Key findings
- The median Los Angeles ZIP code costs 11.1 years of median household income. Across 95 ZIP codes the median home value is $824,600 against a median household income of $76,608. Not one ZIP is under the 5.0 ratio that marks "severely unaffordable" in national housing research; 40 of 95 are above 12.
- The cheapest ZIPs are still expensive. The most attainable ratio in the dataset is 5.6 in 92501 (Riverside), and the lowest median home value is $439,900 in 92501 (Riverside). In Houston or Atlanta, the same dollar figure would rank near the top of the market.
- 5 ZIP codes have a median home value the Census cannot measure. The ACS top-codes median home value at $2,000,001; 90049 (Los Angeles), 90077 (Los Angeles), 90210 (Beverly Hills), 90212 (Beverly Hills), 90402 (Santa Monica) all hit that ceiling, so their true ratios are higher than the 10–20 shown.
- Rent burden is the majority condition. 40 of 95 ZIP codes have a median rent above 30% of median household income, and 6 are above 40%. The rent burden tracks poverty almost exactly (r = 0.78): the ZIPs where rent takes the largest share of income are the ZIPs with the highest poverty rates, not the ZIPs with the highest rents.
- Downtown is a statistical special case. 90013, 90014 and 90021 (the Downtown core and Skid Row) post the metro's highest ratios (30.4, 24.6, 35.3) and poverty rates (46%, 36%, 41%) because a small resident population with very low incomes lives among loft and condo conversions valued like new construction. Excluding those ZIPs, the least affordable non-core ZIPs are 90004 (Los Angeles, 22.1) and 90007 (Los Angeles, 21.7).
- Ownership is the dividing line. Only 21 of 95 ZIPs are majority owner-occupied. Owner-occupancy and price-to-income move in opposite directions (r = -0.61), and the 9 ZIPs that pass our value screen — above-median income, ratio at or under 8, majority owners — are all in the San Gabriel Valley, the Inland Empire edge and the southeast county: Ontario, Calabasas, Norwalk, Covina, La Verne and four more.
How this report was built
Every figure is computed from the dataset behind the 95 ZIP code pages on this site: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimates at the ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA) level for population, density, median household income, median home value (owner-occupied units), median gross rent, tenure, poverty rate, bachelor's-degree attainment and unemployment. 1 ZIP code is excluded because the ACS reports no resident population or income: 90071 (Los Angeles) (a Downtown office-tower ZIP).
Price-to-income (PTI) is median home value divided by median household income. 3.0 is the long-run U.S. norm; the Demographia International Housing Affordability survey calls anything above 5.0 "severely unaffordable", and Los Angeles has for years ranked among the least affordable metros in the English-speaking world on exactly this measure. Because the ACS top-codes home value at $2,000,001, ratios for the 5 ZIPs at that ceiling are floors, marked with a plus sign. Rent-to-income (RTI) is annualized median gross rent divided by median household income; above 30% is "cost-burdened" and above 50% "severely cost-burdened" under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development definitions. Both are area-level indicators built from ZIP-level medians. Metro medians here weight each ZIP equally. Correlations are Pearson r across ZIPs. The dataset covers the City of Los Angeles ZIPs plus a selection of surrounding cities across Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and Ventura counties; it is not every ZIP in the five-county region. Sources, formulas and limitations are documented in full on the methodology page.
Price-to-income: 40 ZIP codes above 12
The distribution has no bottom. 15 ZIP codes sit between 5 and 8, 40 between 8 and 12, and 40 above 12. The national benchmark of 3.0 is not a rounding error away; it is a different housing market. What the ratio measures in Los Angeles is not whether a household can buy the median home in its ZIP — for most it cannot — but how far the ZIP's housing stock has separated from the people who currently live in it.
Three kinds of ZIP fill the top of the table. The first is the Downtown core: 90021, 90013 and 90014 carry ratios of 35.3, 30.4 and 24.6 because their small resident populations (2,781, 14,587 and 9,273) are among the poorest in the county while the housing that exists is loft and condo stock. The second is the dense rental belt west of Downtown — Koreatown (90005, 90004), Westlake and the USC corridor (90007) — where median incomes of $36,326–$58,420 meet home values near $1,289,600 and owner-occupancy under 16%. The third is the Westside prestige market: 90212 and 90210 (Beverly Hills), 90402 and 90401 (Santa Monica), 90077 (Bel Air), where incomes are the county's highest and values are still far higher.
The most attainable end of the table is not inside the City of Los Angeles at all. 91761 (Ontario, 6.1), 91301 (Calabasas, 6.3), 90650 (Norwalk, 6.5) and 90220 (Compton, 6.7) lead, and two of those four are in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Even Calabasas, an affluent Ventura Freeway suburb, is more "affordable" by ratio than any ZIP in the city proper because its $157,582 median income is high enough to carry a $994,500 median home.
The 15 least affordable ZIP codes by price-to-income
| ZIP | City | Median home value | Median household income | PTI | Owner-occupied | Poverty rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 90021 | Los Angeles | $1,046,900 | $29,659 | 35.3 | 7% | 41% |
| 90013 | Los Angeles | $755,100 | $24,853 | 30.4 | 8% | 46% |
| 90014 | Los Angeles | $654,000 | $26,550 | 24.6 | 3% | 36% |
| 90004 | Los Angeles | $1,289,600 | $58,420 | 22.1 | 16% | 19% |
| 90007 | Los Angeles | $789,700 | $36,326 | 21.7 | 11% | 37% |
| 90005 | Los Angeles | $1,020,300 | $49,226 | 20.7 | 8% | 24% |
| 90212 | Beverly Hills | $2,000,000+ | $101,963 | 19.6+ | 22% | 10% |
| 90401 | Santa Monica | $1,743,800 | $89,892 | 19.4 | 6% | 19% |
| 90024 | Los Angeles | $1,451,200 | $74,852 | 19.4 | 33% | 27% |
| 90036 | Los Angeles | $1,869,500 | $97,583 | 19.2 | 15% | 11% |
| 90029 | Los Angeles | $1,032,300 | $56,529 | 18.3 | 12% | 22% |
| 90027 | Los Angeles | $1,578,200 | $86,826 | 18.2 | 21% | 14% |
| 90038 | Los Angeles | $1,020,800 | $57,102 | 17.9 | 8% | 19% |
| 90068 | Los Angeles | $1,724,100 | $97,151 | 17.7 | 46% | 10% |
| 90019 | Los Angeles | $1,151,500 | $65,972 | 17.5 | 25% | 17% |
The 15 most attainable ZIP codes by price-to-income
| ZIP | City | Median home value | Median household income | PTI | Owner-occupied | Poverty rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 92501 | Riverside | $439,900 | $78,750 | 5.6 | 43% | 12% |
| 91761 | Ontario | $543,400 | $89,041 | 6.1 | 66% | 10% |
| 91301 | Calabasas | $994,500 | $157,582 | 6.3 | 80% | 5% |
| 90650 | Norwalk | $593,100 | $91,259 | 6.5 | 68% | 9% |
| 90220 | Compton | $464,900 | $69,901 | 6.7 | 62% | 20% |
| 91764 | Ontario | $475,300 | $71,336 | 6.7 | 45% | 16% |
| 91724 | Covina | $664,900 | $96,720 | 6.9 | 69% | 9% |
| 91750 | La Verne | $734,500 | $103,774 | 7.1 | 69% | 8% |
| 90240 | Downey | $710,700 | $99,874 | 7.1 | 65% | 10% |
| 91711 | Claremont | $839,400 | $115,079 | 7.3 | 65% | 6% |
| 90631 | La Habra | $716,700 | $98,009 | 7.3 | 60% | 9% |
| 90802 | Long Beach | $521,800 | $69,613 | 7.5 | 21% | 16% |
| 90701 | Cerritos | $697,900 | $92,702 | 7.5 | 52% | 7% |
| 91101 | Pasadena | $669,800 | $86,631 | 7.7 | 15% | 19% |
| 92801 | Anaheim | $598,700 | $76,264 | 7.9 | 37% | 15% |
Rent burden: 40 of 95 ZIP codes past the 30% line
In most U.S. metros rent burden is a minority condition confined to a few low-income areas. In Los Angeles it is the norm: the median ZIP's rent of $1,770 a month takes 28.5% of median household income, a hair under the threshold, and 40 of 95 ZIPs are over it. 6 are above 40%, and 90014 and 90013 are above 50% — the HUD definition of severely cost-burdened — at the ZIP-level median. The geography is not the Westside. The lowest rent burdens are in the highest-income ZIPs (90402 at 15.1%, 90077 at 16.6%, 90041 Eagle Rock at 18.7%) because a $2,162 rent is small against a $171,844 income. The highest are Downtown, Koreatown, Westlake and the neighborhoods around USC and UCLA (90024 Westwood, 42.0%), where student populations depress median income.
The strongest relationship in this dataset is between rent burden and poverty: r = 0.78 across the 95 ZIPs. Rent burden in Los Angeles is not a story about expensive apartments; median rents in the burdened ZIPs run $941–$3,501, mostly below the metro median. It is a story about incomes that have not kept pace with even modest rents, and the ZIPs on the list below are, with few exceptions, the ZIPs where poverty is above 15%.
| ZIP | City | Median rent | Median household income | Rent-to-income | Poverty rate | Owner-occupied |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 90014 | Los Angeles | $1,424 | $26,550 | 64.4% | 36% | 3% |
| 90013 | Los Angeles | $1,092 | $24,853 | 52.7% | 46% | 8% |
| 90007 | Los Angeles | $1,396 | $36,326 | 46.1% | 37% | 11% |
| 90015 | Los Angeles | $2,287 | $61,959 | 44.3% | 26% | 9% |
| 90024 | Los Angeles | $2,618 | $74,852 | 42.0% | 27% | 33% |
| 90012 | Los Angeles | $2,044 | $58,444 | 42.0% | 24% | 6% |
| 90021 | Los Angeles | $961 | $29,659 | 38.9% | 41% | 7% |
| 90017 | Los Angeles | $1,493 | $46,626 | 38.4% | 36% | 5% |
| 90005 | Los Angeles | $1,572 | $49,226 | 38.3% | 24% | 8% |
| 91502 | Burbank | $1,817 | $59,711 | 36.5% | 13% | 10% |
| 90028 | Los Angeles | $1,722 | $57,258 | 36.1% | 20% | 4% |
| 90020 | Los Angeles | $1,652 | $55,321 | 35.8% | 18% | 9% |
| 90038 | Los Angeles | $1,697 | $57,102 | 35.7% | 19% | 8% |
| 90057 | Los Angeles | $1,369 | $46,513 | 35.3% | 28% | 3% |
| 90044 | Los Angeles | $1,397 | $48,386 | 34.6% | 27% | 30% |
| 91201 | Glendale | $1,937 | $67,102 | 34.6% | 13% | 32% |
| 90004 | Los Angeles | $1,680 | $58,420 | 34.5% | 19% | 16% |
| 90006 | Los Angeles | $1,346 | $47,599 | 33.9% | 23% | 11% |
| 90067 | Los Angeles | $3,501 | $125,995 | 33.3% | 7% | 65% |
| 91764 | Ontario | $1,979 | $71,336 | 33.3% | 16% | 45% |
| 90058 | Los Angeles | $941 | $34,093 | 33.1% | 29% | 13% |
| 90011 | Los Angeles | $1,425 | $51,819 | 33.0% | 27% | 27% |
| 90003 | Los Angeles | $1,407 | $51,275 | 32.9% | 27% | 27% |
| 90029 | Los Angeles | $1,541 | $56,529 | 32.7% | 22% | 12% |
| 90036 | Los Angeles | $2,622 | $97,583 | 32.2% | 11% | 15% |
| 90804 | Long Beach | $1,710 | $64,160 | 32.0% | 20% | 21% |
| 90002 | Los Angeles | $1,434 | $54,221 | 31.7% | 24% | 41% |
| 90401 | Santa Monica | $2,377 | $89,892 | 31.7% | 19% | 6% |
| 91731 | El Monte | $1,508 | $57,047 | 31.7% | 17% | 34% |
| 90037 | Los Angeles | $1,374 | $52,238 | 31.6% | 27% | 25% |
| 90212 | Beverly Hills | $2,664 | $101,963 | 31.4% | 10% | 22% |
| 90301 | Inglewood | $1,616 | $61,910 | 31.3% | 18% | 26% |
| 90023 | Los Angeles | $1,376 | $52,918 | 31.2% | 23% | 26% |
| 90033 | Los Angeles | $1,311 | $50,616 | 31.1% | 27% | 20% |
| 90019 | Los Angeles | $1,708 | $65,972 | 31.1% | 17% | 25% |
| 90010 | Los Angeles | $2,349 | $92,454 | 30.5% | 10% | 17% |
| 90008 | Los Angeles | $1,468 | $57,880 | 30.4% | 18% | 32% |
| 90016 | Los Angeles | $1,595 | $63,090 | 30.3% | 15% | 36% |
| 90802 | Long Beach | $1,755 | $69,613 | 30.3% | 16% | 21% |
| 90018 | Los Angeles | $1,486 | $58,987 | 30.2% | 22% | 33% |
Education, poverty and the income divide
Los Angeles has the widest income spread of the metros this network covers. Median household income runs from $24,853 in 90013 to $203,194 in 90077 (Los Angeles) — an 8-to-1 ratio between top and bottom ZIP. Bachelor's-degree attainment explains most of it: the degree rate correlates with income at r = 0.71, ranging from 6% in 90003 (South Los Angeles) to 80% in 90049 (Brentwood). Poverty runs the other way at r = -0.80, and unemployment at r = -0.51.
The map that results is familiar to anyone who lives here but stark in the numbers. South Los Angeles (90001, 90002, 90003, 90011) has degree rates of 6%–7%, poverty of 21%–27% and median home values that are still $462,400 or more — ratios of 8.5 to 10.3 on incomes under $57,698. These are the ZIPs where the affordability crisis is not about buying a first home; it is about staying housed at all.
Highest poverty rates
| ZIP | City | Poverty rate | Median household income | Bachelor's or higher | Unemployment | Rent-to-income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 90013 | Los Angeles | 46% | $24,853 | 34% | 16.7% | 52.7% |
| 90021 | Los Angeles | 41% | $29,659 | 21% | 13.3% | 38.9% |
| 90007 | Los Angeles | 37% | $36,326 | 27% | 12.5% | 46.1% |
| 90017 | Los Angeles | 36% | $46,626 | 35% | 6.2% | 38.4% |
| 90014 | Los Angeles | 36% | $26,550 | 43% | 11.6% | 64.4% |
| 90058 | Los Angeles | 29% | $34,093 | 22% | 4.7% | 33.1% |
| 90057 | Los Angeles | 28% | $46,513 | 23% | 6.7% | 35.3% |
| 90011 | Los Angeles | 27% | $51,819 | 7% | 10.5% | 33.0% |
| 90003 | Los Angeles | 27% | $51,275 | 6% | 9.5% | 32.9% |
| 90024 | Los Angeles | 27% | $74,852 | 74% | 9.7% | 42.0% |
Highest incomes
| ZIP | City | Median household income | Bachelor's or higher | Median home value | PTI | Owner-occupied |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 90077 | Los Angeles | $203,194 | 76% | $2,000,000+ | 9.8+ | 85% |
| 90210 | Beverly Hills | $172,285 | 66% | $2,000,000+ | 11.6+ | 74% |
| 90402 | Santa Monica | $171,844 | 79% | $2,000,000+ | 11.6+ | 74% |
| 90049 | Los Angeles | $161,605 | 80% | $2,000,000+ | 12.4+ | 54% |
| 91301 | Calabasas | $157,582 | 66% | $994,500 | 6.3 | 80% |
| 90245 | El Segundo | $142,596 | 61% | $1,479,000 | 10.4 | 42% |
| 90067 | Los Angeles | $125,995 | 60% | $1,529,200 | 12.1 | 65% |
| 90045 | Los Angeles | $125,692 | 61% | $1,277,400 | 10.2 | 48% |
| 90064 | Los Angeles | $123,929 | 69% | $1,655,300 | 13.4 | 52% |
| 90056 | Los Angeles | $123,457 | 57% | $1,358,200 | 11.0 | 58% |
County view
89 of the 95 ZIPs are in Los Angeles County, so the county table mostly restates the metro. The handful of Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and Ventura County ZIPs in the dataset are there because they anchor the edges of the LA commute shed, and every one of them is more attainable by ratio than the Los Angeles County median of 11.5. Riverside (92501) at 5.6 and the two Ontario ZIPs at 6.1 and 6.7 are the only ZIPs in this dataset under 7, and they are 35 to 55 miles from Downtown.
| County | ZIPs | Population | Median home value | Median household income | Median PTI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 89 | 3,340,634 | $850,700 | $74,852 | 11.5 |
| San Bernardino | 2 | 117,148 | $509,350 | $80,188 | 6.4 |
| Orange | 2 | 108,338 | $631,650 | $78,901 | 8.0 |
| Ventura | 1 | 31,751 | $735,000 | $80,363 | 9.1 |
| Riverside | 1 | 22,136 | $439,900 | $78,750 | 5.6 |
The value screen: 9 ZIP codes
A screen calibrated for the rest of the country returns nothing here: no Los Angeles-area ZIP has an above-median income, a ratio under 5 and majority owner-occupancy. So the screen is set to the market: median household income at or above the metro median ($76,608), price-to-income at or under 8, and owner-occupancy of at least 50%. 9 ZIP codes pass. They are the San Gabriel Valley foothill cities (La Verne, Claremont, Covina), the southeast county (Norwalk, Downey, Cerritos, La Habra), Ontario at the Inland Empire edge, and Calabasas. Every one is outside the City of Los Angeles, every one is majority owner-occupied, and their median ratio is still 7.1 — more than twice the national norm. "Value" in Los Angeles is relative.
| ZIP | City | County | Median home value | Median household income | PTI | Owner-occupied | Poverty rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 91761 | Ontario | San Bernardino | $543,400 | $89,041 | 6.1 | 66% | 10% |
| 91301 | Calabasas | Los Angeles | $994,500 | $157,582 | 6.3 | 80% | 5% |
| 90650 | Norwalk | Los Angeles | $593,100 | $91,259 | 6.5 | 68% | 9% |
| 91724 | Covina | Los Angeles | $664,900 | $96,720 | 6.9 | 69% | 9% |
| 91750 | La Verne | Los Angeles | $734,500 | $103,774 | 7.1 | 69% | 8% |
| 90240 | Downey | Los Angeles | $710,700 | $99,874 | 7.1 | 65% | 10% |
| 91711 | Claremont | Los Angeles | $839,400 | $115,079 | 7.3 | 65% | 6% |
| 90631 | La Habra | Los Angeles | $716,700 | $98,009 | 7.3 | 60% | 9% |
| 90701 | Cerritos | Los Angeles | $697,900 | $92,702 | 7.5 | 52% | 7% |
Limitations and how to cite this report
- ACS 5-Year Estimates are survey-based; margins of error are large for small-population ZIPs, and the Downtown ZIPs (90013, 90014, 90021, 90058) have both tiny populations and unusual housing stock. Treat their figures as indicative.
- Median home value is the owner's estimate from the ACS questionnaire, top-coded at $2,000,001. 5 ZIPs sit at the cap; their real medians and ratios are higher.
- ZIPs around USC (90007) and UCLA (90024) have large student populations that depress median income and inflate rent burden; the figures describe residents, not the buyer or renter pool.
- ZIP-level medians describe areas, not households. A rent-to-income ratio above 30% means the typical rent is high relative to the typical income in that ZIP, not that every renter there is cost-burdened.
- The dataset is a curated set of 95 ZIPs (all City of Los Angeles residential ZIPs plus selected surrounding cities), not the full five-county region; county rows with one or two ZIPs are illustrative only.
- Metro medians weight each ZIP equally, not by population.
Cite as: LA Zip Codes Data Team, Los Angeles ZIP Code Affordability Report 2026, lazipcodes.com, published 2026-09-20. Data: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates. Each ZIP code in the tables links to its full profile page.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most affordable ZIP code in Los Angeles?
By price-to-income ratio, 92501 (Riverside) is the most attainable at 5.6, followed by 91761 (Ontario) at 6.1 and 91301 (Calabasas) at 6.3. Inside the City of Los Angeles, the most attainable is 90001 at 8.5. No ZIP in the dataset is under 5.0.
What is the least affordable ZIP code in Los Angeles?
90021 (Downtown) has the highest ratio at 35.3, driven by a very small, low-income resident population. Among non-Downtown ZIPs, 90004 (Los Angeles) at 22.1 and 90007 (Los Angeles) at 21.7 lead; the Beverly Hills and Santa Monica ZIPs at the $2,000,001 Census cap are higher still.
How many Los Angeles ZIP codes are rent-burdened?
40 of the 95 ZIP codes analyzed have a median gross rent above 30% of median household income; 6 are above 40% and 2 above 50%. The highest is 90014 at 64.4%.
Why do some ZIP codes show a home value of $2,000,000+?
The American Community Survey caps reported median home value at $2,000,001. ZIPs at that cap (Beverly Hills 90210 and 90212, Santa Monica 90402, Bel Air 90077, Brentwood 90049) have true medians above it, so their price-to-income ratios are shown as minimums.
Where can a median income still buy a home in the Los Angeles area?
Our value screen (income at or above the metro median, price-to-income at or under 8, majority owner-occupied) returns 9 ZIP codes, all outside the City of Los Angeles: Ontario 91761, Calabasas 91301, Norwalk 90650, Covina 91724, La Verne 91750, Downey 90240, Claremont 91711, La Habra 90631, Cerritos 90701.
What data does this report use?
U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates at the ZIP Code Tabulation Area level, the same dataset behind every ZIP code page on this site. Figures are computed by the LA Zip Codes Data Team; no third-party estimates are used.