Unaffordable Housing

Many Lodi residents are house poor

About Town – TUESDAY, 2/17/26

Last episode we reported that some Lodi-Stockton area rents are higher than a cat’s back. Here’s something else to think about: Californians spend almost half their income on mortgage payments, according to Realtor.com, and Lodi has one of the highest mortgage-to-income ratios in the state. Of the 10 highest, Lodi ranks #7 on the list. Homeowners here spend 42.5% of their income on mortgage payments, the online real estate platform says, with the median listing price at $567,350. Lodi is higher than Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom (#8), Fresno (#9) and Bakersfield-Delano (#10). Remarkably, Lodi-Stockton is only slightly behind San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont. The Golden State is the “third least affordable state in the country” for homeownership, behind Montana and Hawaii, the company says. “None of California’s largest metropolitan areas have median-priced homes that are affordable for households earning the median income under the traditional 30% rule,” according to the site. Realtor.com says homeownership is out of reach for many Californians because mortgage payments take such a big bite out of their income. “Real estate experts point to the lack of new construction as the main reason prices remain so high,” the report says, adding, “Demand remains strong, while housing production has lagged for decades.” If you want to read more about Lodi rents, look here: (constructioncoverage.com/research/cities-with-the-most-expensive-rents).

POLICE REPORT: Maybe you noticed it. On Jan. 21 at about 12:30 p.m. LPD officers responded to a solo vehicle collision into the brick wall near the intersection of Lower Sacramento Road and Lodi Avenue, better known as Parkview Terrace. A 21-year-old male from