San Diego Rental Research

Research from McKee Properties

Data on San Diego rentals, from public records

McKee Properties has managed rentals in San Diego County since 1982. In this section we publish short studies built from public data: City license files, court statistics, Census surveys, federal rent standards and military housing allowances. Every figure names its source and the period it covers, and the data behind each study can be downloaded and reused.

• Data study

  36.2

  San Diego's Licensed Short-Term Rentals: Where They Are

  Licensed short-term rentals per 100 homes in Mission Beach, against 1.5 citywide. The City of San Diego listed 8,437 active short-term rental licenses on November 12, 2026. Where they are, by community, and how close the capped tiers are to full.

• Data study

  $255

  Does BAH Cover the Rent? Coronado and San Diego Bay ZIP Codes, 2026

  Monthly shortfall for an E-5 with dependents against Coronado's two-bedroom fair market rent. The 2026 housing allowance for San Diego against HUD's fair market rents in 7 ZIP codes around the bay. Coronado is the only one where BAH falls short, and it does at every DoD benchmark.

• Data study

  16.3

  Eviction Filings in San Diego County, Year by Year

  Eviction filings per 1,000 renter households in San Diego County, against 20.9 statewide. Unlawful detainer filings in San Diego County Superior Court for 7 fiscal years, from before the pandemic to 2024–25, and how the county compares with its neighbors.

• Statistics

  45.5%

  San Diego Rental Market Statistics

  Share of San Diego County households that rent their home, 546,051 of 1,200,532 in 2025. Renters, rents, rent burden, fair market rents, eviction filings, short-term rental licenses, housing allowances and rent caps for San Diego County, each with its source and date.

How we work

• Each figure is computed by a script from files downloaded from the original source, and checked a second time against the source by a separate script before the page is published.
• Each page states the source, the period and the limits of the data, including what it does not measure.
• We publish counts for areas such as community planning areas, cities and ZIP codes, never for individual homes, owners or tenants.
• These pages are general information about the rental market, not legal or tax advice.

Using our data

The tables on these pages are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0. Please credit McKee Properties and link to the page you used. Journalists and researchers can reach us at (619) 435-7780 or info@mckeecompany.com.

Sources used in this section

• California Civil Code § 1947.12 (AB 1482 rent cap): leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CIV&sectionNum=1947.12.
• California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, Price Gouging: www.caloes.ca.gov/cal-oes-divisions/legal-affairs/price-gouging
• California Penal Code § 396: leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&sectionNum=396.
• City of Imperial Beach, Transient Occupancy Tax: www.imperialbeachca.gov/537/Transient-Occupancy-Tax-TOT
• City of San Diego open data, Active licenses for Short-Term Residential Occupancy (CSV): data.sandiego.gov/datasets/stro-licenses/
• City of San Diego, Office of the City Treasurer, Short-Term Residential Occupancy (tier counts, caps and rules): www.sandiego.gov/treasurer/short-term-residential-occupancy
• City of San Diego, Office of the City Treasurer, Transient Occupancy Tax: www.sandiego.gov/treasurer/taxesfees/tot
• City of San Diego, Tier 4 waitlist: www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2026-09/tier-4-waitlist-master-website-09.15.2026.pdf
• Defense Department, A Primer on the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) for the Uniformed Services: media.defense.gov/2022/Jun/23/2003023204/-1/-1/0/BAH-PRIMER.PDF
• Defense Travel Management Office, 2026 BAH rates, all locations and pay grades (ASCII files): www.travel.dod.mil/Allowances/Basic-Allowance-for-Housing/BAH-Rate-Lookup/
• HUD, FY2027 Small Area Fair Market Rents (data file and schedule): www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html
• HUD, Reevaluation Requests for FY2027 Fair Market Rents: www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/fmr2027/Reevaluation-Requests-FY27-FMRs.pdf
• HUD, Small Area Fair Market Rents Methodology, FY2027: www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/fmr2027/FY27-Public-SAFMR-Methodology.pdf
• Judicial Council of California, Court Statistics Report 2025, Table 4a: courts.ca.gov/system/files/file/2025-court-statistics-report_0.pdf
• Judicial Council of California, Court Statistics Report 2026, Table 4a (Total Civil Filings, by County and Case Type) and Table 5i: courts.ca.gov/system/files/file/csr_2026.pdf
• Judicial Council of California, Court Statistics Reports 2020 to 2024, Table 4a (Internet Archive copies of the Judicial Council's files): courts.ca.gov/news-reference/research-data/court-statistics
• San Diego Municipal Code, Chapter 5, Article 10, Division 1 (Short-Term Residential Occupancy): docs.sandiego.gov/municode/MuniCodeChapter05/Ch05Art10Division01.pdf
• SANDAG Estimates v25.1, Housing Units by Community Planning Area: opendata.sandag.org/d/9pdi-8xa3
• SANDAG Estimates v25.1, Housing Units by Jurisdiction: opendata.sandag.org/d/bxut-uz3j
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U San Diego-Carlsbad (series CUURS49ESA0): data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUURS49ESA0
• U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, tables B25003, B25064 and B25070: data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003
• U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2025 1-year Data Profile DP04, used for the independent check: data.census.gov/table/ACSDP1Y2025.DP04
• U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2025 1-year estimates, table B25003 (Tenure), California counties: data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2025.B25003
• Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), all homes, smoothed, by city and ZIP code: www.zillow.com/research/data/

For the rules behind the numbers, see the California landlord law library and the San Diego property management guide. For Coronado, see the Coronado Rental Guide.