California is next-to-last in homeownership

California is the nation s second-hardest state to find a homeowner My trusty spreadsheet reviewed homeownership stats from the Census Bureau for the states back to The numbers show little return on decades of incentives to get Americans to live in a home they own Related Articles Home sales drag across U S while Bay Area is nation s hottest domain Cupertino housing project is part of a growing trend as expensive Bay Area cities want teachers to live near their schools Novato affordable housing project battles funding gap California lawmakers push new bill to tighten rent control Elias Berkeley s ADU amnesty initiative may set example for other cities California is a prime example of what didn t work It had an average of its households living in a home they own in through Only New York at had less ownership After California Hawaii was at and Nevada at Nationally own their residence Tops West Virginia at then Delaware Mississippi and Maine at California rivals Texas was No at and Florida was No at Nothing much has changed in the Golden State rankings-wise look back to - Back then California also suffered the second-lowest ownership at Again it was just ahead of New York at And by the way California ownership peaked in bubble-fueled at Nationally ownership was in - topped by Maine West Virginia Pennsylvania and Michigan at Texas was No at and Florida No at Contrast these two periods separated by almost four decades Despite countless efforts to boost ownership the share of Californians residing in a place they own grew by only percentage points To be fair that was the th-best performance nationally It s a noteworthy middle-of-the-pack ranking for California s otherwise bottom-of-the-barrel ownership levels Nationally ownership is up percentage points over years Texas rose points No and Florida was up points No Where did ownership balloon Tops Colorado up percentage points to New Hampshire up points to and Alaska up points to Where did ownership tumble Oklahoma off points to North Carolina down points to and North Dakota a loss of points to Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group He can be reached at jlansner scng com