It’s no secret that the Bay Area is one of the most expensive places to live in the nation. High costs of living, high rents, high real estate prices. While home base San Francisco consistently ranks as the topmost expensive city, Bay neighbor San Jose is regularly right behind. So, does that mean a move to San Jose is not in the cards and out of your budget range?
Fret not. Whether you’re headed to San Jose to work in Silicon Valley or to simply enjoy the scene, there are alternatives. Not everywhere near San Jose is as expensive as living in the city. Unfortunately, nowhere in the region would classify as cheap. However, if the budget allows, below are the top 10 cheap cities near San Jose for renters.
But prepare yourself. All of the top 10 rents lie between $2,000 and $3,000. That’s based on listing for an average two-bedroom apartment. And most lie in the East Bay region between Oakland and San Jose.
10. Daly City
- Average 2-BR Rent: $2,995
- Rent change since 2021: 5.5%
Nearly all of the cheap cities near San Jose are in East Bay. But not this one. Daly City is the cheapest city for renters on the San Francisco Peninsula. The city’s northern border makes up San Francisco’s southern. And it’s just an easy 45-minute drive down I-280 to San Jose.
Also the only city on this list with a Pacific Ocean shoreline, Daly City is a long-established Asian community, as well. In fact, nearly 56 percent of Daly City residents are of Asian heritage. That’s the highest percentage of any city in the entire continental U.S. More specifically, that’s more than 33 percent Filipino and 15.4 percent of Chinese descent.
Because of its unique location south of San Francisco, Daly City has also become a retail shopping hub. That comes down to three main reasons. Daly City offers ample free parking spaces and lots, counter to expensive and crowded parking in San Francisco. San Mateo County also affords a lower sales tax rate than San Francisco’s. And due to San Francisco’s skyrocketing real estate, it’s simply not financially viable for big box stores to take up expensive land.
In addition to street-level retail downtown, Daly City features two large shopping centers. Serramonte Center lies at the I-280/State Route 1 split, and Westlake Shopping Center is just a mile from the beach. And to live in this diverse city, rent for an average two-bedroom apartment is just under $3,000 a month.
9. San Ramon
- Average 2-BR Rent: $2,921
- Rent change since 2021: 6.4%
Downtown San Ramon is one of the most unique business districts in California. Like many downtowns, San Ramon features a busy shopping district. San Ramon City Center is a recently-developed 39-acre space featuring trendy and upscale shopping, fine and casual eateries and a multiplex.
Just a block away is the busy Marketplace Shopping Center, which sits just across the street from City Hall, main library and the sprawling Central Park. The district also offers a hotel, a plethora of office space and brand new and converted apartment and loft rentals. Around San Ramon, rents price at $2,921 a month for an average two-bedroom.
But adjacent to the downtown live-work-play district is the Bishop Ranch corporate campus. The nearly 600-acre spot is home to 30,000 employees working for a plethora of major corporations. At the top of the list is the corporate headquarters of Chevron Corp. The city’s largest company employs more than 3,500. The sprawling area also houses the headquarters of GE Global Research, West Coast headquarters of AT&T and large facilities for UPS, Bank of the West, PG&E, Robert Half, Ford, SAP and JPMorgan Chase.
8. Walnut Creek
- Average 2-BR Rent: $2,803
- Rent change since 2021: -1.5%
Looking to get out in the great wide open? Well, that’s the name of the game in Walnut Creek. The Contra Costa County city of 70,000 has the most open space per capita of any community in the state. The city owns nearly 1,800 acres of greenspace spread out among the Lime Ridge, Shell Ridge, Acalanes Ridge and Sugarloaf Open Space natural areas.
In addition to the parks and green space, there’s much to see and do in Walnut Creek. Cultural and family activities happen at Lesher Center for the Arts, Lindsay Wildlife Experience and The Gardens at Heather Farm Park. Its chic suburban downtown offers high-end shopping and trendy East Bay restaurants.
But Walnut Creek isn’t just about the quiet, it’s also about the busy. The city sits at the junction of State Route 24 and I-880. That makes Walnut Creek a central hub. It’s just an hour to San Jose, a half-hour from San Francisco, 20 minutes from Oakland and 80 minutes from Sacramento.
And to live with the convenience, an average two-bedroom apartment leases for $2,803 a month. That figure is down over 1.5 percent from last year. It’s only one of three cities near San Jose who saw a decrease from 2021.
7. Union City
- Average 2-BR Rent: $2,778
- Rent change since 2021: N/A
Attention Dwight Schrute. You may wish a historical pilgrimage vacation to Union City. At the corner of Dyer Street and Ratekin Drive is a historic marker indicating the beginnings of an entirely new industry. In 1870, the California Beet Sugar Company opened in Union City, hailing a shift in America’s dependence on sugarcane from the South. While the site is now a residential block, its history is secure.
Along with Fremont and Newark, Union City makes up a third of the East Bay’s Tri-City Area. The economy is no longer beet- and rail-related, but it does still feature an interesting largest private employer. There are 600 employees at Union City’s distribution center of Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, one of the largest facilities of one of the nation’s largest distributors.
Just a mile and a half away is the retail heart of Union City. At the center is the open-air Union Landing Shopping Center with over 70 stores on a million-square-foot site. And sitting right behind the shopping center is Sugar Mill Landing Park, site of the Bay Area Flight 93 Memorial. Across the rest of residential Union City, an average two-bedroom apartment rents for $2,778 a month.
6. San Leandro
- Average 2-BR Rent: $2,697
- Rent change since 2021: 4.7%
Talk about convenience. The city of San Leandro lies directly adjacent to Oakland International Airport. That makes the city a perfect East Bay city for commuting across the country and also to San Jose, under an hour south.
And the city of 91,000 is one of the most diverse in the area. Nearly a third of San Leandro residents are of Asian descent, over a quarter are white and another quarter is Latino, with nearly 12 percent Black.
With proximity to air and shipping channels, San Leandro has long been a manufacturing hub in tech and food processing. In fact, the city’s two largest commercial employers are Ghirardelli Chocolate Company and OSIsoft. The city is also a medical district, featuring Fairmont, San Leandro and Kindred hospitals, John George Psychiatric Pavilion and a Kaiser Permanente Medical Center.
San Leandro ranks among the top cheap cities near San Jose along East Bay. An average of $2,697 a month will cover rent for a two-bedroom apartment.
5. Fremont
- Average 2-BR Rent: $2,677
- Rent change since 2021: 1.1%
Just north of San Jose on East Bay is the largest suburb in the Bay Area, if you can call it that. Fremont is the largest city in the region behind only San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland. Fremont dominates the south end of the Bay, a bustling city along the Nimitz Freeway alongside the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
But the most famous Fremont export? Well, that’s most likely Tesla. The Tesla Fremont Factory employs over 10,000 at the facility that builds the Model S, Model 3 and more. More than just Tesla, however, Fremont is home to many high-tech companies as a major Silicon Valley hub.
Among local favorite hangout spots is the 450-acre Fremont Central Park. It offers picnicking, athletic fields and walking and biking paths primarily surrounding Lake Elizabeth. The urban park also features the seasonal Aqua Adventure Water Park. More hiking and biking trails are at Quarry Lakes Regional Recreation Area.
Living in Fremont means identifying closely with your neighborhood. Several of Fremont’s neighborhoods were formerly independent cities, including Centerville, Niles, Irvington and Mission San Jose, plus a handful of community plan areas. Each area carries its own history and personality. Across neighborhoods, Fremont offers a lot for the money. An average two-bedroom apartment rents for $2,677 a month.
4. Hayward
- Average 2-BR Rent: $2,522
- Rent change since 2021: 4.7%
As you drive east on the San Mateo Bridge with the sunset behind you, the longest bridge in California carries you into the beautiful city of Hayward. With a population of almost 165,000, Hayward is the third largest suburb in the Bay Area. It’s also geographically sizable, stretching from the Bay over the hills to Pleasanton, bisected by I-880. And thanks to the Eden Landing Ecological Reserve, nearly a quarter of the city is water.
In a region rife with universities, Hayward offers several higher education facilities. Among these are California State University-East Bay, Chabot College and Life Chiropractic College West. The city is also home to a number of parks. Many are large green spaces and preserves, including Don Castro Regional Recreation Area, Dry Creek Pioneer Regional Park, Hayward Regional Shoreline, Garin Regional Park and Eden Landing Ecological Reserve.
There are also several urban parks, such as Kennedy Park, Memorial Park and Hayward Japanese Gardens, the oldest traditional Japanese garden in the state. The Hayward Area Recreation and Park District operates 73 distinct parks in the city. Hayward also features a sizable downtown district. Its anchor is Cinema Place, a 56,000-square-foot entertainment and shopping center.
Heyward’s economy is steep in manufacturing, particularly in high-tech industries. The city has earned the reputation as a northern extension of Silicon Valley. One notable non-tech locale is the world headquarters of Shasta Beverages. But all this hasn’t caused rent prices to boom. A little over $2,500 a month will rent an average two-bedroom apartment.
3. Castro Valley
- Average 2-BR Rent: $2,470
- Rent change since 2021: 7.4%
What city has the cheapest rents in all of Alameda County? That’s the parkside suburb of Castro Valley. Just 45 minutes north of San Jose and 20 south of Oakland, Castro Valley lies east along the MacArthur Freeway.
Castro Valley is a parkland getaway from the East Bay bustle. The highway and the East Bay Regional Park District south of the San Leandro Hills. Along the eastern side of Castro Valley are a plethora of parks, wildlife areas, mountain trails and recreational areas.
A nearly-entirely residential area, Castro Valley is only about 5 percent commercially developed. Most of that surrounds the quaint downtown where Redwood Road and Castro Valley Boulevard intersect. And a number of hotels dot the areas where I-580 begets I-238.
Castro Valley carries the cheapest rents of any Bay Area city under an hour from San Jose. A monthly rent of $2,470 will lease an average two-bedroom apartment. The city’s rental affordability is despite a 7.44 percent increase in rents from this time last year.
2. Santa Rosa
- Average 2-BR Rent: $2,424
- Rent change since 2021: 6.8%
Want to get away from it all? Two hours north of San Jose and an hour north of San Francisco is the Sonoma County seat of Santa Rosa. But it’s not like you’re out in the boonies. Situated right along U.S. 101, Santa Rosa is the second-largest suburb in the entire Bay Area. It’s also the second-cheapest city near San Jose. Average two-bedroom rents run $2,424 monthly, despite a yearly gain of nearly 7 percent.
Santa Rosa is in the heart of California Wine Country. Any trip to the wine regions of Sonoma and Napa Valley starts in Santa Rosa. Whether living, working or visiting, Santa Rosa is the metro hub of the region. But there’s more to Santa Rosa than choosing between a red and a white.
The city of Santa Rosa features a number of attractions for wine enthusiasts, locals and travelers. Tucked in between the 101 and Valley of the Moon Scenic Route 12 is the busy downtown. The popular district includes plenty of shopping, theaters, nightclubs and wine bars and a variety of restaurants. Many of these surround Old Courthouse Square and Railroad Square. Nearby are the Sonoma County Museum and the Charles M. Schulz Museum, whose namesake lived most of his life in the city.
Santa Rosa is the hub of the region’s tourism, which is more than just wine. The Pacific Ocean at the Sonoma Coast is just 30 minutes away. It’s also close to the Russian River Resort district, Jack London State Historic Park and giant redwoods at Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve.
1. Concord
- Average 2-BR Rent: $2,062
- Rent change since 2021: -5.8%
To find the top cheap city near San Jose, you need to take look northeast. About an hour’s drive from San Jose and a half-hour drive from San Francisco and Oakland is the satellite city of Concord. With a population of 125,000, Concord is the second-largest northern Bay Area suburb. And with an average two-bedroom rent of $2,062, it’s also the cheapest in the entire region. That’s partially due to a nearly 6 percent drop in price from a year ago, the largest decrease of any Bay Area city.
One advantage of living in Concord is its distance from San Jose and the Bay Area’s major cities. Lying 26 miles to the northeast of the Bay, Concord feels independent, but is just a short commute into the metro area. I-680 sits just to Concord’s west, linking it with the highway network. The city has embraced its bedroom community status. The living is as comfortable as the commuting.
But there’s also plenty to do without leaving the city. Shopping is abundant at Sunvalley Shopping Center, one of the largest in the nation. And if you’re looking for more family fun, there’s plenty. Concord is home to both the large Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Concord and the more locally-focused Pixieland Amusement Park. Live Nation operates a 12,500-seat amphitheater called Concord Pavilion. And although it’s three hours away, the city of Concord operates the family-friendly Camp Concord at South Lake Tahoe.
Find an apartment near San Jose
It’s easy to see that nothing in the Bay Area would qualify as cheap. But if you’re moving to the region or looking for a local change, there are some spots that are more affordable than others. Explore other cheap cities near San Jose and more right now on Rent..
