How Much Does It Cost To Live In Fresno, CA?

Are you thinking about living in the Fresno area and are curious about what it costs? In this episode of Fresno Redefined, I’m going to break down the cost of living in Fresno County. We’ll cover everything from housing costs to gas prices so you know exactly what to expect.

We work with many people who move to our area for the quality of life and the lower cost of living Fresno has compared to other areas of California. Why are we seeing more people migrating here from Southern California and the Bay Area to the north? It's definitely because you get more bang for your buck here.

Fresno Housing Costs

First, let's talk about the obvious: cost of housing. One of the first things you'll need to decide is whether it's better to buy or rent here. Next, you’ll want to decide what kind of housing you need. Are you single, or do you have a family? This will affect how much you’ll be paying in the end.

The price of housing varies, but here are some general pointers. If you're single, a two-bedroom, one-bath might be adequate for you. That's going to average about $186,000. If you need a little more home, the average three-bedroom, two-bath single-family home in Fresno County is roughly $314,000. Finally, a four-bedroom, two-plus bath is going to run you about $472,000.

If you’re not quite ready to buy and you're looking to rent in the area, you can plan on spending anywhere between $800 on the low end and $2,100 on the higher end. Those amounts will get you a two or three-bedroom apartment or average single-family home. Renting a larger home would definitely increase the rental rate.

To purchase the average three-bedroom, single-family home using conventional financing with 10% down would run you about $1,542 a month and a two-bedroom in the same area would cost about $939 a month. A good rule of thumb and pricing is that it gets more expensive the further north you go versus living in a more centralized or south and southeast area of the city.

Lastly are property taxes. Property taxes in our area vary, but you can expect them to be between 1.25% in the Fresno area to 1.35% generally in the Clovis area. If you get outside of Fresno County and head into Riverstone—which is technically in Madeira County—it's going to run you about 1.38%. However, it's really only about 8 minutes outside of Fresno.

Daily Living Costs

Now we’ll look at some of the other costs of living right here in Fresno County. First things first: gas prices. Gas in Fresno County runs around $3.60 per gallon. And yes, you will need a car to get around our city because it's pretty spread out.

That being said, we do have a reliable and affordable public transit system in Fresno and Clovis. There are also a plethora of bike lanes throughout our community, making it more friendly to get around. Although California gas prices are some of the highest in the nation, our housing prices tend to offset these costs. Our cost of gasoline here is also a little bit lower than in some of the other larger cities.

We do have some other costs here in California that many transplants might not expect, such as annual car registration costs, sales tax, state income tax, and insurance for home and auto. They're probably going to be a little higher than other states. But again, Fresno County is lower than other parts of California, which may require earthquake or wildfire insurance. Another cost that you might not be prepared for if you're purchasing new construction homes—and yes, we can definitely help you with those—are our solar panel costs. California now requires that new construction homes include solar panels, which can either be leased or purchased.

What about the cost of food? Being part of the Central Valley, we have some of the best produce and livestock right here in our neck of the woods. This keeps our food prices more reasonable than other areas of California. An average lunch, for example, is $7 to $10 and an average dinner is $15 to $25 per person.

Exploring Fresno County

I hope this gave you some insight into the cost of living in Fresno County, right in the heart of California. If you have any additional questions about our area, please don't hesitate to reach out and ask. We help people all the time with moving around or relocating here, and we’d be happy to help you too.

If you want to receive more videos that are focused on everything Fresno and Clovis has to offer, make sure you subscribe to my channel. Stay tuned for the next episode of Fresno Redefined to see what I feature next!