Proponents of home ownership argue that it ties people more closely to a community and makes people more invested in taking care of a neighborhood.
There are many factors that determine how much of a community is made up of homeowners vs. renters - age of the community, income, whether a town is mostly single-family housing or multi-family housing.
The Patch-created map above shows the percentage of the town's population that owns a home, based on figures from the 2010 census. A full window view of the map is available here.
With the exception of Alhambra and Pasadena, South Pasadena has a lower home ownership rate than its neighbors. In South Pas, as the map shows, 51.8 percent of the population lives in a home they own. Only Alhambra, at 43.4 percent, and Pasadena, with 48.1 percent are lower. Neighboring cities have higher rates: 90.6 percent in San Marino, 89.3 percent in La Cañada and 71.7 percent in Altadena.
With the above map, you can compare the different home ownership rates across L.A. County - the redder cities have the lowest rate, the greener the highest and the shades of orange and yellow are in between.
Do you think a high level of home ownership is important in a community? Share your views with us in the comments section.
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