San Diego Rental Research › Rental statistics
45.5% of San Diego County households rent their home: 546,051 of 1,200,532 in 2025, against 44.3% across California. This page collects the figures that matter most for renting in San Diego, each with its source and date.
Key numbers for San Diego renters
- 546,051renter households in San Diego County, 45.5% of all householdsCensus Bureau, American Community Survey 2025
- $2,416median gross rent (rent plus utilities) paid by San Diego County renters, against $2,160 statewideAmerican Community Survey 2025
- 59.4%of the county's renters spend 30% or more of household income on rent; 30.4% spend 50% or moreAmerican Community Survey 2025
- $2,967typical asking rent in San Diego County in September 2026, up 2.2% over twelve monthsZillow Observed Rent Index
- 8,922eviction (unlawful detainer) cases filed in fiscal year 2024–25, 16.3 per 1,000 renter householdsJudicial Council of California; our eviction study
- 8.2%the most a covered San Diego County rent can rise in a year, for increases from August 1, 2026 to July 31, 2027Civil Code § 1947.12; BLS consumer price index
Who rents
In 2025, 546,051 of San Diego County's 1,200,532 households rented their home, or 45.5%, a little above the California share of 44.3% (American Community Survey 2025 one-year estimates). Across the county's 18 incorporated cities, the five-year estimates for 2020 to 2024 put the renter share highest in Imperial Beach (68.7%) and lowest in Poway (24.8%). The City of San Diego has 279,312 renter households, 52.7% of its total. In Coronado, 3,312 of 7,303 households rent (45.4%).
Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, table B25003. The California figure is from the 2025 1-year estimate.
| City | Households | Renter households | Share renting | Median gross rent | Rent burden |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego | 530,412 | 279,312 | 52.7% | $2,313 | 54.7% |
| Chula Vista | 85,710 | 34,429 | 40.2% | $2,229 | 62.2% |
| Oceanside | 61,947 | 25,806 | 41.7% | $2,303 | 61.3% |
| Escondido | 50,346 | 23,457 | 46.6% | $2,046 | 62.2% |
| El Cajon | 33,890 | 19,824 | 58.5% | $1,856 | 70.1% |
| Carlsbad | 44,038 | 16,350 | 37.1% | $2,808 | 56.6% |
| Vista | 32,323 | 15,620 | 48.3% | $2,249 | 59.6% |
| La Mesa | 25,038 | 13,105 | 52.3% | $2,049 | 60.8% |
| National City | 18,217 | 11,887 | 65.3% | $1,692 | 60.1% |
| San Marcos | 31,350 | 11,374 | 36.3% | $2,348 | 63.5% |
| Encinitas | 23,927 | 8,027 | 33.5% | $2,886 | 51.0% |
| Imperial Beach | 9,340 | 6,412 | 68.7% | $2,011 | 60.0% |
| Santee | 21,196 | 5,851 | 27.6% | $2,250 | 64.7% |
| Lemon Grove | 9,051 | 4,301 | 47.5% | $1,893 | 61.8% |
| Poway | 16,423 | 4,076 | 24.8% | $2,301 | 55.7% |
| Coronado | 7,303 | 3,312 | 45.4% | $3,257 | 61.7% |
| Solana Beach | 5,682 | 1,838 | 32.3% | $3,212 | 53.0% |
| Del Mar | 1,855 | 868 | 46.8% | $3,501 | 45.5% |
| San Diego County | 1,171,278 | 532,140 | 45.4% | $2,246 | 57.8% |
What rent costs
Three measures answer the question in different ways.
- What renters pay now. The median gross rent, rent plus utilities across all renter households including long-standing tenancies, was $2,416 a month in San Diego County in 2025, against $2,160 for California. By city, the five-year median for 2020 to 2024 ranged from $1,692 in National City to $3,501 in Del Mar; Coronado's was $3,257.
- What new leases ask. Zillow's typical asking rent for San Diego County was $2,967 in September 2026, up 2.2% from a year earlier. For the City of San Diego it was $3,004, and for Coronado $5,122. Asking rents exclude utilities.
- HUD's benchmark. HUD's fair market rent for fiscal year 2027, set at the 40th percentile of what recent movers pay including utilities, is $2,823 for a two-bedroom in San Diego County. HUD also sets fair market rents by ZIP code; the highest, $4,230 for a two-bedroom, applies in 4 ZIP codes including Coronado's 92118, and is the ceiling HUD's method allows.
| Studio | 1 bedroom | 2 bedrooms | 3 bedrooms | 4 bedrooms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $2,192 | $2,335 | $2,823 | $3,743 | $4,526 |
| Area | Typical rent, September 2026 | Change over 12 months |
|---|---|---|
| Rancho Santa Fe | $7,174 | n/a |
| Del Mar | $6,791 | n/a |
| Solana Beach | $5,784 | +10.0% |
| Coronado | $5,122 | +2.4% |
| Encinitas | $4,340 | +5.8% |
| Carlsbad | $3,531 | +4.4% |
| Poway | $3,325 | +3.9% |
| San Marcos | $3,311 | +2.8% |
| San Diego | $3,004 | +2.2% |
| Chula Vista | $2,935 | +1.8% |
| Fallbrook | $2,915 | +6.9% |
| Oceanside | $2,910 | +1.9% |
| Santee | $2,829 | +3.2% |
| Imperial Beach | $2,822 | −0.6% |
| Vista | $2,726 | +1.0% |
| Lemon Grove | $2,671 | +4.2% |
| La Mesa | $2,627 | +1.0% |
| Escondido | $2,590 | +0.5% |
| Ramona | $2,515 | +2.9% |
| Spring Valley | $2,454 | +2.7% |
| National City | $2,426 | +4.2% |
| Lakeside | $2,384 | +5.4% |
| Alpine | $2,274 | +1.7% |
| El Cajon | $2,259 | +0.5% |
| San Diego County | $2,967 | +2.2% |
Rent burden
HUD considers households that pay more than 30% of their income for housing to be cost-burdened. In San Diego County in 2025, 59.4% of renter households whose share could be computed spent 30% or more of their income on rent and utilities, against 55.5% statewide, and 30.4% spent 50% or more. The city table above gives the 30% figure for each city.
Evictions
8,922 unlawful detainer (eviction) cases were filed in San Diego County Superior Court in fiscal year 2024–25, close to the 8,788 filed in 2018–19, before the pandemic. That is 16.3 filings for every 1,000 renter households, against 20.9 statewide. A filing is not the same as an eviction; our study, eviction filings in San Diego County, year by year, has the full series and the comparison with nearby counties.
Short-term rentals
On November 12, 2026, the City of San Diego listed 8,437 active short-term rental licenses, about 1.5 for every 100 homes in the city. In Mission Beach the figure is 36.2 per 100 homes, and the whole-home tier there is full (1,094 of 1,099 Tier 4 licenses in use). See where San Diego's licensed short-term rentals are.
Short stays are taxed by the city where the home is. The City of San Diego's transient occupancy tax has been 11.75%, 12.75% or 13.75% depending on the tax zone since May 1, 2025 (Measure C). Imperial Beach charges 14%. Coronado does not allow short stays in its residential zones; see Coronado short-term rental rules.
Military renters
San Diego's 2026 housing allowance for an E-5 with dependents is $3,975 a month, the same anywhere in the county's military housing area. HUD's two-bedroom fair market rent in Coronado is $4,230, and in Coronado the allowance falls short at all 9 of the Defense Department's housing benchmarks, by $255 to $1,287 a month. See BAH vs rent in Coronado and San Diego Bay ZIP codes.
Rent increase limits
- State rent cap (AB 1482). For covered homes, a rent increase over any twelve months cannot exceed 5% plus the local rise in the cost of living, and never more than 10% (Civil Code § 1947.12). For San Diego County the index is the consumer price index for San Diego-Carlsbad. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes no April figure for San Diego, so the cap is generally applied using March: the index rose 3.2%, from 384.880 in March 2025 to 397.284 in March 2026, which makes the cap 8.2% for increases from August 1, 2026 to July 31, 2027. Some homes are exempt; see our guide to the California rent increase cap.
- Emergency rent limit (Penal Code 396). After a state or local emergency is declared, rents advertised, offered or charged for housing generally cannot rise more than 10% for the period the emergency order sets. As of November 12, 2026, the Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) listed San Diego County under this protection after Tropical Storm Rachel, through November 14, 2026. Emergencies can be extended or newly declared, so check the Cal OES price gouging page before setting a rent.
This is general information, not legal advice.
Method and limits
- Census figures. County and state figures are American Community Survey 2025 one-year estimates; city figures are 2020 to 2024 five-year estimates, the only ACS figures for the smaller cities. Both are survey estimates with margins of error, which are wide for the smallest cities, such as Del Mar and Solana Beach. Rent burden counts renter households whose gross rent as a share of income can be computed.
- Zillow. ZORI is Zillow's smoothed typical asking rent across all home types, without utilities. Zillow's city list includes some unincorporated communities, such as Spring Valley and Fallbrook.
- HUD. Fair market rents are HUD's estimate of the 40th percentile of gross rents paid by recent movers, set for the federal fiscal year that began October 1, 2026.
- Studies. The eviction, short-term rental and BAH figures come from our three studies, where each has its own method, sources and independent check.
Every figure on this page was calculated by a script from the downloaded sources and checked by a second script on November 12, 2026 against the Census Bureau's Data Profile tables, a fresh download of Zillow's county file, HUD's published schedule, the Bureau of Labor Statistics data service, the Cal OES and City pages, and the studies' own checked figures.
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2025 1-year estimates, tables B25003, B25064 and B25070, 2025: data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2025.B25003
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, tables B25003, B25064 and B25070, 2020-2024: data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003
- Zillow Research, Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), county and city files, through September 2026: www.zillow.com/research/data/
- HUD, fiscal year 2027 Fair Market Rents and Small Area Fair Market Rents, fiscal year 2027: www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html
- Judicial Council of California, Court Statistics Report 2026 (see our eviction filings study), fiscal year 2024-25: courts.ca.gov/news-reference/research-data/court-statistics
- City of San Diego open data, Active licenses for Short-Term Residential Occupancy (see our short-term rental study), November 12, 2026: data.sandiego.gov/datasets/stro-licenses/
- Defense Travel Management Office, 2026 BAH rates (see our BAH study), 2026: www.travel.dod.mil/Allowances/Basic-Allowance-for-Housing/BAH-Rate-Lookup/
- City of San Diego, Office of the City Treasurer, Transient Occupancy Tax, page updated June 3, 2025: www.sandiego.gov/treasurer/taxesfees/tot
- City of Imperial Beach, Transient Occupancy Tax, read November 12, 2026: www.imperialbeachca.gov/537/Transient-Occupancy-Tax-TOT
- California Civil Code § 1947.12 (AB 1482 rent cap), current text: leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CIV§ionNum=1947.12.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U San Diego-Carlsbad (series CUURS49ESA0), March 2025 and March 2026: data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUURS49ESA0
- California Penal Code § 396, current text: leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN§ionNum=396.
- California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, Price Gouging, read November 12, 2026: www.caloes.ca.gov/cal-oes-divisions/legal-affairs/price-gouging
Cite this page
McKee Properties. (2026). San Diego Rental Market Statistics. https://mckeecompany.com/research/san-diego-rental-statistics/
The data behind this page is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: download the CSV. Please credit McKee Properties and link to this page.
Questions about the data, or press inquiries: call (619) 435-7780 or email info@mckeecompany.com.
