California renters are finicky customers, changing apartments far more often than the typical American tenant. But when they find the right place, they stay longer than the national norm.
That’s what my trusty spreadsheet learned after reviewing RentCafe’s second-quarter report on how tough it is to find an apartment in 136 U.S. markets, including a dozen from the Golden State. RentCafe stats follow rental patterns primarily at large complexes.
Among the apartment benchmarks tracked is a curious loyalty yardstick: the share of tenants who choose to renew their leases.
On a national scale, California renters prefer change. Consider that 11 of the 12 California markets ranked among the 25 lowest renewal rates in the U.S.
California was home to three of the five markets with less than half of all tenants reupping with the landlord: Central Coast (43%), Western Los Angeles County (44%), and San Francisco/North Bay (49%).
And Orange County, at 62%, was the only California market near the 64% median renewal rate for the 124 other markets across the nation.
California’s lack of customer loyalty by this math isn’t new. At mid-year 2024, California’s median renewal rate was 53% vs. 63% for the rest of the nation.
Split personality
However, when it comes to another loyalty statistic – the average length of stay in a rental – Californians move far less frequently.
Five of the 12 California markets were in the top 25 for longest stays: Central Coast (No. 5) at 40 months, Eastern L.A. (No. 9) at 38 months, North L.A./Ventura County (No. 12) at 37 months, San Francisco/North Bay (No. 16) at 35 months, and the Inland Empire (No. 21) at 34 months.
Or ponder the median stay in the 12 California markets: 35 months, which is nearly three years. In the rest of the nation, it’s just 27 months, or 23% less – ranging from 20 months in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to 49 months in Brooklyn, New York.
It’s a reasonable bet that the split personality of a Golden State tenant is tied to budget-busting California rental expenses. Census stats for 2024 show that 27% of California renting households have housing costs exceeding half their incomes, which is the second-highest burden among the states.
Such steep costs can keep tenants on a never-ending quest for an apartment bargain. When a good deal is found, though, Californians seem to latch on and stay put.
Long looks
Ponder how hard California tenants search for a place.
RentCafe found apartment seekers give empty California units a lot of looks, relatively speaking: a median of 13 prospective tenant visits for a vacant unit compared with 9.5 looks in other U.S. markets.
California visits range from Western L.A.’s nine to the Central Coast’s 16. Nationally, McAllen, Texas, had the lowest rate at 4, while Miami had the highest rate at 19.
That translates to lengthy vacancies statewide in the second quarter. An unoccupied California rental remained empty for a median of 43 days in the second quarter – longer than the 40 days elsewhere in the U.S.
Look at the extremes. In California, Silicon Valley units stay vacant the shortest time, 36 days, compared with the state’s longest, the Central Coast at 49 days. Nationally, Fayetteville, Arkansas, was the low at 22. Wyoming state was the longest at 51.
Few options
Complicating a Californian’s search for the perfect place is a huge challenge faced by apartment seekers: fewer options than the typical American.
The median occupancy rate among the 12 California markets tracked was 95% in the second quarter. That’s tighter than the 93% outside the Golden State.
It’s fairly consistent occupancy among the 12 California markets, with rates ranging from Western L.A.’s 92% to Eastern L.A.’s 96%.
Nationally, it ran from 87% in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to 97% in Lafayette, Indiana.
Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com