What a square foot of San Francisco costs to rent or buy.
A typical apartment asks $80 a square foot a year; office asks $76. A residential parking permit is $1.40 a square foot per year — and you do not own the curb. A Broadway mansion sold at $5,738 a square foot. A typical home sold at $1,103. A South Beach garage stall lists at about $460.
Housing uses interior floor area. Office uses rentable area. A parking stall is counted as 8.5 × 18 feet (153 sq ft) unless the listing gives a size. Sales are labeled as sales. Listings and asking rents are labeled as such.
Dollars per square foot per year. Apartment and office figures are asking rents. A permit is not a deed. If you treat $350 a month as 5% of a purchase, a Fifth & Mission stall is worth about $84,000 — in the range of buying one.
| Space | $ / sf / year | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Apartment | $80 | Median asking rent, April–October 2026, $6.66 a square foot a month across 5,421 ads with a size. RentReboot. |
| Office | $76 | Citywide average asking rent, Q3 2026, $75.73 a square foot a year, full-service. CBRE. |
| Self-storage | $43 | 10 × 10 climate-controlled unit, San Francisco average April 2026. $3.61 / sf / month. |
| Reserved garage | $41 | Fifth & Mission / Yerba Buena, SFMTA, reserved $525 a month on 153 sq ft. |
| Regular garage | $27 | Same garage, regular monthly $350. Downtown public parking, not a private condo stall. |
| Street permit | $1.40 | Residential parking permit, $224 a year, FY 2026–27. Parallel stall counted as 8 × 20 feet (160 sq ft). Exempts you from the posted time limit. You do not own the space. |
Dollars per square foot, one purchase.
| Space | $ / sf | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| 2930 Broadway | $5,738 | Sold September 2025, $42 million / 7,320 sq ft. Billionaire’s Row, Pacific Heights. Compass. |
| 2990 Broadway | $2,598 | Jewett House, sold March 2025, $26.5 million / 10,200 sq ft. Haven Group. |
| 2898 Broadway | $1,591 | Sold November 2025, $17.75 million / 11,155 sq ft. A larger house, so a lower number than Marina. Houseberry. |
| Marina home | $1,448 | Median sale, July–September 2026. Highest neighborhood in the city. |
| Pacific Heights home | $1,229 | Neighborhood median sale, July–September 2026. Same Redfin cut. |
| Single-family | $1,181 | Citywide median, July 2026 MLS. 173 sales. |
| Typical home | $1,103 | Citywide median sale, all types, July–September 2026. Redfin. |
| Condo | $1,103 | Citywide median, July 2026 MLS. 276 sales. |
| Bayview home | $677 | Lowest neighborhood median sale, July–September 2026. SF Census / Redfin. |
| Private garage | $652 | One-car garage, 1222 York, Inner Mission. Listing $150,000 / 230 sq ft. |
| Garage stall | $458 | Deeded stall, 88 Townsend P-140, South Beach. Listing $70,000 on 153 sq ft (8.5 × 18). The listing does not give a size. |
| Downtown lot | $160 | Paved five-stall lot, 44 Laskie. Listing $290,000 / 1,808 sq ft of land. About $58,000 a stall. |
Aisles and ramps are not in the stall figure. A garage needs about 300–325 sq ft of structure per car. On that larger area, the $70,000 stall is about $220 a square foot — still far below a home, and still more than the land in a five-car downtown lot.