”Survey says” looks at various rankings and scorecards judging geographic locations while noting these grades are best seen as a mix of artful interpretation and data.
Buzz: Riverside was ranked the 38th most popular US city for apartment hunting, the region’s best grade in a nationwide scorecard.
Source: My trusty spreadsheet looked at RentCafe’s desirability scorecard for 150 major apartment markets, tracking swings in rental statistics in 2024’s first six months vs. the same span in 2023. We compared 16 Southern California cities for availability (change in vacancy rates), online interest (an average of gradings for searches, favorites and saved), and their national ranking.
Topline
Riverside was top-ranked in Southern California because it had strong demand – 26% fewer places to rent, the No. 3 drop in the region – while it was No. 1 for online searches locally.
But remember, 37 US cities scored higher – including California’s Sacramento (No. 16), San Jose (No. 23), Elk Grove (No. 35), and Fremont (No. 37).
The least-desirable big Southern California city, by this math, was Oxnard. Availability was down 14% (No. 10 locally) and the city ranked No. 8 for searches. Nationally, it was 11th worst.
Details
Here’s how the 14 other Southern California cities were graded, ranking from highest to lowest grades among the 150 US cities …
Los Angeles: 9% less availability (No. 13 of the 16 local cities), No. 2 for searches, and No. 51 nationally.
Long Beach: 13% less availability (No. 11), No. 5 for searches, and No. 53 nationally.
Chula Vista: 18% less availability (No. 8), No. 7 for searches, and No. 55 nationally.
Moreno Valley: 4% less availability (No. 16), No. 9 for searches, and No. 77 nationally.
Santa Ana: 17% less availability (No. 9), No. 6 for searches, and No. 78 nationally.
Fontana: 8% less availability (No. 14), No. 3 for searches, and No. 82 nationally.
Anaheim: 23% less availability (No. 5), No. 16 for searches, and No. 83 nationally.
Santa Clarita: 8% less availability (No. 14), No. 4 for searches, and No. 85 nationally.
San Diego: 33% less availability (No. 1), No. 13 for searches, and No. 90 nationally.
Ontario: 30% less availability (No. 2), No. 14 for searches, and No. 101 nationally.
San Bernardino: 26% less availability (No. 3), No. 12 for searches, and No. 109 nationally.
Huntington Beach: 21% less availability (No. 6), No. 10 for searches, and No. 117 nationally.
Irvine: 21% less availability (No. 6), No. 15 for searches, and No. 123 nationally.
Glendale: 12% less availability (No. 12), No. 11 for searches, and No. 132 nationally.
Bottom line
Ponder these local grades on a national scale.
While one Southern California city was in the Top 50 for popularity, six others were in the bottom 50 – with an below-par No. 88 average rank among 150 for the 16 local cities.
You know that high local rental costs – not part of RentCafe’s study – is a key factor.
Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com
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