San Rafael, CA population, income and ZIP codes

San Rafael city is a small city in California, with 60,604 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #155 of 1,618 ranked by population — larger than 90% of them. The median age here is 43.5 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly older profile than the country as a whole. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in San Rafael city earn a median of $109,317 a year, 39.2% above the national figure of $78,538 and 20% above the $91,111 median for the 1,050 California cities we cover. This figure covers the household, not the worker: two people on ordinary wages at one address outrank a single professional in the same table. Poverty reaches 10.9% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in San Rafael city is valued at $1,246,200, 310.7% above the national figure and 111% above the $589,600 peer median, while median gross rent runs $2,346 a month, 66.9% above the national figure, or roughly $28,152 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 25.8% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 11.4×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is out of reach on local earnings alone and the ownership market leans on outside income, equity or dual high earners. 51.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

Home values sit at 11.4× median household income, far past the 3.9× national mark, so ownership costs here are set by something other than local wages — second homes, retirees with equity, or commuters earning elsewhere.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.