This is one of the least affordable places to buy a home in California

LOS ANGELES - Orange County is one of the least affordable places to buy a home in all of California, according to the California Association of Realtors. 

Data shows it takes more than $349,000 a year in income to buy a median-price home in the OC, which costs nearly $1.4 million. 

According to the report, just 11% of residents in Orange County make enough money to afford the purchase.

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To get these figures, analysts assume a buyer puts down about 20%, which would be around $275,000. 

Nationwide, you need about $99,000 a year to buy a median-price home in the U.S., which costs around $389,000.

Home prices have surged 47.1% since the start of 2020, easily outstripping the gains seen in recent decades.

That's according to a recent analysis by ResiClub of the Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, which showed that house prices in the 1990s and 2010s grew a respective 30.1% and 44.7%. 

Economists predict that mortgage rates will remain elevated in 2024 and that they will only begin to fall once the Federal Reserve starts cutting rates. Even then, rates are unlikely to return to the lows seen during the pandemic.

FOX Business contributed to this report.