Despite the economic angst and billionaire exodus, California has been recording some of the highest income growth in the country.
Surprisingly, a recent survey of metropolitan areas showed that Silicon Valley didn’t lead the state, but Anaheim, Irvine and Santa Ana were near the top.
A study by financial advising company SmartAsset of the 94 largest population centers in the U.S. looked at real income growth in 2024, and the Orange County neighborhoods were in the top 15. Real income takes inflation into account as well as income from investments and retirement income.
While Silicon Valley is red-hot with billions being spent on artificial intelligence, income hasn’t been rising as much there, according to the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey the study used.
Instead, Anaheim came out on top with the second-highest increase in the country at 16%. Irvine and Santa Ana ranked seventh and 14th, respectively, in terms of income growth.
Some economists were puzzled by the results but said higher minimum wage and the healthcare industry probably helped.
According to Chapman University economist Raymond Sfeir, the increase in Irvine makes sense. UC Irvine is behind much of the growth in the city, he said, attracting highly paid researchers and startups to its research park.
As part of that growth, Irvine has also seen many tech and healthcare companies such as Edwards Lifesciences and Allergan come to the area, also bringing in well-paid employees.
It’s harder to gauge what might have made Anaheim such a national leader, he said. Data suggest there are fewer lower-income residents as they moved into the middle income and also out of the area.
California also raised the state minimum wage for fast-food employees from $16 to $20, something Sfeir said could account for some of the change. Anaheim may have more fast-food employees because of Disneyland.
“That’s a huge increase,” though it does not explain why Anaheim did so much better than other areas, he said.
As a whole, Sfeir said Orange County has shown strong job growth in the last few years, explaining its representation on the list of income risers. He said cities have created so many jobs that they don’t have enough residents to fill them, attracting many people from outside the area.
“They don’t have the people who live there to fill all those jobs, but attract many, many thousands of people to come to the city,” he said. “These jobs are in the medical field, medical instruments, dental instruments, computers, electronics in general, and now you have companies with AI where the salaries are extremely high, so that could explain what’s happening in Orange County, in general, and Irvine in particular.”
A little farther north in the Central Valley, Fresno also landed a top-20 spot. For Fresno, Sfeir said high housing prices have driven Bay Area residents to the San Joaquin Valley, which has seen rapid population growth. Fresno has also invested in diversifying its economy and closing socioeconomic gaps in recent years.
The Bay Area isn’t falling off, though. Incomes in San Francisco and San José, magnets for AI startups and major tech companies, rose more than 5% in 2025, putting them in the top 20 in terms of growth.
They were starting from a much higher base, each with more than 35% of households in the high-income category, raking in north of $200,000 a year. Only about 18% of households in Anaheim reached that status.
There was a wide variance in incomes in cities in California with the most growth. The median household income in San José was $148,000. In Fresno, it was $74,000.
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Although the data don’t show how household income compares to the cost of living, SmartAsset spokesperson Toby Nelson said the numbers can show how people’s income is holding up against rising costs.
“We can see where personal finances gain the most ground against rising prices, and where income is either helping residents keep up or maybe failing to keep up,” he said.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean residents are better off or worse off in any particular city, but it can show areas where median household income is outpacing inflation, offsetting the impact of rising costs,” he added.
With further tech sector investment in the Southern California region, the upward trend may continue.
After the SpaceX IPO in June, at least 4,000 current and former employees are expected to become millionaires, with about 400 of them earning $100 million or more. Many of them are based in the Hawthorne area, but are expected to relocate to anywhere between the South Bay and north Orange County.
In Long Beach, ranked 10th in household income growth, Anduril announced a $1-billion expansion plan in January, set to open in mid-2027, bringing high-earning employees to the area.
