With a booming healthcare sector and one of the nation’s leading logistics and industrial hubs, the Inland Empire has remained one of California’s fastest-growing labor markets. Employment reached record levels in 2025, with the region adding nearly 15,000 jobs year-over-year and surpassing 1.7 million jobs. While growth moderated in 2026, healthcare and social assistance continued to drive job creation and support the region’s long-term economic expansion.

Since 2000, the Inland Empire’s population has grown 34x faster than the construction of institutional-quality apartment homes. The region’s population is forecasted to grow by another 83,000+ residents over the next 5 years, outpacing every other metro in California and the construction of new housing.

Extraordinary population and economic growth has resulted in a severe supply/demand imbalance, leading to incredible rent growth and a systemically strong rental market in Corona. Since 2000, the city has seen its population grow by 38,000 (+30%), while the number of apartments constructed has only averaged ±90 units per year. This translates to a demand imbalance nearly 14x greater than the amount of rental supply being delivered. With no institutional apartment projects under construction in Corona, demand is expected to continue to outpace supply for the foreseeable future.

The Corona/Riverside submarket is one of the best performing rental submarkets in the Inland Empire. Limited new deliveries have contributed to consistently high occupancy rates and above-average rent growth in the submarket. Since 2020, rents in the submarket grew by an average of 4.5% per year while maintaining occupancy of 95%. With a very limited pipeline going forward, these trends are expected to continue, with CoStar forecasting rent growth to average 3.3% per year through 2029.

With over 122 million square feet of industrial space, the Corona/Riverside submarket has become one of the nation’s most robust industrial hubs. Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, CIRCOR Aerospace, and Airmark International are all located less than five miles from The Cooper. The region also boasts a thriving healthcare sector, with over 8.4 million square feet of medical office space and nearly $2 billion in recent and planned healthcare expansion projects within a 30-minute commute of The Cooper, including Kaiser Riverside, which anticipates a Q1 2027 completion date for its $735 million expansion. Other major employers in Corona include Monster Beverage Corporate HQ, Fender Musical Instruments, and the Corona Regional Medical Center.