CLIPBOARD : Rising Per-Capita Income

Orange County residents, already relatively wealthy on a per-capita basis, will continue to prosper during the next five years. According to a projection by National Planning Data Corp., the county per-capita income figure will rise 28% during the next five years, to more than $25,000.

A look at current estimates shows Newport Beach to have the highest per-capita figure in the county, as it is projected to have in five years. However, several other cities/areas will log larger percentage increases between now and 1996. It is projected, for example, that the figure for Capistrano Beach will jump 38%--the largest increase.

Orange County’s current estimated per-capita income figure is easily the highest of the six urbanized counties in Southern California--almost 20% higher than the next-highest total, $16,424 in Ventura.

Here are the current estimates and projections for 1996 for the county’s cities and major unincorporated areas, listed from highest to lowest 1996 total:

City 1991* 1996** % Change Newport Beach 41,270 54,045 31.0 Tustin Foothills 34,193 47,112 37.8 Villa Park 31,939 43,882 37.4 Laguna Beach 30,642 40,610 32.5 Sunset Beach 29,106 35,946 23.5 Laguna Niguel 25,254 32,888 30.2 Irvine 24,785 32,424 30.8 Capistrano Beach 23,313 32,182 38.0 Dana Point 23,812 30,844 29.5 San Juan Capistrano 22,734 29,817 31.2 San Clemente 22,135 29,410 32.9 Yorba Linda 23,104 29,150 26.2 Huntington Beach 21,733 28,014 28.9 Laguna Hills 21,929 27,850 27.0 Mission Viejo 20,776 27,796 33.8 Seal Beach 21,531 27,541 27.9 Rossmoor 21,994 27,521 25.1 Brea 20,682 26,820 29.7 Fountain Valley 19,929 26,082 30.9 El Toro 19,805 26,062 31.6 La Palma 19,433 25,749 32.5 Orange 19,722 25,554 29.6 Costa Mesa 19,115 24,328 27.3 Cypress 18,571 24,218 30.4 Placentia 19,132 24,178 26.4 Fullerton 19,083 23,952 25.5 Los Alamitos 18,877 23,738 25.8 Midway City 17,261 22,839 32.3 La Habra 17,824 22,511 26.3 Westminster 16,293 20,941 28.5 Anaheim 16,674 20,886 25.3 Tustin 17,356 20,518 18.2 Buena Park 15,670 19,834 26.6 Garden Grove 14,740 18,557 25.9 Stanton 14,842 18,331 23.5 Santa Ana 13,264 16,198 22.1 COUNTYWIDE $19,618 $25,216 28.5

* Estimated

** Projected

Source: National Planning Data Corp