Blog > Moving to San Jose: What Homes Cost and What to Know (2026)
Moving to San Jose? Here’s what homes actually sold for in the 12 months to October 27, 2026, how buyers competed for them, and the things that follow the city line: trains, electricity, transfer tax and the county. Every number comes from closed MLS sales or from the city pages already on our site, and most sections link to the full data.
The short answer
- Houses: the median sale was $1.65M ($971 per sq ft), and the middle half sold between $1.29M and $2.13M.
- Condos and townhomes: a median of $775K, from 1,532 sales.
- Competition: 60% of houses sold over asking (63% across Silicon Valley and the Peninsula).
- Trains: Caltrain, BART and VTA light rail.
- At the city line: Santa Clara County; electricity from San Jose Clean Energy, delivered by PG&E; transfer tax of $8,800 on a $2 million sale.
Start your search
- See homes for sale in San Jose, live from the MLS.
- The San Jose city guide has our neighborhood guides.
- Talk to a Property Nerd about the move, from the first tour to the closing.
What homes cost
Closed sales in the 12 months to October 27, 2026. Houses are the MLS property type “single family home”.
| Houses | Condos and townhomes | |
|---|---|---|
| Sales in 12 months | 3,765 | 1,532 |
| Median price | $1.65M | $775K |
| Middle half sold between | $1.29M–$2.13M | $590K–$1M |
| Median per sq ft | $971 | $634 |
| Median size | 1,682 sq ft | 1,226 sq ft |
| Median lot | 6,222 sq ft | — |
| Sold over asking | 60% | 39% |
71% of the year’s 5,297 sales were houses. Among the houses, 16% of listings said single-story, 8% mentioned an ADU or in-law unit and 11% a pool; those count listing descriptions, so they undercount.
More: San Jose home types by the numbers, the San Jose housing market since 2012, San Jose house prices by bedrooms and the best month to sell in San Jose.
Getting around
- Caltrain: stations at San Jose Diridon and Tamien; College Park (a few trains a day); Capitol and Blossom Hill (weekday commute hours only). Home prices near each: College Park, San Jose Diridon, Tamien, Capitol and Blossom Hill.
- BART: Berryessa/North San Jose; prices near it: Berryessa BART.
- VTA light rail: see homes near VTA light rail and prices near every station.
- Downtown: Downtown San Jose, Downtown Willow Glen, Japantown and Santana Row.
- Big employers in town: Cisco, Adobe & Zoom and eBay.
- Colleges and hospitals: San Jose State, Valley Medical Center, Evergreen Valley College, San Jose City College, Kaiser San Jose, Regional Medical Center, O’Connor Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital.
- Commuting elsewhere? Relocation Lab sorts cities by distance from your employer, and homes near tech campuses maps 20 headquarters.
Parks and open space
Home prices near the parks in San Jose: Almaden Lake Park, Almaden Quicksilver, Guadalupe River Park, Hellyer Park, Kelley Park, Lake Cunningham, the Rose Garden and Santa Teresa Park. See all of them on homes near parks.
Bills and rules that follow the city
- County: Santa Clara County, which sets the county transfer tax and collects property tax.
- Electricity: San Jose Clean Energy, delivered by PG&E for most homes; some addresses differ. See electricity providers by city.
- Water: Three providers by area (San Jose Water, San Jose Municipal Water and Great Oaks Water). See water providers by city.
- Garbage, recycling and compost: Haulers assigned by area (Garden City Sanitation and California Waste Solutions, or GreenTeam of San Jose in West San Jose; GreenWaste for yard trimmings). See garbage service by city.
- Transfer tax: $8,800 on a $2 million sale (county plus any city tax), usually split by local custom and set by the contract. See San Jose’s transfer tax and the Santa Clara County transfer tax by city.
- Eichlers: 5 tracts on our Eichler index.
- Property tax: California’s base rate is 1% of the purchase price, plus voter-approved bonds and parcel taxes that vary by address; your first year can also bring a supplemental bill. See the supplemental bill and the property tax calculator.
- Hazard zones: look up any address on Flood & Fire Zones, and get an insurance quote early (home insurance for buyers).
- Renting it out later? Rent caps and tenant rules by city.
- School districts: district lines don’t follow city lines, so check the district’s own boundary lookup for any address.
Neighborhoods and nearby cities
- Neighborhoods: the San Jose city guide, San Jose neighborhoods compared and neighborhoods ranked by price per square foot.
- Area by area: Willow Glen, Rose Garden, Downtown and Naglee Park, Almaden Valley, Cambrian, Evergreen and Silver Creek, Blossom Valley and Santa Teresa, Berryessa and North San Jose, East San Jose and West San Jose.
- Weighing a nearby city? Campbell vs. San Jose, Cupertino vs. San Jose, Los Gatos vs. San Jose, Milpitas vs. San Jose, Morgan Hill vs. San Jose, San Jose vs. Santa Clara and Sunnyvale vs. San Jose.
- Any two cities side by side: the City Match-Up.
- Still choosing a city? Where to live in Silicon Valley sorts all 31 by budget, commute and home type.
How we counted
Closed sales reported to the MLS and read through the IDX feeds that power our home search, with repeat records removed (same MLS number and sale date). A sale is placed by the city in its MLS address, so a few homes in unincorporated pockets count under the nearby city. Medians follow the mix of homes, and blocks within a city can differ a lot. Past sales aren’t a forecast or the value of any one home.
Moving to San Jose?
We’ll help you narrow the neighborhoods to the ones that fit your budget and commute, tour by video if you’re out of town, and set up a search that catches new listings the day they hit. Call (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606, or book a call. Commissions are negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what’s included.