House prices and costs in San Jose, CA

House prices by ZIP, and the rankings

FHFA's experimental ZIP house price index: houses with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loans, from sales and refinance appraisals. Condos, co-ops and multi-unit buildings aren't in it. It's built from repeat sales and refinance appraisals of the same homes, not average sale prices, and FHFA publishes no margin of error for it. We rank ZIPs by the change over the last 3 years, only where FHFA published the index in every one of them, and only ZIPs with 5,000+ residents and 1,000+ owner-occupied homes. A change smaller than 7% either way is “no clear change”: in our 50 cities, the index's own year-to-year swings suggest sampling alone can move a three-year change about that much. A ZIP whose index rose 7% or more in one year and fell as much in another is left out as too jumpy. We show rises and falls, each year's change, and the city's and metro's figures for the same years. Past rankings are a weak guide: of the ZIPs in their city's top 3 for 2019–2022, 25 of 134 (about 1 in 5) were top 3 again for 2022–2025; chance alone would give about 21. Many ZIPs, especially dense ones, have no index.

City and metro price figures

City: the resident-weighted average of its ZIPs that have an index (the ZIP card says when that's only part of the city). Metro: FHFA's all-transactions index over the same calendar years, the ZIPs' method; the metro card also shows FHFA's purchase-only index for the latest quarter against a year and five years earlier. Where FHFA splits a metro into divisions (New York, Miami, Detroit and others), the division's index, named where it's shown. Jobs, permits and population always cover the whole metro.

Payment ÷ income

Monthly housing payment (est.) on a house at the ZIP's median value: 20% down · 30-year fixed at 7.03% (Freddie Mac average) · 360 monthly loan payments · APR not calculated (it depends on the lender's fees) · includes principal and interest, property tax, home insurance and any HOA dues, plus mortgage insurance below 20% down. Property tax uses San Jose's rule for a new buyer (about 1.2% of the price a year, our planning figure); insurance is a typical premium. Not included: upkeep, utilities, flood insurance, special assessments. Divided by a month of the ZIP's median household income. The Census reports values over $2 million and incomes over $250,000 only as “or more”, so those shares are bounds (“at least”, “at most”). Left out where 50% or more of owner-occupied homes are in buildings with 5+ units: their HOA dues or co-op charges aren't in the payment. It combines two estimates, so no margin is computed. 7.03% is Freddie Mac's average 30-year fixed rate for the week of Sep 24, 2026, for buyers with 20% down and excellent credit. It isn't an offer or an APR.

Census figures and margins of error

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024: the median value owners report for their homes (it lags sale prices; co-op owners report the value of their shares), median rent with utilities, median household income, residents, and the property tax and monthly costs owners report. Each comes with its 90% margin of error (±). Figures whose margin is 20–49% of the estimate are marked “less reliable” and left out of rankings and tags; figures with wider margins aren't shown. A population change (from 2015–2019) is shown only when it passes the Census Bureau's 90% significance test; otherwise it says “no clear change”. San Jose's own figures come from the Census's estimates for the city itself where published; otherwise they blend its ZIPs (no margin computed). Lists leave out ZIPs with fewer than 1,000 residents.

Tags

Lower home values:

The median value owners report is in the lowest quarter of the city's ZIPs (Census ACS). Less reliable estimates and ZIPs where most owners live in condos or co-ops aren't compared.

Population grew:

Residents rose 5% or more between the two latest five-year Census surveys, by more than the margin of error.

Mostly condos or co-ops:

Half or more of owner-occupied homes are in buildings with 5 or more units. Values there leave out HOA dues and co-op charges, so they aren't ranked.

New rail nearby:

A rail station opened within about a mile in 2023–2026.

“New rail nearby” uses our dated news pins: a ZIP whose center is within 1,600 m of a station that opened, plus the ZIP the station sits in. No tag describes price momentum.

Hazards and flood insurance

FEMA's National Risk Index rates each county's expected yearly losses from each hazard against all U.S. counties; we show those Expected Annual Loss ratings for every county the city lies in, without FEMA's social-vulnerability adjustments. They describe counties, not homes. Flood insurance counts are policies and claims in the federal program (NFIP) only. Check an address's flood zone on FEMA's flood map.

What buyers borrowed and paid

Public HMDA loan records: home-purchase first liens on owner-occupied 1–4 unit homes in the city (the card names the area covered), with the number of loans behind each figure. Loans that closed, not offers or quotes.

Neutral by design

We describe prices, payments, population counts, construction and rail lines. We don't describe places by who lives there, schools or crime, and we don't call areas “up-and-coming”, “transitional” or “safe”. Choose where to live for your own reasons.

Sources and dates

• U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (ZCTA), with 90% margins of error: population, median household income, median home value, median gross rent, median real estate taxes paid, median monthly owner costs with a mortgage, owner-occupied share and units, owner homes in buildings with 5+ units, median year built (ACS 2020–2024)
• U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (ZCTA): population and its margin of error, for the 5-year change and its significance test (ACS 2015–2019)
• FHFA House Price Index, five-digit ZIP codes, annual (developmental, all-transactions) (2025 (updated 2026-03-31))
• U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 ZCTA to place relationship file, 2025 Gazetteer and cartographic boundaries (city ZIPs, centers, bounds) (2020 ZCTAs; 2025 place boundaries)
• U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates, Vintage 2025 (metropolitan and micropolitan areas) (July 2020 → July 2025)
• U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey: new privately-owned housing units authorized, by CBSA (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
• FEMA National Risk Index December 2025: Expected Annual Loss rating of each hazard, by county (NRI December 2025)
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Small Area Fair Market Rents by ZIP code, FY2027 (FY2027 (from Oct 1, 2026))
• FEMA, OpenFEMA API: NFIP Redacted Policies, version 3 (policies in force). This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s). (in force Jun 30, 2026; data refreshed 2026-07-27; accessed 2026-09-27)
• FEMA, OpenFEMA API: NFIP Redacted Claims, version 3 (claims since 2000). This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s). (data refreshed 2026-08-04; accessed 2026-09-27)
• U.S. Treasury, Federal Insurance Office: Analyses of U.S. Homeowners Insurance Markets, 2018–2022, Supporting Underlying Metrics by ZIP code (premiums per policy, nonrenewal rate) (2018–2022 (published January 2025))
• FHFA House Price Index, purchase-only, not seasonally adjusted: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (metro area 41940) (2026 Q2)
• FHFA House Price Index, all-transactions, not seasonally adjusted: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (metro area 41940), calendar-year averages of the quarterly index (2020–2025)
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics, total nonfarm, not seasonally adjusted (series SMU06419400000000001) (Aug 2026 (preliminary))
• U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates for the city of San Jose, CA (Census place 0668000): median home value, median household income, median gross rent, with 90% margins of error (ACS 2020–2024)
• FFIEC Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data: 2025 Snapshot National Loan-Level Dataset (data as of June 1, 2026), via the CFPB HMDA Data Browser; Homiy's calculations (2025 loans; retrieved 2026-09-27)
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, FHA forward mortgage limits, one-unit limit for Santa Clara County, CA (CY2026 (Mortgagee Letter 2025-23))
• FTA National Transit Database, General Transit Feed Specification Weblinks: the public-domain GTFS feeds agencies must publish (retrieved 2026-09-27)
• San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District: GTFS schedule (scheduled service 2026-09-27 to 2026-10-24)
• Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority: GTFS schedule (scheduled service 2026-09-27 to 2026-10-24)
• Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board: GTFS schedule (scheduled service 2026-09-27 to 2026-10-24)
• Altamont Corridor Express: GTFS schedule (scheduled service 2026-09-27 to 2026-10-24)
• Freddie Mac average (Primary Mortgage Market Survey) (Sep 24, 2026)