Brittany West had planned to settle down and build a life with her fiancé and their new baby in Orange County, a place hailed as ideal for raising children.
But making ends meet has become harder, even though West and her fiancé, Ben, both have solid incomes. Modest rent increases on their Irvine apartment, higher prices for basic necessities and high child care costs for their 9-month-old son have prompted the couple to start considering abandoning Orange County for more affordable housing in the Sacramento area.
It is a move they have long resisted, but they see few other viable options.
“We don’t want to leave. It’s beautiful here. Our friends are here. My fiancé’s family is here. We’ve built a community in Orange County,” said West, 32. “We just can’t afford to live here.”
The couple’s story is familiar across Southern California, where young people struggle to buy their first home and those nearing retirement worry their money won’t go as far as they’d like.
A University of California, Irvine poll released Friday found that more than a third of Orange County residents are actively considering moving elsewhere. The main reasons? The high cost of housing and basic necessities, including food and gasoline.
Overall, the poll found that more than 50% of respondents are considered “potential leavers,” with women, people under 40, non-white residents and those without college education more likely to leave than others.
For more than two decades, California has been losing residents to other states. In Orange County, however, residents are moving more often within California than to states like Texas and Arizona.
“Contrary to what some people like to think, we’re not moving people to other states because something is wrong in California,” said Jon Gould, dean of UCI’s School of Social Ecology, who led the survey. “What the survey tells us is that there’s a giant storm coming that could very well come crashing down on the county with the issue of affordable housing.”
Quality of life, climate, proximity to family and access to health care are among the main reasons people have stayed in the area, at least for now. But the lure of more affordable living has been felt.
A for sale sign in front of a house in Huntington Beach.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Rental prices in Orange County jumped 22% in 2021 before leveling off a year later and increasing modestly in 2023. Prices are on the rise again this year, according to data from Apartment List.
In Irvine, the average price for a one-bedroom rental in August is over $2,500 per month, up just under 1% from last year. In Anaheim, the median one-bedroom rent is just under $2,000, up 1.8% from 2023.
The two-bedroom apartment that West rents with her fiancé for about $3,100 a month has become cramped since the birth of their son. The second bedroom doubles as a home office for the couple and a nursery.
“He’s 9 months old and starting to crawl,” West said. “We’re leaving this place so fast.”
The couple, who want to have another child at some point, have considered larger homes in their complex and in other Orange County cities, but paying several hundred dollars more a month is not an option for them. Their dream of buying a home in Orange County is becoming increasingly out of reach, West said.
In the Sacramento area, they found single-family homes with yards for less than what they currently pay each month.
Among those considering leaving Orange County, 78% cite the cost of housing as a very important factor. Cost of living ranks second at 76%, ahead of other quality-of-life factors including taxes, crime, traffic, job market, political climate and proximity to family outside the area, the survey found.
Even those who recently moved to the county say the cost of housing is a serious problem. Of the newcomers surveyed, 71 percent cited the lack of affordable housing as their biggest problem, ahead of traffic, homelessness, local leadership, taxes, overdevelopment and crime.
“We simply haven’t built enough housing in Orange County,” said Wallace Walrod, chief economic adviser for the Orange County Business Council. “That’s very difficult to do, and we need to build more housing at all levels of the spectrum: homeownership opportunities, apartments and rentals for all income levels.”
The result will likely be a continuation of current trends, including declining state aid to local schools because of declining enrollment, worsening traffic congestion as more workers commute from other areas and increasing challenges for businesses trying to retain employees, Walrod said.
The state has pushed cities to build more housing, with lawmakers requiring local governments to allow increased development and housing density. Still, the shortage remains acute.
In 2020, the Southern California Association of Governments asked Orange County to create zoning for about 183,000 additional housing units. Many cities pushed back, arguing that more housing would urbanize their suburban communities more quickly.
“Orange County is a place where people want to be, and I guess what’s surprising is that we haven’t yet seen across the county the kind of coordinated leadership to address the issues that are potentially causing people to leave,” Gould said.
Even those who were able to buy homes in Orange County decades ago are feeling the crunch. It’s a particular concern for residents nearing retirement age.
Ronny Shaver, 66, has spent most of his life in Orange County, where he took over his father’s auto repair shop in Santa Ana. But when he started looking to slow down a bit, he realized his money could be used more effectively outside of Orange County.
So Shaver and his wife sold their condo in Ladera Ranch and moved to a suburb west of Knoxville, Tennessee. Although he misses the community he had in Orange County and the mild, sunny climate, he’s certain he’ll never go back.
“We now have a house four times the size on a big lot, that’s paid for and has money in the bank,” Shaver said. “That’s hard to beat.”
