metro $1,201$1,209$1,581$2,189$2,643 -0.6%
Humboldt County, CA Non-metro $1,122$1,188$1,554$2,152$2,597 +0.3%
Calaveras County, CA Non-metro $1,109$1,172$1,533$2,123$2,224 -0.6%
Alpine County, CA Non-metro $1,063$1,167$1,526$2,113$2,522 -0.2%
Sierra County, CA Non-metro $1,063$1,167$1,526$2,113$2,522 -0.2%
Merced, CA MSA Metro $1,200$1,262$1,517$2,087$2,477 +0.9%
Hanford-Corcoran, CA MSA Metro $1,175$1,183$1,512$2,094$2,467 +2.9%
Chico, CA MSA Metro $1,064$1,190$1,509$2,090$2,522 -7.1%
Mariposa County, CA Non-metro $1,035$1,147$1,486$2,058$2,196 +2.2%
Inyo County, CA Non-metro $1,020$1,346$1,465$1,996$2,449 -3.2%
Madera County, CA HUD Metro FMR Area Metro $1,264$1,272$1,460$2,022$2,440 +6.1%
Visalia, CA MSA Metro $1,101$1,108$1,450$1,995$2,338 -1.6%
Plumas County, CA Non-metro $990$1,087$1,422$1,883$1,966 +0.8%
Del Norte County, CA Non-metro $979$1,292$1,406$1,947$2,322 +2.6%
Glenn County, CA Non-metro $948$1,040$1,361$1,867$2,251 -0.1%
Tehama County, CA Non-metro $948$1,040$1,361$1,885$2,275 -0.1%
El Centro, CA MSA Metro $938$1,030$1,347$1,819$2,251 -1.1%
Colusa County, CA Non-metro $1,073$1,080$1,344$1,861$2,221 +2.9%
Siskiyou County, CA Non-metro $953$959$1,254$1,736$1,984 +0.4%
Lassen County, CA Non-metro $884$1,046$1,248$1,728$2,086 -2.4%
Trinity County, CA Non-metro $803$881$1,153$1,510$1,515 -4.1%
Modoc County, CA Non-metro $755$856$1,084$1,501$1,792 -2.2%

Download this table as CSV — every area, studio through 4-bedroom, with county lists and year-over-year change.

About this data

Source: HUD FY 2027 Fair Market Rents, county-level file, published at huduser.gov — a U.S. government work in the public domain, republished here unmodified. The typical-rent figure is the population-weighted average across the areas above (county populations from HUD's file); year-over-year comparisons match each area with last year's file by HUD area code. Effective October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027; last regenerated from HUD's file on 2026-09-01. FMRs cap what a housing authority can pay under the voucher program; your local Public Housing Authority's payment standard may be set between 90% and 110% of FMR. Full method notes: how the rent figures are computed.

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