Thinking About Leaving San Diego? Here's What People Are Actually Doing

I'm going to do something a little unusual for a real estate blog: talk honestly about people leaving San Diego, instead of just selling you on staying.

Here's the truth, as a REALTOR® who makes a living helping people buy and sell homes here, it would be easy to only ever talk about why San Diego is great. And a lot of it genuinely is. But I've had enough real conversations with clients weighing a move out of the county that I think this topic deserves an honest answer, not a sales pitch. So let's look at what the data actually says, and what it might mean for you.

The Numbers: Who's Actually Leaving, and Where They're Going

Recent housing search data shows a real split: roughly 19% of San Diego homebuyers are searching to move out of the metro area entirely, while the large majority — 81% — are looking to stay within San Diego. So this isn't a mass exodus by any stretch, but it's also not nothing.

Of the people searching to leave, the most common out-of-state destinations are Las Vegas, followed by Dallas and Tucson. All three share an obvious throughline: significantly lower housing costs and no state income tax, in the case of Nevada and Texas. San Diego County has also seen genuine net population loss in recent years — tens of thousands more people leaving than arriving in some periods — largely tied to the same underlying driver: the cost of housing here has simply outpaced what a lot of households can sustain, especially when remote work makes staying unnecessary for the paycheck.

At the same time, San Diego is still pulling people in. More homebuyers are searching to move into San Diego from Los Angeles than from any other metro, followed by San Francisco and Washington, D.C. — which tells you something important: San Diego isn't losing its appeal broadly, it's more that the people leaving and the people arriving are often solving different problems. People leaving LA or SF are frequently trading an even more expensive market for a somewhat more livable one. People leaving San Diego are often chasing the next tier down in cost.

Why People Actually Leave

It mostly comes down to cost, and the numbers are worth being honest about. Comfortable living for a single adult in San Diego now generally requires somewhere in the $95,000-$125,000 range annually, and a family of four often needs $150,000-$200,000 to live without constant financial strain. San Diego's overall cost of living runs roughly 50% above the national average, with housing as the single biggest driver — median home prices sit north of $900,000, and even renting isn't a cheap alternative, with one-bedroom apartments in desirable neighborhoods commonly running $2,100-$3,300 a month.

For some households, wages in strong local sectors like biotech, tech, and defense can offset that gap. For others — especially anyone whose income isn't tied to those higher-paying industries, or anyone who can now work remotely from anywhere — the math increasingly doesn't work, and a lower-cost metro starts looking like the more responsible choice, not just an appealing one.

Why Most People Stay Anyway

Here's the other side, and it's not just a sales pitch: 81% of local homebuyer searches are still choosing to stay in San Diego, and that's not nothing given how loudly the cost-of-living conversation gets talked about. The climate, the coastline, the genuinely strong school districts in areas like San Dieguito, Poway, and Coronado, and a job market that's stable even if competitive — these are real, tangible reasons people choose to stay and make the finances work, even when it isn't easy.

I've also had plenty of clients who left for a cheaper market and came back within a few years. Not everyone, and not always — but "cheaper" and "better fit for my life" aren't always the same thing, and some people learn that the hard way after the move.

What I'd Actually Tell You

If you're seriously weighing whether to leave San Diego, I don't think the right move is for me to talk you out of it — that's not my job, and frankly it wouldn't be honest. What I can tell you is this: run the real numbers for your specific situation, not the county-wide averages. Your income, your job's flexibility around remote work, your family's specific needs, and what you're actually willing to trade away (climate, coastline, your existing community) all matter more than any statistic in this post.

If you're staying and just trying to make the math work, there are real strategies — buying in a more affordable pocket of the county, considering an ADU for rental income, or simply being strategic about timing your purchase — that can meaningfully change your monthly numbers without requiring you to leave the place you actually want to live.

And if you do decide to go, I'd rather help you make a clear-eyed, informed decision than pretend San Diego is right for absolutely everyone. It isn't. But for a lot of people, once they actually run the numbers against what they'd be trading away, staying — or finding the right way to make staying work — turns out to be the better call after all.

Weighing a Move, One Way or the Other?

Whether you're trying to make staying in San Diego work financially, or seriously exploring a move elsewhere, I'm happy to have an honest conversation about what actually makes sense for your situation — not just what's good for my business.

Trying to figure out if staying in San Diego still makes sense for you? Let's talk it through.

Lucas Monari
REALTOR® | DRE# 02163562
(858)405-5018
sd.soldbylucas@gmail.com
Coldwell Banker West