“How expensive?” tracks measurements of California’s totally unaffordable housing market.
The pain: Twenty U.S. cities with the highest home-price-to-income ratios are all in California.
The source: My trusty spreadsheet reviewed a housing affordability yardstick by Construction Coverage, which tracked median home prices divided by the median annual household income for 384 cities including 79 from California.
The pinch
If going 20 for 20 at the top of this “unaffordability” ranking wasn’t painful enough, look at California’s share of this city-by-city scorecard this way …
- 93% of the 30 costliest cities were from the Golden State
- 83% were in Top 40.
- 78% were in the Top 50.
- 69% were in the Top 75.
- 61% were in the Top 100.
- 51% were in the Top 150.
Or ponder the statewide pain like this: A California home costs 8.4 times income ($765,197 vs. $91,551) compared with 4.7 times nationally – $347,716 price vs. 74,755 income.
Pressure points
Here are California’s Top 20 …
No. 1 Newport Beach: Cost ratio of 25.4 times – $3.2 million price vs. $127,353 income.
No. 2 Palo Alto: 19 times – $3.4 million vs. $179,707.
No. 3 Glendale: 15.2 times – $1.2 million vs. $77,483.
No. 4 Los Angeles: 12.5 times – $953,501 vs. $76,135.
No. 5 El Monte: 12.3 times – $733,107 vs. $59,368.
No. 6 Costa Mesa: 12.2 times – $1.3 million vs. $103,891.
No. 7 El Cajon: 12.1 times – $801,111 vs. $66,045.
No. 8 Inglewood: 12.1 times – $757,106 vs. $62,601.
No. 9 Hawthorne: 11.9 times – $872,568 vs. $73,515.
No. 10 Sunnyvale: 11.8 times – $2 million vs. $169,781.
No. 11 Irvine: 11.6 times – $1.4 million vs. $123,003.
No. 12 Huntington Beach: 11.3 times – $1.3 million vs. $111,122.
No. 13 Torrance: 10.9 times – $1.2 million vs. $108,406.
No. 14 Garden Grove: 10.6 times – $917,752 vs. $86,975.
No. 15 San Jose: 10.5 times – $1.4 million vs. $133,835.
No. 16 Anaheim: 10.4 times – $881,544 vs. $85,133.
No. 17 East Los Angeles: 10.3 times – $660,277 vs. $64,156.
No. 18 Long Beach: 10.3 times – $825,502 vs. $80,493.
No. 19 Oceanside: 10.2 times – $850,185 vs. $83,271.
No. 20 Tustin: 10.2 times – $1.1 million vs. $104,427.
By the way, No. 21 is Arizona’s Flagstaff with a 10.15 cost ratio – $646,425 vs. $63,612.
The ‘bargains’
California’s most “affordable” cities on this scorecard include …
No. 233 Visalia: 4.6 times – $372,140 price vs. $81,362 income.
No. 177 Bakersfield: 5.3 times – $380,862 vs. $72,017.
No. 169 Palmdale: 5.5 times – $495,928 vs. $90,330.
No. 160 Stockton: 5.7 times – $430,810 vs. $76,231.
No. 149 Fresno: 5.8 times – $370,798 vs. $64,196.
The nation’s cheapest city, by this math was Jackson, Mississippi, with a 1.4 cost ratio – $57,808 vs. $40,631.
Quotable
A sobering tidbit, nationally speaking, from the report: “On an inflation-adjusted basis, household incomes increased by just 4.5% since 2000, while home prices increased by 59%.”
Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com
