Renting in Santa Cruz, California now requires a stifling revenue of greater than $168,000 simply to hire a two-bedroom, a determine that makes it probably the most unaffordable market within the nation for the third 12 months in a row.
Within the Santa Cruz space, situated on the Central Coast about 75 miles south of San Francisco, the hourly pay wanted to afford a modest two-bedroom has risen from $63.33 in 2023 to $81.21 in 2025, in response to the Nationwide Low-Earnings Housing Coalition’s 2025 Out of Attain report.
That is up almost 30% since 2023 once they had been first put on the prime of the checklist.
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Meaning a renter should now earn $168,920 a 12 months, or $4,223 a month, to afford a two-bedroom at truthful market hire within the metro space, the report reveals. In California, the place the minimal wage is $16.50, that’s the equal of working 4.9 full-time jobs.
The report finds that the everyday renter doesn’t come shut. The common renter in Santa Cruz County earns $22.13 an hour. At that charge, it will take about 3.7 full-time jobs to afford an condominium.
“This can be a No. 1 we don’t need to be,” mentioned Elaine Johnson, govt director of Housing Santa Cruz County to the Santa Cruz Sentinel. “That is an all-hands-on-deck type of time for everybody concerned.”
California state dominates affordability rankings, in response to the Out of Attain report. The Golden State is house to eight of the ten costliest metro areas, together with San Jose, San Francisco, Salinas, and Santa Barbara. Statewide, the common housing wage for a two-bedroom condominium is almost $50 per hour, which is the best of any U.S. state.
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On the present minimal wage, a full-time California employee would want to place in 120 hours every week to afford the common two-bedroom condominium. In line with the report, “Nowhere in america—no state, metropolitan space, or county—can a full-time minimum-wage employee afford a modest two-bedroom rental house.”
The report attributes the issue to a extreme and chronic provide scarcity, estimating a nationwide hole of seven.1 million inexpensive rental houses for terribly low-income or ‘ELI’ households.
Critics say California’s housing market can also be hindered by overlapping layers of regulation.
“CEQA[California Environmental Quality Act] and restrictive zoning laws are key contributors to California’s housing scarcity,” mentioned Dr. Wayne Winegarden, senior fellow on the Pacific Analysis Institute. “Prevailing wage mandates coupled with costly environmental mandates… additional inflates housing prices.”
Santa Cruz County Republican Occasion Chair Mike Lelieur advised FOX Enterprise the affordability disaster is a direct results of many years of progressive coverage.
“The native planning division has made it so outrageously costly to construct that it’s simply not worthwhile until you’re backed by a giant company developer,” Lelieur mentioned. “Then you definitely add CEQA, coastal fee evaluations, limitless allow delays, and greenbelt restrictions. It’s a bureaucratic blockade by design.”
He additionally criticized the College of California, Santa Cruz, for increasing its pupil inhabitants quicker than it builds housing. “UCSC retains increasing, however they’re not constructing dorms quick sufficient. So college students flood the native market and landlords jack up rents — as a result of mother and pop are paying the invoice,” he mentioned.
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“This can be a housing disaster created by coverage,” Lelieur mentioned. “And until we alter course, it’s solely going to worsen.”
The Santa Cruz Seashore Boardwalk and the Santa Cruz County Enterprise Council didn’t instantly reply to FOX Enterprise’ request for remark.
The complete report may be discovered at https://nlihc.org/oor
