A little-known California city is now among America’s fastest-growing cities as fed-up Bay Area residents flee inland to escape sky-high property prices.
Lathrop is a small slice of suburbia located in the San Joaquin Valley, about 10 miles south of the city of Stockton and about 74 miles from San Francisco.
With the average price of a single-family home being only half of what it would normally cost in the Golden Gate City, it’s no surprise that Lathrop’s population is booming.
Over the past decade, the number of people living in the city has more than doubled, from 19,000 in 2013 to 40,000 in 2023, U.S. Census figures show.
Mike Samawi, a Compass real estate agent based in Mountain House, told San Francisco Chronicle In his experience, most of the people moving there are from the Bay Area, including many families who continue to travel or work remotely.
“It’s hard to walk away from (Lathrop) once you see him,” he explained in an interview.
The median price of an existing single-family home in Lathrop (pictured) is about half what it will cost a few miles away in San Francisco.
A four-bedroom apartment with a pool like this costs less than $700,000, about $100,000 less than the state average.
Much of the city’s growing appeal is due to the wide availability of housing, the number of which has almost doubled in a decade.
“We don’t slow down developers,” City Manager Stephen Salvatore told the Chronicle.
“That has been our business model: not to put obstacles to development,” he added.
Construction, he said, has been primarily on four major developments, where a number of new restaurants, schools and parks are also being built.
Officials said they had built more than 18,000 single-family homes and 350 multi-family homes to house the newcomers over 20 years.
Compare that to a decade ago, when the city only had 5,700 homes, and it’s clear that little-known Lathrop has emerged as something special.
Meanwhile, the median sales price of a home in Lathrop in April was about $737,000, according to brokerage Redfin.
Many homes are priced even lower, real estate listings show.
Comparably, the median price of an existing single-family home in the Bay Area in February was $1.25 million, up from $1.1 million the previous month, a report from the California Association of Realtors showed.
Statewide, the median price of an existing single-family home is just over $806,000, up from $789,480 in January.
Lathrop was the only West Coast city among 15 to earn the distinction of being one of the fastest-growing municipalities in the U.S., according to estimates released last month by the U.S. Census Bureau.
It ranked fifth on the list, behind four Texas cities, and was only one of three cities in the top ten that were not in the Lone Star State.
As the city’s housing market continues to catch up with arrivals, Lathrop has prioritized what City Manager Salvatore last month called “responsible growth,” the Chronicle reported.
This means accelerating projects while ensuring the city remains attractive to residents, whether in terms of housing or new business creation.
This dual effort has already seen the opening of a Tesla factory in the city in 2022.
Families are flocking to Lathrop, fed up with high Bay Area home prices
This has caused Lathrop’s population to increase from 19,000 in 2013 to nearly 40,000 in 2023.
Compare that to a decade ago, when the little-known town only had 5,700 homes, and it’s clear that little-known Lathrop has emerged as something special.
Lathrop, one of three cities in the top 10 not in Texas, is an anomaly, with a median home sales price of $705,625, according to Redfin. Many homes, however, are priced even lower, like this three-bedroom home priced at $592,990, currently on the market.
Samawi added that many clients had moved to the city to benefit their children, citing the quality of the school district.
And he expects this trend to continue as long as housing remains affordable.
Many others are flocking to what has been dubbed the Inland Empire, Southern California’s “last affordable region.”
New data revealed that Riverside and San Bernardino counties collectively added more than 22,000 people last year alone.
Again, this trend is partly due to coastal renters moving inland to purchase more affordable homes.