RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KNX) — Migration into Riverside and San Bernardino counties was unprecedented in 2021.
According to the U.S. Censu Bureau, the Inland Empire added 47,601 people in the year ending in July 2021. Th’s the fifth largest gain among the U.S.’s 50 biggest metropolitan areas.
Meanwhile, neighboring Los Angeles and Orange counties lost a collective 175,913 residents — the second-sharpest decline in the country. It’s possible that rising home and rent prices in L.A. County and the O.C. not only contributed to population declines in both places, but in part the population growth in neighboring San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
Overall cost of living in the INland Empire is 8% below that of L.A. and Orange counties. Median home prices in L.A. and Orange county are $800,000 and $985,000, respectively, while the median in Riverside County is $565,000 and $485,000 in San Bernardino County.
Still, cost of living is rising in the Inland Empire, likely in part due to the influx of new arrivals. While rents rose 14% over the last two years in L.A. and Orange counties, they more than doubled that rate, jumping 31% in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Metropolitan areas adding more people than the Inland Empire over the last year included Dallas, Phoenix, Houston, and Austin.
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