“How expensive?” tracks measurements of California’s totally unaffordable housing market.
The pain: The typical California homeowner lives on one-third less land than the average American.
The source: My trusty spreadsheet reviewed a ranking of US cities and the average size of the land surrounding their homes by LawnStarter. The study of 2,000 municipalities included 301 in California.
The pinch
California cities had average yardage ranging from Fallbrook’s sprawling 37,157 square feet to San Francisco’s 784. Lots in the 301 Golden State towns had 6,900 square feet, according to my population-weighted average.
Contrast that with the 1,699 cities outside the Golden State. Average yardage ranged from Carney, Maryland’s 49,658 square feet to Boston’s 871. Non-California owners averaged 10,000-square-foot lots.
That’s a 31% difference!
Or look at it this way: Just 55 of the 301 California cities offer typical lots larger than the out-of-state average.
Pressure points
Other tiny-yard California towns are primarily big-city suburbs …
Richmond at 3,267 square feet
Alameda at 3,223
Irvine at 3,180
Rancho Santa Margarita at 2,962
Seal Beach at 2,919
Manhattan Beach at 2,526
Daly City at 2,396
Aliso Viejo at 2,309
Newport Beach at 2,265
And, other big-lot cities in California are located further from major job hubs …
Apple Valley at 24,132
Atascadero at 22,869
Norco at 22,651
Hesperia at 21,606
Madera at 21,519
Los Gatos at 20,430
Lafayette at 18,861
Poway at 18,731
Escondido at 18,339
One plus
Let me offer up a Golden State advantage – bigger lots in the biggest cities …
The 10 most populated cities in California had a population-weighted average yard size of 5,300 square feet. Those cities include …
Los Angeles at 5,314 square feet
San Diego at 5,706
San Jose at 4,443
San Francisco at 784
Fresno at 8,494
Sacramento at 8,320
Long Beach at 4,356
Oakland at 3,833
Bakersfield at 8,364
Anaheim at 6,142
In the 49 other states, the 10 biggest cities averaged 4,200 square-foot lots …
New York at 958 square feet
Chicago at 2,047
Houston at 6,360
Phoenix at 6,970
Philadelphia at 828
San Antonio at 10,019
Dallas at 7,884
Austin at 10,498
Jacksonville at 12,284
Fort Worth at 8,015
Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com
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