10 Most Affordable Cities in California

California’s cost of living is often a bit higher than average and, to a large degree, that’s especially true in big cities. If you move away from the costlier cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego, there are quite many relatively affordable places to live.

To determine where the cheapest places left to live still are, GOBankingRates sourced data from Zillow and Sperling’s Best Places for the biggest 5,000 housing markets in California. Home and condo prices, average rents and the overall cost of living were all factors used to create a ranking of the cheapest places to live left in California.

Results are presented below, in reverse order.

A former gold rush town just south of the Oregon border, Yreka has officially been a city since 1857.

In this small town of less than 8,000 people, the median household income is around $46,387, which is enough to cover the total annual cost of living of $42,512.

Incorporated in 1914, the City of Corcoran sits in the San Joaquin Valley, a major agricultural hub that’s part of the Tulare Lake Basin, often considered “the most fertile region in the world.”

Here the average home value is around $261,593, and the average monthly mortgage cost is $1,558, which is less than half of the average monthly cost of living, $3,528.

The Southern California city of Twentynine Palms is considered the “gateway” to natural beauty such as the Mojave Desert, Joshua Tree National Park, the Mojave National Preserve and the great California Outback.

Here, the median household income of $51,392 leaves the average person with almost $10,000 after paying annual living costs.

You may not have heard of the small town of Calipatria, incorporated in 1919, but it does have a claim to fame other than affordability–it’s the home of the tallest flagpole, 184 feet tall, which the city dedicated to “good neighborliness.”

There are only barely more than 6,500 residents, and the median income of $43,095 is just enough to cover the annual costs of living, which are $41,998.

Avenal is a very small city with a population of 691 in Kings County, California, that started as an oil boomtown. While liquid gold may have once made it a pricey place to live, now it’s become affordable.

The average home value is around $241,984, with a monthly mortgage of around $1,442 and remaining expenditures coming in at around $2,057 for a total of $3,499 per month.

Clear Lake, California is a community in Lake County that sits along the largest, natural freshwater lake in California (about 68 square miles).

The median household income here of $41,047 is not quite enough to completely afford the total annual cost of living, at $41,955, so you’d need two incomes to make it here.

The Southeastern city of Blythe was incorporated in 1916. It is located 225 miles east of Los Angeles and abuts the Colorado River on its east side.

The average home value here is $231,563, which translates to a monthly mortgage of around $1,310. Annual total cost of living is $41,742.

The Northeastern town of Susanville is “at the crossroads between mountains and desert,” according to its website. Located in the Shasta Cascade region, it sits about two hours east of Redding, near Lassen National Park.

Susanville has the highest median household income on this list, at $52,997, but the third lowest annual cost of living, at $41,687.

Lamont is a suburb of Bakersfield, in Kern County. Its economy is primarily based on agriculture.

Here, the median household income is on the lower side, around $37,164, but its total annual cost of living isn’t so much higher than that, at $41,442.

Taft was incorporated in 1910, although it’s only one city in a community known as “Greater Taft” that includes the county areas of South Taft, Taft Heights to the southwest, and Ford City to the north. 

Taft sits amid the Midway-Sunset Oilfield, which the Taft Chamber of Commerce calls “the largest oilfield in the lower forty-eight states,” where many big oil companies do business such as Chevron, AERA Energy, Exxon Mobil and Phillips 66.

Methodology: For this study, GOBankingRates found the most affordable cities in California. First GOBankingRates used the US Census’s American Community Survey to find cities in California with a total population of at least 5,000 residents as well as their total population, total households, household median income. For each city a number of factors were found including; cost of living indexes as sourced from Sperlings BestPlaces and by using the national average expenditure costs as sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey for all residents. The average single family home value on May 2024 as sourced from Zillow Home Value Index, and be assuming a 10% down payment and using the national average 30-year fixed mortgage rate, as sourced from the Federal Reserve Economic Data, the average mortgage can be calculated for each city. Using the mortgage and expenditure cost, the average monthly total cost of living can be calculated. The livability index was found for each city as sourced from AreaVibes. The cities were sorted to show the most affordable total cost of living. All data was collected on and is up to date as of July 12th, 2024.

Photo Disclaimer: Please note photos are for representational purposes only. As a result, some of the photos might not reflect the locations listed in this article.