Want another reason for the high cost of local living?

By one widely-watched home-price benchmark, the strongest appreciation nationwide this century was in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

The S&P/Case-Shiller indexes are curious real estate yardsticks, invented by and named for two pioneering professors in housing economics. This benchmark is narrow in scope as it follows housing in just 20 large U.S. markets. Think of it as housing’s equivalent to the Dow Jones industrial index, the venerable Wall Street tracker of 30 publicly traded and well-known companies.

When I tossed S&P/Case-Shiller data into my trusty spreadsheet I learned prices in L.A.-O.C. have surged to a nation’s best 171 percent since January 2000. (Ahem, that includes the housing bubble bursting!) And these 21st-century gains easily topped a 105 percent gain for S&P/Case-Shiller’s composite index that tracks all 20 cities.

Oh, by the way: Cleveland was No. 20 at 17 percent (Yes, one-tenth of the L.A.-O.C. gain!) No Cleveland snickers, please.

S&P/Case-Shiller indexes also show L.A.-O.C. prices are among national pricing leaders in more recent times. The local index was up 7.5 percent last year (No. 4 out of 20) and rose 52 percent since 2012 (fifth-highest.) As a comparison, S&P/Case-Shiller’s 20-city composite was up 6.3 percent last year and up 40 percent in the past five years.

Looking at how the other 19 cities tracked by S&P/Case-Shiller have moved — since 2000, last year and past five years — clear patterns emerge:

First, the West Coast dominated rankings by performance this century.

No. 2 San Francisco — Up 152 percent this century; 9.2 percent in ’17; and 71 percent since ’12.

No. 3 San Diego — Up 146 percent; 7.4 percent in ’17; and 50 percent since ’12.

No. 4 Seattle — Up 134 percent; 12.7 percent in ’17; and 64 percent since ’12.

No. 6 Portland — Up 124 percent; 6.8 percent in ’17; and 58 percent since ’12.

Second, the Midwest lagged in the same period …

No.18 Chicago — Up 40 percent; 2.6 percent in ’17; and 24 percent since ’12.

No. 19 Detroit — Up 18 percent; 7.1 percent in ’17; and 45 percent since ’12.

No. 20 Cleveland — Up 17 percent; 3.4 percent in ’17; and 16 percent since ’12.

Third, some fast-growth cities enjoyed West Coast-sized gains in the past five years …

Miami — Up 50 percent since ’12; and 129 percent this century; 3.6 percent in ’17.

Denver — Up 52 percent since ’12; and 105 percent this century; 7.4 percent in ’17.

Tampa — Up 51 percent since ’12; 103 percent this century; 6.1 percent in ’17.

Dallas — Up 50 percent since ’12; and 81 percent this century; 6.9 percent in ’17.

Las Vegas — Up 67 percent since ’12; and 71 percent this century; 11.1 percent in ’17.

Atlanta — Up 46 percent since ’12; and 41 percent this century; 5.4 percent in ’17.

Four, since 2012 the market has been markedly slower in the Northeast …

Washington, D.C. — Up 17 percent since ’12; and 121 percent this century; 2.8 percent in ’17.

Boston — Up 33 percent since ’12; and 104 percent this century; 5.5 percent in ’17.

New York — Up 21 percent since ’12; and 96 percent this century; 5.4 percent in ’17.

And, five: Certain markets just plod higher at a moderate pace …

Phoenix — Up 73 percent this century; 5.6 percent in ’17; and 39 percent since ’12.

Minneapolis — Up 63 percent this century; 5.2 percent in ’17; and 30 percent since ’12.

Charlotte — Up 52 percent this century; 5.9 percent in ’17; and 31 percent since ’12.

Please note the statistical base for S&P/Case-Shiller indexes is not averages or medians of sales prices in a given period — say, like CoreLogic data or indexes from Realtor associations. Rather, S&P/Case-Shiller tracks appreciation (or depreciation, remember THAT?) of individual homes sold in each period. That’s not necessarily better, or worse. Just different.

And this math takes time. So, for example, the S&P/Case-Shiller results for December were released the same day CoreLogic put out its January report for Southern California. (To confuse you even more: CoreLogic owns S&P/Case-Shiller indexes!)

But numerology aside, S&P/Case-Shiller shows folks are paying up for housing — even after the painful losses of the last decade — all over the nation. It’s just a bigger bite in L.A.-O.C.

In case you missed it …

Los Angeles-Orange County homeownership at 9-year high, but 4th lowest in U.S.

California migration: Come for jobs, leave to retire

Southern California’s job growth only boosts its unaffordability