O.C. Residents Pay Nation’s Highest Rents

Renters pay more in Orange County than in any other major metropolitan area in the nation, according to a Census Bureau study released Monday.

At $790 a month, the median rent here took a 29% bite out of average household earnings, according to census figures. And it was $12 more than in the upscale Nassau-Suffolk area of Long Island, N.Y., which came in at No. 2, and $164 more than in Los Angeles, ranked fourth. The figures include apartments and houses.

“It’s something we’d probably prefer not to be No. 1 in,” said Ken Moore, president of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce, though he quickly added, “There is a wonderful quality of life in Orange County.”

The Census Bureau study confirmed what housing analysts and renters have thought for some time.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” said Bill Gayk, Orange County’s demographer. “Orange County has had the reputation. Housing has tended to be much more expensive.”

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The Census Bureau study used data from the 1990 census. Rents in Orange County have changed little during the recession and regional housing slump that have occurred since then.

Alfred Gobar, a housing economist in Fullerton, said that if people are paying more than 27% of their household income for rent, “they’re being strained.”

Gobar said rents in Orange County have historically been high because the property on which apartments are built has been expensive. Since the recession of the 1990s, he said, land prices have fallen dramatically, which is one reason rents have not gone up in recent years. But incomes haven’t risen much either, figures show, which means that the affordability index is not likely to have changed significantly in the last four years.

The census study did not break down figures for cities within Orange County, but a recent survey by Research Network of Laguna Hills shows that Seal Beach has the most expensive rents, averaging $1,319 a month, with Newport Beach second at $1,010 and Irvine third at about $960.

The 1990 Census found about 330,000 households renting in Orange County, compared to about 497,000 in owner-occupied properties.

Diana Salazar, who works for a public relations firm in Tustin, says high apartment rents are why she shares a house with two others in Irvine. “Oh, God, I think they’re very high. I would love to rent an apartment,” she said, if she could afford to do so on her own.

The Census Bureau study looked at the median rents for 46 metropolitan areas of 1 million or more people. (The median is the middle number in a series, with as many numbers above it as below.) The study found that there were only two other areas with median rents above $700: San Jose at $773 and San Francisco at $709.

The area with the lowest rent was Pittsburgh, at $366 a month, followed closely by Cincinnati, $367, and Salt Lake City, $379.

Nationwide, the median rent was $447 in 1990, said Myra Washington, the statistician who put together the report. That was up from $243 in 1980.

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The new Census study also ranked the large metropolitan areas by how much of a renter’s household income went for shelter--a kind of affordability index in which Orange County and other California areas were near the top of the chart.

In that category, Miami was ranked No. 1. Renters there were spending 31.3% of their household income for rent and utility costs. The study used income data for 1989.

The San Diego area was second, with rental costs accounting for 29.8% of household income. That was followed by Riverside-San Bernardino, 29.7%; then Los Angeles-Long Beach, 29.5%.

Orange County’s 29% figure put the area at No. 6.

The U.S. metropolitan area with the lowest percentage of income going for rent was Houston, with a figure of just 23.2%.

Nationwide for all renters, 26.4% of household income went to the landlord in 1990. That was up from 25% in 1980.

Raymond Eldridge, a broker at CB Commercial in Laguna Hills who specializes in apartments, said it is understandable why rents are higher in Orange County than elsewhere. “For the great quality of life, you have to pay for it,” he said.

Tracy Cleveland, manager of the John Wayne Tennis Club, who rents a two-bedroom apartment in Newport Beach for $895 a month, agreed. “It’s worth it in Orange County.”

Shelling Out for Shelter

Orange County has the highest median rental cost in the nation, at $790 a month, according to an analysis of housing in the nation’s largest metropolitan areas. Here are top 10 metro areas ranked by percentage of median income required for a month’s rent:

Metro area Monthly rent % of income Orange County $790 29.0 Nassau-Suffolk, N.Y. 778 29.0 Oakland 642 28.6 Los Angeles-Long Beach 626 29.5 San Diego 611 29.8 Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. 575 29.0 Riverside-San Bernardino 562 29.7 Sacramento 531 29.3 Miami 493 31.3 New Orleans 397 28.5

Source: U.S. Census Bureau