Bathroom remodel cost in Riverside: what owners paid (2023 survey)
Riverside owners paid a median $9,000 for a bathroom remodel: $4,000 above the U.S. median, tied for fourth-highest of 13 big metros (Census Bureau, 2023). When owners hired it out, the middle half paid $6,500 to $20,000.
What Riverside owners paid
$9,000
This is historical spending: work done in about 2021 to 2023 on owner-occupied homes, reported in the 2023 survey.
Margin of error ±$2,794: at 90% confidence the Riverside median lies between $6,206 and $11,794.
Hired out: $11,400 typical, from 59 hired-out jobs in the survey sample.
How Riverside compares
- U.S. median, same work
- $5,000
- Rank, highest first
- Tied at 4 of 13
Riverside: $9,000. The big-metro medians run from $4,571 to $10,000.
2 of the 15 metros have no published figure for this work, so the rank counts the other 13.
- New York City$10,000
- San Francisco$10,000
- Seattle$10,000
- Riverside$9,000
- Washington DC$9,000
- Los Angeles$8,727
- Phoenix$7,000
- Miami$6,857
- Atlanta$6,400
- Chicago$6,000
- Philadelphia$6,000
- Dallas$5,000
- Detroit$4,571
No published figure: Boston, Houston.
- Seattle$13,000$8,000–$30,000
- Boston$11,400$5,000–$20,000
- Los Angeles$11,400$7,000–$20,800
- Riverside$11,400$6,500–$20,000
- San Francisco$11,400$6,000–$19,000
- New York City$10,500$5,900–$12,000
- Washington DC$10,000$5,000–$15,000
- Detroit$9,100$5,000–$15,000
- Philadelphia$9,100$5,000–$14,000
- Chicago$8,800$4,000–$15,000
- Phoenix$8,000$4,500–$16,000
- Atlanta$7,000$5,700–$18,000
- Dallas$7,000$2,500–$15,000
- Miami$7,000$3,500–$12,000
- Houston$6,900$3,000–$12,000
A metro is shown when at least 30 hired-out jobs in the survey sample stand behind it.
What it covers
Remodeling an existing bathroom, counted apart from adding a new one.
The Census category is “Bath” within “Remodeling”: what Riverside-area homeowners told the Census Bureau they paid, every size of job together.
Before you compare quotes
Ask every contractor to price the same scope, in writing. A quote outside the hired-out range above is a reason to ask what it covers, not proof that it is wrong. Does the quote change room area, layout, systems or finishes, and which changes are included?
The permit in Riverside
Riverside charges $0.92 a square foot for plan check and $0.92 a square foot for the permit to remodel a single-family home, counted between 100 and 500 sq ft, before its $41 issuance fee and surcharges (schedule checked October 12, 2026). The building department decides whether your remodel needs a permit and which one. Ask whether the quote includes the permit and who files it.
Measure your job with the material calculator. Then put the quotes in the matching quote worksheet to see each one's scope beside its price.