When it comes to providing housing for current and future employees, Orange County businesses face a unique challenge. With the cost of mortgages being high, many residents are relocating to nearby Riverside and San Bernardino counties, where housing and apartment rental costs are more affordable. According to Bill Kraus, executive vice president of the Apartment Association, apartment rental costs in the county have remained relatively stable over the past two years due to the large supply, but renters typically pay up to 20% more to live in Orange County than they would for comparable apartments elsewhere in the United States. However, many workers who live and work in Orange County have expressed that they are already spending too much time commuting.
While there are a lot of jobs in the county, and the number is increasing, many of these new positions are in retail and other customer service businesses that don't pay enough for a worker to afford a house or even an apartment. This makes it difficult for recruiters like Brown to attract corporate talent to Orange County. Housing and traffic, considered by participants in a survey on executive perspectives to be the biggest drawbacks of doing business in Orange County, were similarly poorly rated by more than two dozen county workers interviewed by The Times. This lack of affordability was enough to turn away a candidate from a job in Tennessee, even though he had “fallen in love” with Orange County and would receive a substantial salary increase if he accepted the offer. So what is the average cost of housing for employees of businesses in Orange County? Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. The cost of housing varies greatly depending on location and other factors.
However, it is safe to say that housing costs in Orange County are higher than most other areas of the United States.
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