Horror stories about rent in America’s Finest City might be bad, but there are worse tales throughout California.

San Diegans — as measured against a percentage of household income — paid more for rental housing than residents of San Francisco and even parts of Silicon Valley in the last few years, says a new report by London Group Realty Advisors that used the figure to illustrate a need for more housing.

But it’s not as expensive as Santa Barbara County, where the median rent devoured 48 percent of the median income of families who rented, or Santa Cruz County, where they paid 41 percent of median income on rent, said the most-recently available U.S. Census data from 2014.

Renters in San Diego and Orange counties shelled out about 35 percent of their incomes, whereas San Franciscans paid 29 percent and Mountain View renters, in the heart of Silicon Valley, paid 27 percent.

Employers said such high housing costs made it harder to recruit workers, said the London Group report, paid for by the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.

“We’re competing for top talent for places outside California,” said Alison Phillips, chamber spokeswoman. “ . . . We’re looking at competitor cities like Austin, Denver or Boston.”

Housing is expected to be in short supply in San Diego for the foreseeable future because building is not keeping up with job growth, the London Group report said. The county is expected to add 460,462 jobs by 2050.

Even though San Diego County was not the worst off, the inability to find “reasonably priced” housing near work was the chief obstacle to recruiting and retaining workers, said a survey of 202 local employers from May 27 to June 2 by Wrentham, Mass.-based BW Research Partnership.

Real estate economists say that whenever people pay more than 30 percent of income on housing, the local economy suffers because households have less money to spend on other stuff, like food and consumer goods.

“That threshold can’t be higher for California because it just measures (money) you have left over after you pay housing,” said Alan Gin, economist at the University of San Diego.

Gin said local policymakers should take no comfort in knowing that renters are more distressed in Imperial County or other lower-income regions. Instead, they should focus on San Diego’s disadvantage to similar competitors, such as San Francisco and Santa Clara counties.

Gin also said that local policymakers should focus on how San Diego compares with counties with higher incomes. By this standard, the region looks expensive.

Of the 15 counties with the highest annual incomes, only Santa Barbara County (48.5 percent) was substantially higher than San Diego, which along with Orange and Marin had the median household spending roughly 35 percent of income on rent.

He said some inland counties have higher rent-to-income ratios simply because their economies are poorer. For instance, Imperial County renters made a median $22,590 a year in 2014 — $24,160 less than those in San Diego County.

There were 20 counties in California where renters paid more of their incomes than San Diego, including Imperial, Mendocino, Humboldt, Shasta, Los Angeles, San Bernardino and San Luis Obispo counties.

Rent Comparison of the 15 counties with the highest income

Rank Area Monthly rent Annual renter's household income Percentage of income 1 Santa Barbara County 1,787 44,228 48.49% 2 Marin County 1,741 58,583 35.66% 3 Orange County 1,572 52,973 35.61% 4 San Diego County 1,373 46,750 35.24% 5 Ventura County 1,505 $51,941 34.77% 6 Sonoma County 1,374 $47,632 34.62% 7 Contra Costa County 1,443 51,551 33.59% 8 Solano County 1,293 $46,380 33.45% 9 Napa County 1,450 52,800 32.95% 10 Alameda County 1,391 51,375 32.49% 11 Monterey County 1,233 45,776 32.32% 12 Placer County 1,258 46,873 32.21% 13 San Mateo County 1,793 70,251 30.63% 14 Santa Clara County 1,787 70,872 30.26% 15 San Francisco County 1,587 66,528 28.63%

Rent Comparison of California Coastal Counties

Rank Area Monthly rent Annual renter's household income Percentage of income 1 Santa Barbara County 1,787 44,228 48.49% 2 Santa Cruz County 1,477 42,795 41.42% 3 Mendocino County 935 27,553 40.72% 4 Humboldt County 895 27,249 39.41% 5 Los Angeles County 1,239 39,678 37.47% 6 San Luis Obispo County 1,219 40,613 36.02% 7 Marin County 1,741 58,583 35.66% 8 Orange County 1,572 52,973 35.61% 9 San Diego County 1,373 46,750 35.24% 10 Ventura County 1,505 $51,941 34.77% 11 Sonoma County 1,374 $47,632 34.62% 12 Monterey County 1,233 45,776 32.32% 13 San Mateo County 1,793 70,251 30.63% 14 San Francisco County 1,587 66,528 28.63%

View the Video Rents on the rise in coming years

Reporting by Molnar, interactive graphics by Wheaton