Los Angeles County illustrates the pressure facing California renters. In 2024, 57% of renters in the county spent more than 30% of their income on rent, and 92% of renters whose household income was below $50,000 crossed that threshold, according to Neighborhood Data for Social Change.
The statewide picture is similarly severe. A 2024 comparison published by Press Telegram business columnist Jonathan Lansner put California’s median monthly rent at $2,036 and calculated that rent equaled 24% of the typical household’s income. That was the second-highest rent-to-income share among states in the analysis, while the national share was 21%.
Protections vary by property and by tenancy
California’s Tenant Protection Act of 2019 limits annual rent increases for covered multifamily properties to 5% plus the regional Consumer Price Index, or 10%, whichever is lower, according to the City of El Cerrito. The cap protects qualifying existing tenancies, but it does not apply uniformly to every rental property or every change in rent.
Costa-Hawkins, a 1995 state law, prevents local governments from applying rent control to single-family homes, condominiums and housing built after February 1, 1995. It also permits landlords to reset a unit’s rent to the market rate after a tenant leaves, a practice known as vacancy decontrol, according to the California Apartment Association.
Voters declined to repeal those restrictions in November 2024. Proposition 33, which would have allowed cities to expand local rent control, was defeated with 62% of voters opposed, according to CalMatters. It was the third statewide attempt since 2018 to repeal Costa-Hawkins.
A long-term housing imbalance adds to the pressure
California added 3.6 million housing units between 1990 and 2024 while its population increased by 9.4 million. During that period, inflation-adjusted median rents rose 39% and median home values rose 56%, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
Lansner’s historical comparison provides a longer view but relies on an estimate for the earlier period. He calculated mid-1980s state rents by averaging the 1980 and 1990 decennial Census figures, then compared that estimate with 2024 Census data, according to the Press Telegram analysis. It placed California’s mid-1980s typical monthly rent at $452 and estimated an average annual increase of 3.9% over the four-decade period, the eighth-highest rate among states.
The strain is part of a national affordability problem. In 2024, 22.7 million U.S. renter households spent more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities, including 12.1 million that spent more than half, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.
