When it comes to building the most new housing in California, one rural county in the Central Coast leads the pack.
Data from the California Department of Finance shows that San Benito County, south of San Jose, has built homes at the fastest rate in the state over the past five years, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. It saw a 9.3 percent increase in housing construction between April 2020 and January 2025, more than double the rate seen in San Francisco in the same time frame.
San Benito County’s growth, which was less than 2,000 new units, was largely concentrated in the city of Hollister. The town made famous by the clothing store of the same name has become increasingly popular among Silicon Valley workers since the pandemic.
Though California in general has seen a slowdown in housing construction compared to states like Texas, smaller and midsize inland counties have been outpacing the major cities in housing growth relative to population.
California’s Placer County, for example, was right behind San Benito with an 8.9 percent increase in housing since 2020. The area northeast of Sacramento now has 188,000 homes.
Yuba County followed with an 8.7 percent increase, now boasting 32,000 homes. Madera saw a 7.9 percent jump and has 54,000 units, and San Joaquin County had an increase of 7.2 percent and has around 270,000 homes.
San Francisco saw a 3.8 percent increase and has approximately 422,000 homes. Los Angeles County experienced a 3.7 percent uptick to around 4 million units.
Overall, the state built about 560,000 homes between April 2020 and January 2025. When Gov. Gavin Newsom was running for his first term, he declared the state should build 500,000 new units per year to reach 3.5 million new homes by 2030.
Where people live, however, determines what kind of housing usually gets built, according to Dan Dunmoyer, president and CEO of the California Building Industry Association. Outside city centers, single-family homes have popped up in large numbers as residents flee there in search of homeownership.
Multifamily construction has lagged as more people search for standalone homes, even if they have to leave cities to do it.
“Even though we’re building less, the demand is still off the charts [for homeownership],” Dunmoyer told the Chronicle.
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