Day in and out we hear about the profound number of capital-area residents struggling with mortgages and the thousands who owe more on their home loan than their houses are worth.

There’s another crowd without such worries. They have paid off their loans.

The 

Nationally, where owning a house is cheaper, 31.6 percent of owner- occupiers have paid off their mortgages, the bureau reports.

The six-county capital area, incidentally, is home now to almost 1 million single-family houses, condos, apartments and townhouses. The newest 2008 American FactFinder puts the region’s residential tally at 990,187.

U.S. Census Bureau estimates 23.5 percent of homes occupied by their owners in El Dorado,Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties are free and clear of mortgages. That’s about the state average. No more counting down years, and no sleepless nights.