Water damage restoration cost in San Francisco: $5,650

San Francisco against the other cities

The national water damage guide from Angi lists San Francisco, CA at an average of $5,650, with jobs there running $1,600–$9,700. That is $1,782 above the $3,868 national average the same guide prints (46% higher).

Of the 14 cities in the guide's table, San Francisco ranks 4th by average cost. New York City sits just above at $5,850 and Salt Lake City just below at $5,256. The median of the listed city averages is $4,580, so San Francisco is in the upper half.

In San Francisco the high end of the range is 6.1 times the low end. Few cities in the table spread that far, so the size and water type of a job matter more than the city here. The average sits near the middle of the range (50% of the way up).

What the San Francisco average buys, as arithmetic on the guide's per-square-foot rates: about 1,614 sq ft of clean-water work at $3.50, 1,076 sq ft of gray water at $5.25, or 753 sq ft of black water, the category that includes sewage, at $7.50. The guide's rates are national; it does not print a separate per-square-foot rate for San Francisco.

California has a second city in the table: Los Angeles at $3,268 ($1,461–$5,144). The two averages differ by $2,382, a gap larger than many city-to-city differences across state lines.

California is not one of the 5 jurisdictions whose mold licensing law this site has read (FL, TX, NY, LA and DC), so no state rule is shown here. That is not a finding that California has none; the state's licensing board is the place to ask.

For scale, the Insurance Information Institute reports an average homeowners water damage and freezing claim of $15,400 for 2019-2023. The San Francisco average is 37% of that figure; claims include repairs and contents, not only drying.

Source: Angi, How Much Does Water Damage Restoration Cost? (updated Sep 11, 2026), city table; Insurance Information Institute, Facts + Statistics: Homeowners and renters insurance · last checked October 20, 2026. Angi's separate city pages are updated on their own schedule and can show different figures.