Salinas’s American dream remains out of reach despite its agricultural wealth

Salinas in California’s central valley, known as the “salad bowl of the world”, remains a place where homeownership and financial security are out of reach for many residents.

The area produces more than half of the US lettuce supply and nearly a third of its strawberries. A Brookings Institution analysis found that nearly 60% of Salinas’s middle class cannot afford basic necessities—twice the national average.

Netflix released its limited series adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden on 1 October. The 1952 novel portrayed the valley as a land of opportunity while also showing immigrants and farm workers trapped in low-paid work.

Housing squeezes the middle class

Brookings defines Salinas’s middle class as households earning $38,000 to $193,000. Among Latino middle-class households, which account for 40% of the area’s middle class, three-quarters struggle to afford everyday life.

Salinas’s median household income is just under $90,000, compared with about $150,000 in San Jose and San Francisco. Housing growth has been constrained by the city’s proximity to Silicon Valley and surrounding farmland, leaving supply limited for years.

Residents cut everyday spending

Gaye Freedman moved to Salinas with her husband in 2017. Together they receive about $75,000 a year, but pay $1,850 for a one-bedroom apartment. After rent and Medicare payments, little remains for food, fuel or repairs to their 14-year-old car.

Salvador Herrera, a former construction worker, relies on disability payments after a workplace injury. He said rising rent sometimes leaves him with only $50 for groceries for himself and his two children.

Rent rules divide the city

In 2024, the city council introduced rent stabilization for some multifamily properties, limiting annual increases to 2.75% or three-quarters of annual inflation, whichever was lower. A new council repealed the policy the following year, arguing that it unfairly penalized apartment owners.

Salinas mayor Dennis Donohue said the city faces Bay Area economic pressures without matching economic opportunities. Brookings fellow Andre Perry said people once moved to Salinas seeking relief from more expensive cities but increasingly find it harder to live there.