{"id":410845,"date":"2026-07-24T15:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T15:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/410845\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T15:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T15:11:09","slug":"is-california-homeownership-less-obtainable-than-we-think-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/410845\/","title":{"rendered":"Is California homeownership less obtainable than we think? \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

New numbers from economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis<\/a> suggest far fewer Californians \u2013 and Americans, too \u2013 own a home.<\/p>\n

The recalculation of ownership is more tied to the people who are tracked than any key economic factors.<\/p>\n

Start with the traditional number from the Census Bureau<\/a>. It tells us the share of households living in a home they own. Group housing \u2013 think college dorms or senior living arrangements \u2013 isn\u2019t counted.<\/p>\n

However, the Minneapolis Fed\u2019s number looks at adults living in households as well as those group settings. So the non-owner count grows to include people such as young adults still living at home, folks who rent a room or those in group-living sites.<\/p>\n

Sadly, no matter the statistical efforts, here\u2019s what the new math confirms for the umpteenth time: It\u2019s terribly difficult to be a California homeowner.<\/p>\n

My trusty spreadsheet<\/a>\u2018s peek at the Minneapolis Fed\u2019s math found 41% of Californians were homeowners last year. That\u2019s the second-lowest percentage among the states and well below the nation\u2019s 53%. Only the District of Columbia was lower, at 35%.<\/p>\n

Now, where do the most people own their residences, according to the Minneapolis Fed? Wyoming at 66%, Maine at 65% and Vermont at 64%.<\/p>\n

These new numbers aren\u2019t very kind to California\u2019s economic arch-rivals, either.<\/p>\n

Texas has 50% of residents who own, which is the sixth-lowest rate. And Florida\u2019s 53% share was the 13th lowest.<\/p>\n

Old school thinking<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s review the old numbers from the Census Bureau. These figures weren\u2019t friendly to the Golden State either.<\/p>\n

Census stats say California\u2019s 56% share of households that owned their home in 2025. That ranked third-lowest among the states. Only D.C. at 41% and New York at 54% were lower.<\/p>\n

The nation comes in at 65%, with the highest ownership in West Virginia at 76% and in Delaware and Vermont at 74%.<\/p>\n

And the rivals? Texas at 62% ranked eighth-lowest, while Florida\u2019s 68% ranked 24th-best.<\/p>\n

Mind the gap<\/p>\n

So what does the gap between the new and the traditional yardsticks tell us about the nation?<\/p>\n

Ponder how these two ownership metrics compare when they\u2019re measured against slices of state rankings using other economic factors.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with how old a state\u2019s population is. The 17 oldest states have a median age of 42 vs. 39 for the 17 youngest.<\/p>\n

The traditional census numbers show a median ownership level of 69% in the oldest states vs. 67% in the youngest ones.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a slightly narrower difference in the Minneapolis Fed\u2019s math: 58% ownership in the oldest states vs. 57% in the youngest.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s simply more confirmation that ownership is largely an older folks\u2019 game.<\/p>\n

Next, eyeball the share of young adults living at home with their parents. The 17 states with the most have 36% at home vs. 25% in 17 states where it\u2019s less common.<\/p>\n

Ownership runs 67% where kids were most likely to be at home, by the traditional census stats, a smidgen below 68% where this trend is rare.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a decided difference in the Minneapolis Fed math. The median ownership is just 53% when kids-at-home is highest vs. 59% when it is lowest.<\/p>\n

This is a living arrangement often tied to financial pressures on young adults. Because no matter how you slice it, costs limit ownership.<\/p>\n

Contemplate one measure of homebuying affordability, a payment-to-income ratio. The 17 most affordable states see typical house payments run at 86% of incomes, vs. 55% in the 17 states where homebuying is a huge financial stretch.<\/p>\n

Both ownership metrics tell a depressing tale.<\/p>\n

Census stats show the most affordable states with higher median ownership, 68% to 64%. Meanwhile, the Minneapolis Fed\u2019s new math shows 58% ownership where affordability\u2019s best vs. 53% where it was worst.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Try Jonathan Lansner\u2019s Substack collection of economic trends. CLICK HERE<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New numbers from economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis suggest far fewer Californians \u2013 and Americans,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[380,387,7,9,8,1011,100,1010],"class_list":["post-410845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-affordable-housing","tag-business","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-housing","tag-news","tag-rent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410845","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=410845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}