Nationally, roughly 40 percent of homeowners own their homes free and clear, per Census survey data, and our best estimate puts Orange County and much of SoCal in that same neighborhood, possibly a touch higher. We don't have an exact Southern California figure, so treat this as the national benchmark plus a reasoned local adjustment. The local logic comes down to tenure and the cost of selling. A lot of SoCal owners have held their homes a long time, and California's larger price appreciation means bigger built-up capital gains at sale. Potential tax on those gains, plus the cost of buying back into an expensive market, discourages selling and keeps people in paid-off homes longer than in many lower-appreciation parts of the country. If you need a precise local number, Census American Community Survey tables and county assessor data break down owned-free-and-clear rates by area. Anchor on the roughly 40 percent national figure and adjust up modestly for a long-tenure, high-cost market like SoCal.