San Diego, CA
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, San Diego ranks 23rd for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 9th for income. A household earns $109,132 a year while median rent runs $2,336/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 12% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is household income (9th of 300), while rent is the soft spot (298th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 298th and home prices 295th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in San Diego, your take-home is worth about $52,103 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it less than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 9th of 300↑29.9%$109,132
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 296th of 300112 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $97,538
- Per-capita income
- $53,674
- Full-time pay
- $52,883
Housing
- Median rent
- 298th of 300↑32.9%$2,336/mo
- Home value
- 295th of 300↑47.7%$914,700
- Property tax
- $5,948/yr · 0.7%
- Sales tax
- 8.80%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 216th of 3005.1%
- Bachelor's+
- 29th of 30045.2%
- Avg commute
- 213th of 30026.1 min
People
- Population
- 3,298,799
- Population change
- -1.2%
- Median age
- 37.8 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 23.7%
- Broadband
- 96.2%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 295th of 30071
- Natural-hazard loss
- 252nd of 300$22/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 147th of 30018.4%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 8.7%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Education
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Job market
- – Commute
- – Air quality
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — ramona ap.
What jobs pay in San Diego
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $295,530
- IT managers
- $206,740
- Lawyers
- $178,220
- Financial managers
- $174,210
- Pharmacists
- $165,130
- Software developers
- $163,270
- Registered nurses
- $139,520
- General & operations managers
- $119,600
- Police officers
- $110,400
- Civil engineers
- $108,900
- Secondary school teachers
- $102,810
- Web developers
- $98,300
- Elementary school teachers
- $97,000
- Accountants & auditors
- $96,340
- Electricians
- $76,160
- Carpenters
- $73,200
- Plumbers
- $72,510
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $59,780
- Construction laborers
- $57,180
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $54,530
- Customer service reps
- $48,730
- Janitors
- $38,450
- Retail salespersons
- $37,810
- Cashiers
- $37,020
- Waiters & waitresses
- $35,850
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the San Diego metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in California are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Virginia6,627
- Washington5,921
- Florida5,657
- Arizona5,453
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like San Diego
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
San Diego metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the San Diego metro?
- Median gross rent across the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA Metro Area is $2,336 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of San Diego.
- What is the median household income in the San Diego metro?
- A typical household in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA Metro Area earns $109,132 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is San Diego expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA Metro Area runs about 12% above the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are higher than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the San Diego metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $97,538 (versus its face value of $109,132). CityLedger rates the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the San Diego metro?
- The median home value across the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA Metro Area is $914,700 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the San Diego metro?
- The unemployment rate in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA Metro Area is 5.1% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).