”Survey says” looks at various rankings and scorecards judging geographic locations while noting these grades are best seen as a mix of artful interpretation and data.

Buzz: The federal government’s key cost of living measurement says tenants in California and across the nation are seeing jumps in rent inflation not seen in decades.

Source: My trusty spreadsheet analyzed the lengthy history of the “rent of primary residence” slice of the inflation-tracking Consumer Price Index for three big California metropolitan areas anThe key metric? How fast rent inflation changed in a year’s time — or looking at the increase in the increase.

Topline

The CPI’s extended track record for rent allows us to put rising housing expenses into a long-term perspective.

Consider that during 2022’s first four months, nationwide rent inflation’s one-year jump was the largest since 1948.

In California, San Diego’s eye-popping rent spurt was last bigger back in 1968. And Los Angeles and Orange counties haven’t seen a rent hike surge like early 2022’s since 1980.

And the San Francisco metro area’s rent latest increases were not historically noteworthy — other than marking the first time rent hikes increased after five years of shrinking increases.

Details

In Los Angeles and Orange counties, the CPI says the cost of renting in 2022’s first four months is up 3.43% in a year. In 2021, rent inflation ran at 1.24%.

That 2.2 percentage jump in what tenants pay — if it continues the rest of the year — would be the biggest surge in 42 years.

Nationally, consumers are paying 4.3% more for rent this year — that’s 2.07 percentage points higher than last year’s 2.23% hike.

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In San Diego, consumers are paying 5.1% more for rent this year — a 2.9 percentage-point swift uptick vs. last year’s rent inflation pace.

Then there’s San Francisco, where rent hikes contracted as many residents chose to live elsewhere before and during the pandemic.

As 2022 started, the CPI says Bay Area consumers are paying just 0.33% more for rent. Rents rose at an 0.1% rate in 2021 — the fifth yearly dip from 6.8% rent inflation in 2016.

Bottom line

These are significant hits to consumer wallets caused, in part, by what we’ve seen across the economy: “Too much good stuff.”

The finances of many renters continued to improve this year as the pandemic economy’s surprisingly robust recovery meant more folks could afford to move out of crowded situations and/or pay up for an apartment.

Remember, the CPI rent index is a slow-moving metric reflecting what a broad base of consumers are paying landlords in all kinds of living arrangements. These leaps in rent inflation strongly suggest housing costs will be an even bigger financial headache for many folks — if not the entire economy — for the foreseeable future.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at [email protected]