Orange County Cities Post Up to 16% Income Growth, Outpacing Silicon Valley in 2024
Updated
Updated · Los Angeles Times · Aug 12
Orange County Cities Post Up to 16% Income Growth, Outpacing Silicon Valley in 2024
3 articles · Updated · Los Angeles Times · Aug 12
Summary
Anaheim logged a 16% real-income increase in 2024—the second-highest among the 94 largest U.S. metro areas—while Irvine ranked seventh and Santa Ana 14th, according to a SmartAsset analysis of Census data.
Economists tied the gains to strong hiring in healthcare, medical devices, tech and AI, with UC Irvine helping draw highly paid researchers, startups and employers such as Edwards Lifesciences and Allergan.
Anaheim’s jump was harder to explain, but analysts pointed to California’s fast-food minimum wage increase to $20 and to shifts that left fewer lower-income residents in the city.
Silicon Valley still posted more than 5% income growth in San Francisco and San Jose, but Orange County’s faster rise came from a lower base—only about 18% of Anaheim households earned above $200,000 versus more than 35% in those Bay Area cities.
Further Southern California tech investment could extend the trend, with SpaceX’s June IPO expected to mint at least 4,000 employee millionaires and Anduril planning a $1 billion Long Beach expansion by mid-2027.