LIVING IN BREA
Brea is a medium-sized city located in the state of California. With a population of 43,601 people and seven constituent neighborhoods, Brea is the 207th largest community in California.
Housing costs in Brea are among some of the highest in the nation, although real estate prices here don't compare to real estate prices in the most expensive communities in California.
Brea is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 88.26% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Brea is a city of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Brea who work in management occupations (14.07%), sales jobs (13.67%), and office and administrative support (13.47%).
Also of interest is that Brea has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
In Brea, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 32.62 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average.
The education level of Brea ranks among the highest in the nation. Of the 25-and-older adult population in Brea, 45.31% have at least a bachelor's degree. The typical US community has just 21.84% of its adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree.
The per capita income in Brea in 2010 was $42,302, which is upper middle income relative to California, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $169,208 for a family of four. However, Brea contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Brea is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Brea home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Brea residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Brea also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 30.70% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Brea include German, Irish, English, Italian, and French.
Foreign born people are also an important part of Brea's cultural character, accounting for 19.16% of the city’s population.
The most common language spoken in Brea is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Korean.
BREA HOUSING MARKET INFORMATION
With 43,601 people, 14,992 houses or apartments, and a median cost of homes of $726,908, real estate costs in Brea are among some of the highest in the nation, although house prices here don't compare to real estate prices in the most expensive California communities.
Single-family detached homes are the single most common housing type in Brea, accounting for 57.44% of the city's housing units. Other types of housing that are prevalent in Brea include large apartment complexes or high rise apartments ( 25.82%), row houses and other attached homes ( 8.14%), and a few mobile homes or trailers ( 5.53%).
The most prevalent building size and type in Brea are three and four bedroom dwellings, chiefly found in single-family detached homes. The city has a mixture of owners and renters, with 61.92% owning and 38.08% renting.
There is a lot of housing in Brea built from 1970 to 1999 so parts of town may have that "Brady Bunch" look of homes popular in the '70s and early '80s, although some of these houses were built up through the early '90s as well. There is also a lot of housing in Brea built between 1940-1969 ( 29.28%). A lesser amount of the housing stock also hails from between 2000 and later ( 18.11%). There's also some housing in Brea built before 1939 ( 2.34%).
BREA HOME APPRECIATION RATES
In the last 10 years, Brea has experienced some of the highest home appreciation rates of any community in the nation. Brea real estate appreciated 53.07% over the last ten years, which is an average annual home appreciation rate of 4.35%, putting Brea in the top 20% nationally for real estate appreciation. If you are a home buyer or real estate investor, Brea definitely has a track record of being one of the best long term real estate investments in America through the last ten years.
Over the last year, Brea appreciation rates have trailed the rest of the nation. In the last twelve months, Brea's appreciation rate has been 3.18%, which is lower than appreciation rates in most communities in America. In the latest quarter, NeighborhoodScout's data show that house appreciation rates in Brea were at 1.28%, which equates to an annual appreciation rate of 5.23%.
Relative to California, our data show that Brea's latest annual appreciation rate is lower than 60% of the other cities and towns in California.
One very important thing to keep in mind is that these are average appreciation rates for the city. Individual neighborhoods within Brea differ in their investment potential, sometimes by a great deal. Fortunately, you can use NeighborhoodScout to pinpoint the exact neighborhoods in Brea - or in any city or town - that have the best track record of real estate appreciation, by the latest quarter, the last year, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, or even since 2000, to assist you in making the best Brea real estate investment or home purchase decisions.
Reasons To Invest
- Range of Affordability
- Great Neighborhoods
- Welcoming Community
- Excellent Public Schools
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