Riverside County leaves SJ, Silicon Valley in the dust when it comes to building new housing
Housing development is notoriously difficult in California, with every project forced to hurdle over plenty of byzantine obstacles. Despite the complicated and often drawn-out process, Riverside County has managed to increase its apartment stock significantly in the past year, adding thousands of units, while SJ and SF lag. SF Gate reports.
The Riverside County metro area completed 6,096 apartments in 2025, according to a recent report from RentCafe, a 154% increase from 2024. That’s the third-highest increase in the nation, topped only by Naples, Florida, and Birmingham, Alabama.
Riverside “is undergoing a major economic transformation fueled by strong population growth,” Veronica Grecu, research analyst for RentCafe, wrote to SFGATE in an email. “It is now the fourth most populous county in California, and this demographic expansion is a key driver of rental demand.”
California’s Inland Empire, the vast and semi-arid region east of Los Angeles and Orange counties, has been growing steadily as residents priced out of nearby metros like LA and San Diego flee for lower housing costs. Riverside County grew by 26,384 people in 2024, according to U.S. census data, up about 1.1% from the previous year, and it’s up 15.5% since 2010. The county is home to one of the fastest-growing cities in the state, Menifee, even dubbed one of the top “boomtowns” in America in 2022.
Fresno also appeared on the list of the top 20 metros for apartment completions, with 1,188 new units in 2025. It was No. 15, with a 43.1% year-over-year increase.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco Bay Area had one of the steepest declines in apartments finished, the report said, with a 51% drop in 2025. That landed the region in the lowest five metros for apartment completion. “This is the most significant year-over-year decline San Francisco has experienced in the past 10 years,” Grecu wrote. “However, the drop is accentuated by the fact that 2024 was the metro’s second most productive year for new apartments (8,524 units), behind only 2021 (10,100 units).”
San Jose also had a sharp dip, with nearly 48% fewer units finished than in 2024.
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