Los Angeles housing statistics describe a high-cost, predominantly renter city within a county facing intense affordability pressure. The figures below distinguish Los Angeles city from Los Angeles County and identify the measurement period for each estimate.
Contents
- City housing costs and tenure
- County housing costs and household structure
- Homeownership and population change
- Rent burden across income groups
- New housing production
- Affordable and supportive housing
City housing costs and tenure
The U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts profile for Los Angeles city reports an owner-occupied housing unit rate of 36.3% for 2019–2023. That means renters made up the larger share of occupied homes during the period. The same profile reports 1,419,663 households and an average household size of 2.64 persons.
The city’s median value of owner-occupied housing units was $879,500 in 2019–2023. This is a housing-value measure for owner-occupied units, rather than a sale price for a particular month or neighborhood. For owners with a mortgage, median selected monthly owner costs were $3,399. Owners without a mortgage had median selected monthly costs of $950.
For renters, the city’s median gross rent was $1,879 in 2019–2023. Gross rent includes the contract rent plus estimated utility costs covered by the tenant, so it is not identical to an advertised asking rent. These citywide medians also cover a broad range of housing types and locations.
Residential stability was relatively high in the Census measure: 89.2% of Los Angeles city residents lived in the same house one year earlier during 2019–2023. This statistic measures one-year residence, not the length of a household’s full tenancy or ownership.
The city had a 2020 Census population of 3,898,747 and a 2024 population estimate of 3,878,704. The U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts profile also reports median household income of $80,366 for 2019–2023 and $81,939 for 2020–2024. Those income figures use different five-year periods and should not be treated as a single-year change.
County housing costs and household structure
Los Angeles County has a different housing profile from the city. The U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts profile reports a 45.9% owner-occupied housing unit rate for 2020–2024, higher than the city’s 36.3% rate for 2019–2023. The county’s median value of owner-occupied housing units was $834,200 in 2020–2024, while median selected monthly owner costs with a mortgage were $3,160.
Median gross rent in the county was $1,954 for 2020–2024. This county median is higher than the city’s $1,879 figure, although the periods differ. A direct comparison should therefore be read as a broad geographic snapshot rather than a controlled time-series comparison.
The county had 3,709,507 housing units on July 1, 2024, according to QuickFacts. It had 3,390,254 households in 2019–2023, with 2.85 persons per household. Housing units and households are different measures: the former describes the stock of residential units, while the latter counts occupied household arrangements.
The county’s population estimate was 9,757,179 in 2024, compared with a 2020 Census population of 10,014,009. QuickFacts reports that county population fell 2.6% from the April 1, 2020 base to the July 1, 2024 estimate. A separate 2025 population estimate in the QuickFacts data is 9,694,934; because it is a later estimate, it should not be mixed into the 2020–2024 comparison.
| Measure | Los Angeles city | Los Angeles County |
|---|---|---|
| Owner-occupied rate | 36.3% (2019–2023) | 45.9% (2020–2024) |
| Median owner-occupied unit value | $879,500 (2019–2023) | $834,200 (2020–2024) |
| Median gross rent | $1,879 (2019–2023) | $1,954 (2020–2024) |
| Persons per household | 2.64 (2019–2023) | 2.85 (2019–2023) |
Homeownership and population change
Neighborhood Data for Social Change’s SOLACHAN 2025 Homeowners report places Los Angeles County homeownership at 45% in 2023. The same source reports California homeownership at 56% and U.S. homeownership at 65% in 2023. It characterizes the county rate as a 53-year low.
The county rate also varied by household group. Asian/Pacific Islander households had a 56% homeownership rate in 2023, while White households had a 53% rate. These figures are group-level county statistics and do not describe every neighborhood or household.
Population and household counts moved in different directions in the SOLACHAN 2025 reports. Since 2015, Los Angeles County lost more than 500,000 residents, or 5%, according to the Executive Summary. Over the same broad comparison, the Population Characteristics report says the county gained nearly 157,400 households, or 5%.
That household increase included 80,900 additional homeowner households, or 5%, and 76,500 additional renter households, or 4%, since 2015. These figures indicate that household formation and population change are not interchangeable measures: fewer residents can coexist with more households when average household composition changes.
The U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts profile adds demographic context. In Los Angeles city, 5.0% of people were under age 5 in 2020–2024. In Los Angeles County, 4.9% were under age 5, 19.9% were under age 18, and 16.1% were age 65 or over during 2020–2024. The county also had 33.4% foreign-born persons, 48.8% Hispanic or Latino residents, 16.4% Asian residents, and 8.9% Black residents in that period.
Rent burden across income groups
The affordability figures from Neighborhood Data for Social Change’s SOLACHAN 2025 Renters report show that rent pressure is concentrated among lower-income renters. Los Angeles County had 734,000 renter households earning less than $50,000. More than 90% of those households were rent burdened in 2023.
The same report gives a tiered view of rent burden:
- 69% of county renters earning less than $50,000 were severely rent burdened in 2023.
- 58% of renters earning $50,000 to $100,000 were rent burdened in 2023.
- 22% of renters earning $100,000 to $150,000 were rent burdened in 2023.
- 13% of renters in the next highest income bracket were severely rent burdened in 2023.
For the lowest-income group, severe rent burden rose from 63% in 2011 to 69% in 2023. The change describes the endpoints reported by the source; it does not establish what happened in every intervening year.
These figures complement the Census median gross-rent measures. A median describes the midpoint of rents, while rent-burden statistics relate housing costs to household income. A market can therefore have a single median rent and still impose very different pressures across income groups.
New housing production
Neighborhood Data for Social Change’s SOLACHAN 2025 Housing Supply report says Los Angeles County produced 125,980 new rental units between 2018 and 2024 and 25,898 new owner-occupied units over the same period. Of the new rental units, only 12,408 were affordable to low-income households.
Within that affordable-rental total, 5,588 units were affordable to very low-income households and 6,820 were affordable to low-income households. The categories are reported separately by the source and should not be treated as a complete affordability profile for every income level.
The report says the Regional Housing Needs Allocation, or RHNA, requires more than 340,000 new units affordable to households earning under 80% of area median income between 2021 and 2029. It also estimates a shortfall of more than 578,000 rental units for households making under 50% of area median income. These are planning and analytical measures, not counts of currently vacant homes.
The county certified just under 4,400 new affordable rental units for occupancy in 2024, according to the same Housing Supply report. Certification for occupancy is a milestone and is distinct from the broader count of units produced over 2018–2024.
City permitting data provide a more specific view of the Los Angeles municipal area. The City of Los Angeles Housing Element progress report says the city permitted 2,218 units in Q3 2024 and 23,374 dwelling units from January 1, 2023 through March 31, 2024. Earlier reported quarterly totals were 4,462 units in Q3 2022–23, 7,126 in Q4 2022–23, 5,344 in Q1 2023–24, and 4,224 in Q2 2023–24.
The quarterly figures use the reporting periods named by the city and are not combined here into an unsupported total. They also measure permitted units, not completed units or occupied homes.
Affordable and supportive housing
The City of Los Angeles 2023 Annual Housing Element Progress Report recorded 2,880 permitted affordable units. Of those, 888 were for very low-income households, 1,796 were for low-income households, and 196 were for moderate-income households. The three reported categories sum to the stated permitted-affordable total, but the figures remain a report-year snapshot rather than a measure of all affordable housing in the city.
The city reported an annualized housing goal of 57,080 units in its Housing Element progress reporting. Its Affordable Housing Inventory had 51,395 units monitored for occupancy in 2024. Monitored inventory is not the same as newly permitted or newly completed inventory.
Supportive housing activity was reported separately. In the September 1, 2024 to October 31, 2024 reporting period, Los Angeles Housing and Community Investment Department reporting recorded 223 supportive housing units brought online. The city had 6,431 supportive housing units in service during that reporting period, including 5,210 HHH-funded units in service as of October 30, 2024.
The Los Angeles City Housing Department’s FY 2023–24 results also include 9,817 affordable units in the pipeline, 2,116 affordable units financed, and 2,516 affordable units ready for occupancy. These stages describe different points in the housing-development process and should not be added together.
The department reported 1,158 accessible units certified and 631 accessible units certified in FY 2023–24 in two separate reported measures. Because the supplied source labels do not define the distinction between those measures, they are retained as reported rather than reconciled.
Beyond new construction, the department said its division enforcement programs restored 10,765 units to safe living conditions in FY 2023–24. It also provided rental assistance to 4,642 households through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program and Eviction Defense Program. Those outcomes address preservation and housing stability, so they should be read alongside—not as substitutes for—new-unit production.
Los Angeles housing statistics therefore span several different denominators and timeframes: city and county geography, five-year Census estimates, annual and quarterly permitting, affordability planning targets, and program milestones. Keeping those definitions separate is essential when comparing housing costs, supply, tenure, and access.