The Southern California region received a failing grade for mobility and barely avoided failing marks in housing and education, according to the annual State of the Region Report Card issued Thursday by the Southern California Association of Governments.

Overall, the Southern California region including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial and Ventura counties received one “F”, two “D’s” in housing and education, two “C’s” in air quality and in personal incomes and two “B’s” in employment and public safety for the year 2004.

The grades in income and air quality went up one notch from 2003, while the grade in mobility went down from a “D-.”

The decision to give an “F” for mobility reflects L.A.’s status as the most congested metropolitan region in the country, with drivers experiencing on average 93 hours of traffic delays each year. The report card also cited reductions in carpooling and increases in fatal traffic accidents in 2004.

On the housing front, while the report cites progress in building housing units, it said the record rise in real estate prices far outstripped income growth, leading to a near-record-low level for housing affordability. Meanwhile, on education, the report card notes that student test scores and dropout rates have not improved significantly since 2000.

The “C” or “average” grade in personal income reflects 2 percent real income growth (after inflation) in 2004 that was offset by a persistently high 14 percent poverty rate.

The bright spots on the report card were employment and public safety. The report card noted that in 2004 the six-county region achieved the first significant year of payroll job creation (a total of 90,000 jobs), though L.A. County was one of the weakest performers. And the report said violent crime rates declined 10 percent across the region in 2004.

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View the full report

on the Southern California Association of Governments Web site.