Sell Your Commercial Property Fast In San Diego, CA

Who rents in San Diego

Renters are the majority in the City of San Diego. The 2020–2024 American Community Survey counts 1,389,526 residents living in 530,412 occupied homes, of which 279,312, or 52.7%, are rented. Median household income is $108,077, and median gross rent tops $2,300.

The cities named on our San Diego page show how renter demand shifts across the county. ACS 2020–2024 data puts El Cajon at 58.5% renters, the highest of the group and above the city of San Diego. Escondido follows at 46.6%, with Oceanside at 41.7% and Chula Vista at 40.2%. Incomes range just as widely, from $67,511 in El Cajon to $108,032 in Chula Vista.

The military is a fixed part of that demand. Naval Base San Diego, which the Navy calls its premier Pacific Fleet surface force installation, supports 54 homeported ships and more than 150 tenant commands. The base oversees 18 family housing areas, including Murphy Canyon with more than 4,900 homes, but sailors and civilian staff who do not get base housing look for rentals in the city and nearby.

Rents and affordability

Median gross rent in the city was $2,313 over 2020–2024. Oceanside's median was nearly identical at $2,303, while Chula Vista came in at $2,229, Escondido at $2,046 and El Cajon at $1,856. These are medians across all leases, including long-tenured ones, so the rent on a unit that turns today can be meaningfully higher.

The share of renters under strain is high everywhere in the county. In the city, 52.5% of renter households pay 30% or more of income on rent and 26.1% pay half or more, per ACS table B25070. El Cajon is the most stretched of the group, with 66.4% of renters at 30% or above and 38.5% at 50% or above. Chula Vista (59.2%), Escondido (59.0%) and Oceanside (58.5%) are all higher than the city.

HUD's FY2026 fair market rents for the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad metro, which anchor voucher payment standards, are $2,288 for a studio, $2,459 for a one-bedroom, $3,001 for a two-bedroom, $3,998 for a three-bedroom and $4,845 for a four-bedroom, according to HUD. The two-bedroom FMR of $3,001 sits well above the city's $2,313 median gross rent, so voucher tenancies can support solid rents in older buildings.

All figures are U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2020–2024 five-year estimates.

The apartment stock and new supply

The city has 568,668 housing units, and 215,815 of them, or 38.0%, are in buildings of five or more units, per ACS table B25024. By size, 55,189 units are in 5–9 unit buildings, 39,500 in 10–19 unit buildings, 37,059 in 20–49 unit buildings and 84,067 in buildings of 50 or more. That leaves about 132,000 units in the 5–49 unit range, the size range at the center of our buy box.

El Cajon is the most apartment-heavy of the cities on our page, with 41.4% of homes in 5+ unit buildings and 67.5% of all units built before 1980. Escondido has 28.0% of its homes in 5+ unit buildings, Chula Vista 24.1% and Oceanside 24.0%. Oceanside's 5+ stock leans small, with 5,838 units in 5–9 unit buildings, the largest group in its mix.

The building-size mix differs from city to city. In El Cajon the biggest block of apartment units, 5,120, sits in mid-size 20–49 unit buildings. Chula Vista's 5+ stock leans larger, with 8,013 units in 50+ unit complexes, and it is also the newest of the group, with 11.6% of its housing built in 2010 or later. Escondido has 6,429 units in 50+ unit buildings and a median year built of 1981. A seller in each of these cities is competing for a different buyer pool depending on building size.

Limited land shows up in the construction data. Only 9.0% of the city's housing units were built in 2010 or later, and just 1.5% in 2020 or later, while 52.4% predate 1980, per table B25034. The median year built is 1979. With so little recent supply relative to the size of the market, older buildings face limited competition from new product, but they also carry the maintenance needs of 40- to 60-year-old structures.

Property taxes in San Diego County

Apartments are taxed under the same Proposition 13 rules as other property. The Board of Equalization explains that the base rate is 1% of assessed value plus local voter-approved bond rates, and assessed value can grow no more than 2% a year until a change in ownership or new construction. A sale resets the value to market; under Assessors' Handbook 401, so does a transfer of more than 50% of an entity that holds the property. A building bought in the 1990s may be assessed at a fraction of what a buyer would pay now, so the buyer's projected tax line will be much higher than the seller's. Owners who think their current value is below the assessed value can file an appeal with the county's assessment appeals board; depending on the county, the window runs from July 2 to September 15 or November 30.

At sale, state law allows the county to levy a documentary transfer tax of $0.55 per $500 of value, and a city may add up to half that. The City of San Diego also imposes an annual Rental Unit Business Tax on anyone who owns, operates or manages residential rental property in the city, generally due March 1. A buyer will want to see that the account is current.

Landlord rules and local compliance

San Diego adds its own layer to state law. The city's Tenant Protection Ordinance, in the municipal code at Chapter 9, Article 8, Division 7, requires just cause to end a tenancy and requires landlords to give tenants a Tenant Protection Guide, with existing tenancies to be notified within 90 days of June 24, 2023. For a no-fault termination, the landlord must pay relocation assistance equal to two months of actual rent, or three months if the tenant is a senior or disabled. For owner move-in terminations on leases from June 24, 2023 on, the tenant must agree in writing or the lease must expressly allow it.

On rents, the state Tenant Protection Act caps increases on covered units at 5% plus regional CPI, or 10%, whichever is lower, through January 1, 2030. Units with a certificate of occupancy issued in the last 15 years are exempt, and Costa-Hawkins blocks local rent control on units with a certificate of occupancy issued after February 1, 1995. Deposits are capped at one month's rent for most landlords under Civil Code 1950.5, and a nonpayment notice under CCP 1161 gives three days excluding weekends and court holidays.

What this means if you own a building here

For a seller, the two biggest San Diego-specific items are the relocation cost built into any no-fault plan and the gap between your Prop 13 tax base and a buyer's. A buyer planning renovations will price in two or three months of rent per affected unit, so a building with long-tenured, below-market leases is valued on its in-place net operating income more than on its upside. Good records of TPO notices, Tenant Protection Guide delivery and Rental Unit Business Tax payments make diligence quicker.

You can test a cap rate against your current income with our cap rate calculator, and if you plan to reinvest, our 1031 exchange calculator shows the deferral math. Skyline Capital Investments buys 5+ unit buildings in San Diego, Chula Vista, El Cajon, Oceanside and Escondido; our seller page explains the process.