Consider the 10 most expensive cities in California to rent one and two bedroom apartments for September 2022. San Francisco, San Diego and San Jose remain the most expensive major cities in California to rent an apartment. One-bedroom apartments in San Francisco are up 8.60% year-on-year to $3,040 a month. Immediately 6 cities in California were in the top ten most expensive US cities to live in September 2022. San Diego (+29.00%) and San Jose (+26.40%) saw the largest increases in one-bedroom apartment prices year-on-year.