Little-known California town is now among America’s fastest growing cities, as families flee overpriced Bay Area for new property hotspot where homes are half the price

A little-known California city is now ranked among America’s fastest-growing cities as Bay Area residents flee inland to escape skyrocketing real estate prices.

Lathrop is a small suburb in the San Joaquin Valley, about 10 miles south of the city of Stockton and about 75 miles from San Francisco.

With the average price of a single-family home being only half of what it would normally cost in the city of Golden Gate, 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, according to US Census figures.

Mike Samawi, a Mountain House real estate agent with Compass, told the San Francisco Chronicle In his experience, most people moving there are from the Bay Area — including many families who continue to commute or work remotely.

“It’s hard to walk away (from Lathrop) once you see it,” he explained in an interview.

A four-bedroom with 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, with the number of homes almost doubling in ten years.

“We are not slowing down developers,” City Manager Stephen Salvatore told the Chronicle.

“That has been our business model, to not hinder development,” he added.

He said construction took place mainly in four major developments, where a slew 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 arrivals over the past two decades.

Compare that to a decade ago, when the city had just 5,700 homes — and it’s clear that little-known Lathrop has emerged as something special.

Meanwhile, the average sales price for a Lathrop home in April was about $737,000, according to real estate agency Redfin.

Many homes are priced even lower, the real estate listing shows.

Comparably, the average price of an existing single-family home in the Bay Area was $1.25 million in February, up from $1.1 million the month before, according to a report from the California Association of Realtors.

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 of the 15 to earn the distinction of being one of the fast-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 newcomers, Lathrop has prioritized what City Manager Salvatore last month called “responsible growth,” the Chronicle reported.

This means accelerating projects while ensuring that the city remains attractive to residents – be it through housing or setting up new businesses.

This bipartisan effort has already resulted in a Tesla factory opening in the city in 2022.

Families are flocking to Lathrop, fed up with high housing prices in the Bay Area

This has caused Lathrop’s population to grow from 19,000 in 2013 to nearly 40,000 in 2023

Compare that to a decade ago, when the little-known town had just 5,700 homes – and it’s clear that little-known Lathrop has emerged as something special.

Lathrop — one of only three cities in the top ten that aren’t in Texas — is an anomaly, according to Redfin, with an average sales price of $705,625. However, many homes are priced even lower, like this three-bedroom priced at $592,990, currently on the market

Samawi added that many clients had moved to the city to help their children, citing the quality of the school district.

And he expects this trend to continue as long as housing remains affordable there.

Many others are flocking to what has been called Southern California’s “last affordable” region, the Inland Empire.

New data shows Riverside and San Bernardino counties combined added more than 22,000 people last year.

Once again, this trend is partly caused by renters on the coast moving inland to buy cheaper homes.