Everything else equal, we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.
I’d much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I’d rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.
And while every neighbhorhood in San Diego might be more expensive than living in rural California, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.
What exactly are those San Diego neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further — you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?
Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and determine which neighborhoods in San Diego are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.
What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in San Diego for 2024? According to the most recent census data, Gaslamp Quarter looks to be the cheapest San Diego neighborhood to live in.
At this point, we should make it clear that you do get what you pay for — some of these neighborhoods might not be the best places to live in San Diego. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates for more space and cheaper groceries.
Read on to see how we determined the places around San Diego that deserve a little bragging rights, or maybe you’re interested in the worst neighborhoods in San Diego.
For more California reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In California
- Cheapest Places To Live In California
- Cheapest Cities To Live In America
- Cheapest States To Live In America
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In San Diego For 2024
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Population: 1,003
Cost Of Living Index: 112 (4th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.2 (3rd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.016 (5th cheapest)
More on Gaslamp Quarter: Data | Real Estate
/10
Population: 6,059
Cost Of Living Index: 118 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.8 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.02 (28th cheapest)
More on Palm City: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 22,838
Cost Of Living Index: 129 (26th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.2 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.02 (19th cheapest)
More on Bay Terrace: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 10,383
Cost Of Living Index: 127 (20th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.4 (18th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.02 (22nd cheapest)
More on Webster: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 10,572
Cost Of Living Index: 127 (20th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.2 (14th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.021 (39th cheapest)
More on Sky Line: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 10,962
Cost Of Living Index: 123 (14th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.1 (13th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.023 (52nd cheapest)
More on Midtown District: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 13,423
Cost Of Living Index: 154 (64th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.1 (11th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.017 (9th cheapest)
More on San Carlos: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 38,743
Cost Of Living Index: 108 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 4.8 (6th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.03 (77th cheapest)
More on City Heights East: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 3,770
Cost Of Living Index: 102 (cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.9 (2nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.033 (82nd cheapest)
More on Core: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 17,552
Cost Of Living Index: 127 (20th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 5.6 (22nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.022 (43rd cheapest)
More on Paradise Hills: Data | Real Estate
Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest San Diego Hoods In 2024
To rank the cheapest places to live in San Diego, we had to determine what criteria define “cheap” and then apply Saturday Night Science.
Using Census and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:
- Overall Cost Of Living
- Rent To Income Ratio
- Median Home Value To Income Ratio
We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 85 in each category, where 1 was the cheapest.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a cheap neighborhood index.
And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index, the “Cheapest City Neighborhood In San Diego.” We’re lookin’ at you, Gaslamp Quarter.
We updated this article for 2024. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in San Diego. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from cheapest to most expensive.
Summary: Lowest Cost Places To Live In San Diego
If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in San Diego where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.
The most affordable neighborhoods in San Diego are Gaslamp Quarter, Palm City, Bay Terrace, Webster, Sky Line, Midtown District, San Carlos, City Heights East, Core, and Paradise Hills.
As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in San Diego aren’t all cheap. Horton Plaza takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in San Diego.
The most expensive neighborhoods in San Diego are Horton Plaza, Rolando, Ocean Beach, Wooded Area, and East Village.
We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.
For more California reading, check out:
- Most Dangerous Cities In California
- Richest Cities In California
- Safest Places In California
- Worst Places To Live In California
