Santa Ana, California — the beating heart of Orange County and one of the most densely populated cities in the American West — has become a perfect storm for renters. A majority-Latino working-class city surrounded by some of the wealthiest zip codes in the country, Santa Ana has long struggled with affordability. But in 2025 and 2026, multiple crises have collided at once, pushing thousands of families to the edge of displacement.
A City Where Most People Rent — and Most Renters Are Struggling
Santa Ana is overwhelmingly a renter’s city. More than 55% of its 312,000 residents live in rental housing, in a market where the average household holds four people and housing stock dates back to 1969. The city has the lowest median income in all of Orange County — roughly 25% below the countywide median.
That gap between income and rent is where the crisis begins.
Across Orange County, renters need to earn $54.94 per hour — more than three times California’s minimum wage — just to afford the average asking rent of $2,857 a month. In Santa Ana, where incomes are lower than almost anywhere else in the county, that math is even more brutal…