Orange County will probably see a very slight increase in the unemployment rate and in the number of jobs through next year as it navigates plenty of risks at home and abroad, according to California State University, Fullerton economists led by Anil Puri.<\/p>\n
And if you\u2019re looking to buy a house locally, you\u2019ll need to have plenty of money to spare.
\u201cIn Orange County, a qualifying income of roughly $225,000 was needed at the end of 2025 to afford a median-priced single-family home\u2014more than four times the national requirement,\u201d the economists said.<\/p>\n
As of February 2026, the median home price stood at $1.43 million in Orange County. Affordable housing has long been a major issue for local business leaders seeking to attract the best-qualified job candidates.<\/p>\n
Puri, director of CSUF\u2019s Woods Center for Economic Analysis and Forecasting and the center\u2019s co-director, Mira Farka, released their 2026 Spring Economic Forecast on April 29.
While there are plenty of challenges ahead, Puri remains optimistic.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn spite of various hurdles\u2014tariffs, deportations, war uncertainty\u2014the OC businesses by and large will continue to do well,\u201d Puri told the Business Journal. \u201cIf the war lasts a long time, inflation and higher energy costs could become significant roadblocks to growth.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cFrom our survey, it is clear that OC businesses expect to have a good quarter and are fairly confident of their businesses doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shifting, Adapting U.S. Economy<\/p>\n
On the national front, Puri and Farka said the U.S. economy \u201chas an unmatched capacity to shift, adapt, and reinvent itself more quickly than almost any other major economy.\u201d Farka is a CSUF associate professor of economics.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur view is that the U.S. economy will weather the current global supply shock stemming from the Iran conflict with fewer bruises than most,\u201d the forecast said. \u201cAnd while we expect inflation to rise into the high-3s and growth to slow to the low-2s in the middle of the year, the outlook for the fourth quarter and beyond appears brighter.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Orange County, the average annual unemployment rate is projected at 4.2% both this year and next, up only slightly from 4.1% in 2025, though monthly readings could climb as high as 4.4% during 2026, Puri and Farka said.<\/p>\n
The OC jobless rate stood at 3.8% in March after 4% in February.<\/p>\n
The U.S. gross domestic product picked up to an annualized rate of 2% in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said April 30, in a sign the economy will weather the current challenges posed by the Iran war.<\/p>\n
Weak California Job Growth<\/p>\n
For Orange County, Puri and Farka expect payroll job growth of 0.21% this year and 0.28% in 2027, following a slight 0.09% decline last year. Total nonfarm employment decreased from 1,676,600 in January to 1,674,500 in February, a loss of 2,100 jobs in OC.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the sluggish labor market, a key constraint is labor supply, but beyond the immigration clampdown, outmigration from both the county and the state is a major factor,\u201d Farka told the Business Journal. \u201cFor OC, which relies on skilled labor, likely this is a bigger problem than for the state.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cHigh housing costs and the overall cost of living have pushed many workers to leave; California alone has seen roughly 4 million people move out over the past two decades.\u201d<\/p>\n
California\u2019s proposed billionaire tax \u201crisks accelerating the outflow of exactly the high-wealth individuals and businesses that California can least afford to lose,\u201d according to Farka.<\/p>\n
In Orange County, 64% of voters support tax hikes for the rich, according to the CSUF forecast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Orange County will probably see a very slight increase in the unemployment rate and in the number of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":["post-299613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}