Santa Cruz tops U.S. list as priciest market for renters

A new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition finds Santa Cruz, California, is the most expensive city in the United States for renting a two-bedroom home.

According to one outlet Low Income Housing Coalition’s newest “Out of Reach” report, Santa Cruz, a coastal community about an hour and a half south of San Francisco, has the highest rental prices in the United States for a standard two-bedroom home. To afford a $2,745 monthly rent, a worker would need to earn roughly $81 per hour, compared with the $52.79 hourly wage required statewide. California dominates the national rankings, with eight of the ten most expensive metropolitan areas located within its borders, including San Francisco-Marin, Santa Clara County, Napa, Orange County, Santa Barbara and San Diego County.

The Santa Cruz-Watsonville area, which also encompasses Capitola and surrounding agricultural towns, is noted for a tight housing market that strains students at the University of California, Santa Cruz and other locals. The report uses HUD’s Metro Fair Market Rent designations to compare costs across the country. Roughly 44% of California’s 13.5 million households are renters, amounting to nearly six million rental families.