Once again, my math shows one Orange County house costs roughly what three median-priced American homes do.

Yes, plenty of real estate affordability benchmarks exist. One I track is a personal concoction that paints a simple picture: the ratio of the median selling prices of existing single-family houses in Orange County to the same measure nationwide, according to the National Association of Realtors.

In 2016’s second quarter, Orange County median price was a record high $742,200. That’s the third highest among the 178 markets surveyed by the Realtors group. Nationwide, pricing hit $240,700, also a record.

This means local homes run 3.08 times national costs for the second quarter, or what I like to call the “Orange Premium.” Basically, real estate’s price of paradise.

Yes, that means theoretically you can buy one home here or three typical homes elsewhere. Yes, that’s reason to gulp a little.

It’s a stat that’s squeamish for more than a house hunter’s wallet. To the overall local economy, high home prices mean local bosses have to pay up salary-wise to compete for top talent.

Here are five trends behind this house pricing gap.

1. How long has the Orange Premium been this way?

Actually, the second-quarter premium is the smallest since 2012’s third quarter. So this is relatively small house-payment pain, by my O.C.-to-U.S. scale.

Orange County homes first sold at triple the U.S. price as the last economic expansion, from 2004 through 2007, fired up local real estate. The ensuing housing bubble bust and the Great Recession trimmed the Orange Premium to 2.75 percent from 2008 and 2009. Real estate’s rebound pushed the gap back above a triple – minus two tiny quarterly dips – ever since.

Let’s just say we are used to this.

2. Has the Orange Premium been worse?

My benchmark hit a cyclical peak at 3.41 in 2004 during the dot-com bust recovery.

The Orange Premium’s highest level for this rebound was 3.5 times in 2014’s first quarter. So we are clearly off the recent high, which is good for local employers seeking to lure out-of-town job candidates.

3. How did we get here?

The current shrinking premium is the result of U.S. home prices outpacing Orange County’s during the past two years, 14 percent to 7 percent, respectively.

In the five years coming out of the Great Recession, though, the gap got wider as Orange County gains topped U.S. price increases by 48 percent to 22 percent.

But one period – the eight years ended in 2004 – exploded the gap from roughly local homes being double the national cost to triple. Orange County home prices grew 94 percent in the period vs. 59 percent for the national median price.

4. So if I wanted a market with housing priced near the national median, where would I find it?

No seaside living for you! Here are six U.S. cities with home selling prices within $4,000 of the median of $240,700: Hartford, Conn.; Richmond, Va.; Las Vegas; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Worcester, Mass.; and Eugene, Ore.

5. Is high local pricing a drag on the market?

Remember, local prices are still rising, though at the slowest pace since early 2012. In the past two years, 105 of the 178 markets tracked by Realtors had larger price gains than Orange County.

This local price-gain slowdown has allowed U.S. home prices to top Orange County’s increases for eight consecutive quarters. The last time we saw a longer period where national market’s gains were consistently beating Orange County’s performance was during the 1990s and the lengthy local real estate malaise.

High prices certainly make it difficult for numerous Orange County house hunters to fit a deal into their budget. But the strongest local job market since the turn of the century creates enough potential owners to push up prices and sales volume strong.

Contact the writer: jlansner@scng.com

See: 30 years, 30 stories: Columnist Jon Lansner chooses his top O.C. business tales