San Diego Ranked As Most Expensive City To Live In U.S. According To New Study

A new study by the U.S. News and World Report released on Thursday found that San Diego is the most expensive city to live in in 2023, with 12 of the top 20 most expensive cities being within California.

According to the study, San Diego, Los Angeles, Honolulu,  Miami, and Santa Barbara are the 5 most expensive cities in the country. San Francisco, Santa Rosa, and Salinas grab the next three top spots, with Vallejo/Fairfield coming in at 10th, San Jose at 14th, Sacramento at 15th, Stockton at 17th, Modesto at 19th, and finally Fresno at 20th.

For San Diego, high home and rent prices combined with the area being a desired place to live and an overall high cost of living make the city the most expensive in the U.S. The median home price within the city is $919,000, well over L.A.’s median price of $836,000 and Santa Barbara’s of $465,000. However, San Diego comes just below Salinas’ $925,000 median home price and well below San Francisco’s, which is currently a whopping $1.1 million.

Rent for the cities is on a similar level. The average rental price in San Diego is $1,800 a month, while in Los Angeles only a few hours away it is just under $1,700. Salinas comes in with a price comparable to L.A. and Santa Barbara’s average rent is about the same as San Diego. However, San Francisco leads the pack once again with an average rental price just above $2,100.

While San Francisco has many indicators that they would top the list, as the cost of living there is also very high, drastically reduced desirability in recent years because of crime, homelessness, flagrant open drug use, and several other factors lowered their ranking on the list significantly. Los Angeles was also spared the top spot thanks to a slightly less cost of living and somewhat cheaper home and rental prices. While L.A. is still a highly desirable place to live, L.A.’s overall popularity couldn’t move it past San Diego.

Living in San Diego is not particularly affordable,” said the study. “Home prices are considerably higher than the national median sale price. Additionally, many living in the downtown area have to pay homeowners association fees, used to maintain common areas in apartment and condominium complexes. San Diegans are willing to pay these elevated prices, though, often referring to the cost-of-living differences as the “sunshine tax,” or the price of enjoying a year-round temperate climate.”

Cost of living experts told the Globe on Thursday that the results were not surprising as both L.A. and San Diego have remained popular despite the state losing around 800,000 residents between January 2020 and January 2023.

“San Francisco used to top these lists and studies before the COVID pandemic happened,” Marilyn Dorian, a cost of living advisor based in Southern California, told the Globe. “Crime wasn’t as bad, and the city was surging thanks to money coming in from the tech industry. But now? The city has fallen fast. Prices for homes are only as high as they are now because people don’t want to part for them without making a profit. Pay is significantly higher here, but that’s because it has to be do to all the higher costs.”

“San Jose is still ranked high, but notice that Oakland is now no longer in the top 25. The cities where these residents are fleeing to in the surrounding area are facing higher costs as a result, so you see Stockton and Sacramento here. These cities used to be referred to as cow towns, but now they are cities still growing in California while San Francisco is now in decline.”

“But, as we saw, San Diego and Los Angeles top the list. People still want to live there, want the weather, and have a lot of good paying jobs there. Problem is that it brings higher prices along with it. More people, the prices on things goes up, and that is what we’ve been seeing. L.A. shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone as it has always been up here for years. And neither should San Diego, who is now the most expensive. They have problems with crime too, but nowhere near what San Francisco has become. So San Francisco may still have high home prices and rental prices, but they just are not overall as expensive as SoCal cities anymore. And they will probably decline more in the next several years.”

More studies on the high costs of California are to come out soon.