I can’t speak for all of Orange County, but that is not the case in my little Irvine/Newport area. It looks like you live in Arizona so I’m sure you know more about it than people who live here though, right?
Yes, that is the case in OC.
I used to live in the Irvine area many decades ago.
The housing prices were crazy even back then...
I was renting an apartment for years there because the houses were way out of my financial reach.
I got a job offer in the Northeast (small town) at the same salary and decided to take the offer.
I walked into the local Northeast real estate office and told the guy I wanted to buy a house.
He asked my salary and I told him.
He showed me a wall full of pictures of every kind of house you can imagine.
He said “with that salary you can afford any of them.
Pick some for us to visit.”
I did buy one—four bedrooms, acre of land, less than ten year old house.
Crazy stuff.