Orange County Real Estate Statistics

Orange County is not one housing market. It is a set of cities whose prices have moved at very different rates, and the gap between the fastest and slowest has widened considerably since 2019. This page reports the median sale price for nineteen Orange County cities at three points in time: the earliest full year we hold, the last normal market before the pandemic, and the trailing twelve months. Every figure is a twelve-month average rather than a single month, because a handful of large sales can swing a single month badly in the higher-priced coastal cities. The comparison most readers want is the one against 2019, so it is shown first. The data runs from March 2012 to the present and is updated automatically, which means the figures below are current rather than fixed in this text.

Twelve-month averages of Redfin closing medians, trailing period ending July 2026.

Median price by city, 2012 to today

Each row shows one city at three points, and the two change columns compare the trailing twelve months against each earlier period. The table is sorted by the rise since 2019, so the city that has climbed fastest in the post-pandemic era appears first.

* This city's median swings enough month to month that any single month would mislead. The twelve-month averaging above is what makes its figures comparable.

† Shares a ZIP code with another city listed above. The housing data is reported by ZIP, so both cities draw on one series and their figures are identical. That is the data speaking, not a duplicate row.

How to read these figures

Two things about the table are worth understanding before quoting anything from it.

The first is the baseline. Our data begins in March 2012, which sits close to the bottom of the post-crash market. A change measured from that point captures the recovery back to prior values as well as genuine growth on top of them, so the 2012 column will always look dramatic. That is why the 2019 column sits to its left and why the summary above leads with it. If you want to know how prices have moved in the era most people remember, use 2019.

The second is the smoothing. Every figure averages twelve months rather than reporting a single one. In the higher-priced coastal cities a single month can turn on three or four sales, which is enough to move a median by a wide margin in either direction. Averaging removes most of that noise. Where a city’s month-to-month figures still swing enough that any single month would mislead, its row carries a marker and a note explaining it, so you can treat that figure as directional rather than precise.

One consequence of the smoothing is worth stating plainly: these numbers will not match a single-month median you find elsewhere, including on our own city pages. That is a difference in method, not a disagreement about the market.

Current market conditions

The table above measures prices over years. The one below reports how the market is behaving right now, using the most recent period in our data. Our monthly market reports read those conditions month by month, and the Orange County overview covers the county as a whole.

Methodology and sources

Median sale prices come from Redfin’s published closing data, aggregated by ZIP code and grouped into the cities we cover. Days on market and new listings come from the same source and the same period. We did not collect this data, we organized it: the contribution here is presenting Orange County city by city over a long span, which nobody else publishes in one place.

Three twelve-month windows are used throughout. The baseline runs from March 2012 to February 2013, the earliest full year available. The pre-pandemic window is calendar 2019. The current window is the trailing twelve months ending at the most recent period. Using windows of equal length at all three points means no smoothed figure is ever compared against a single month.

A city appears only when all three windows contain data, because a change measured from a different baseline than its neighbors would not be comparable. Cities sharing a ZIP code draw on one series and are marked as such. Our coverage is nineteen cities, not all of Orange County, so nothing here should be read as a countywide figure. We publish effective property tax rates by city on the same basis, since price is only half of what a home costs to hold.

This data is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. You are free to reuse it, including commercially, with attribution.

Frequently Asked Questions About Orange County Housing Data

How much have Orange County home prices risen since 2019?

It varies enormously by city, which is why the table above reports each one separately rather than offering a single county figure. The summary at the top of this page names the fastest and slowest cities and gives the median across all nineteen we track. The gap between the two ends is wide enough that any single county-level number would misrepresent most of the individual cities inside it.

Why does this page show different prices than other sites?

Because every figure here is a twelve-month average rather than a single month. Most sites, including our own individual city pages, report the most recent month on its own. In a market where a few large sales can move a monthly median substantially, the two methods produce different numbers for the same city. Neither is wrong; they answer different questions.

Why are the figures measured from 2012 and from 2019?

March 2012 is the earliest data we hold, and it sits near the bottom of the post-crash market, so changes measured from it include the recovery as well as later growth. That makes the number large and somewhat misleading on its own. Calendar 2019 is the last normal market before the pandemic, which makes it the more useful comparison for most readers. Both are shown so neither stands alone.

Which Orange County city has appreciated the most?

The table is sorted by the rise since 2019, so the current leader is always the first row, and the summary above names it. Sorting by the 2012 column instead would produce a different order, because cities recovered from the crash at different speeds before the pandemic-era run began. If a city carries a volatility marker, treat its figure as directional.

Can I reuse this data?

Yes. It is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license, so you may reuse it including commercially, provided you attribute it. A ready-made citation line is above, with a copy button. If you want a figure for a specific property rather than a city, request a home valuation. Please include the trailing period stated in that line, since the figures update automatically and a citation without a period does not identify which version you used.