county

San Diego County, CA

Demographic and economic profile of San Diego County, CA, sourced from the US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) via Data USA.

AI Overview

San Diego County has a population of 3.3 million with 42.1% holding a bachelor's degree or higher and a labor force participation rate of 66.3%, though unemployment sits at 6.2%. Median household income reaches $106,268 against a GDP per capita of $79,276, reflecting a productive regional economy, while median home values of $791,600 and median gross rent of $2,154/month signal elevated occupancy costs. The county posted a slight population decline of 0.6% over five years, and its 22.8% foreign-born share contributes to a broad multilingual workforce pool.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 · generated Jul 6, 2026 · derived from cached Census, BEA & ACS data on this page

Population

3,298,799

Data USA · as of 2024

Median Household Income

$106,268

Data USA · as of 2024

Median Age

37.3 yrs

Data USA · as of 2024

Population Growth (5-year)

-0.6% since 2018

San Diego County lost population at this rate over the prior 5-year ACS5 window.

Demographics

Race & Ethnicity

  • White Alone1,592,607 (48.4%)
  • Two Races Including Some Other Race500,847 (15.2%)
  • Asian Alone406,933 (12.4%)
  • Some Other Race Alone388,026 (11.8%)
  • Two Races Excluding Some Other Race, & Three or More Races198,718 (6.0%)
  • Black or African American Alone152,969 (4.7%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Top Languages Spoken at Home

  1. 1.Spanish734,041
  2. 2.Tagalog (incl. Filipino)83,904
  3. 3.Other Indo-European61,076
  4. 4.Chinese (incl. Mandarin, Cantonese)51,050
  5. 5.Other Asian and Pacific Island48,651

Census ACS · as of 2023

Population Under 18

21.1%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Working-Age (18–64)

63.8%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Population 65 and Over

15.0%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Foreign-Born Population

22.8%

Data USA · as of 2024

Veterans

183,791

Data USA · as of 2024

Economy

GDP per Capita

$79,276

Data USA · as of 2023

Cost of Living Index

Not yet cached

Per Capita Income

$49,891

Census ACS · as of 2023

Unemployment Rate

6.2%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Poverty Rate

10.4%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Top Industries

  1. 1.Educational Services, & Health Care & Social Assistance351,596
  2. 2.Professional, Scientific, & Management, & Administrative & Waste Management Services269,231
  3. 3.Arts, Entertainment, & Recreation, & Accommodation & Food Services160,961
  4. 4.Manufacturing (Group)156,989
  5. 5.Retail Trade (Group)156,109

Data USA · as of 2024

Top Occupations

  1. 1.Management, Business, Science, & Arts Occupations758,873
  2. 2.Sales & Office Occupations294,219
  3. 3.Service Occupations273,894
  4. 4.Production, Transportation, & Material Moving Occupations148,092
  5. 5.Natural Resources, Construction, & Maintenance Occupations111,084

Data USA · as of 2024

Specialized Industries (Location Quotient)

  1. 1.Professional, Scientific, & Management (LQ 1.33×)259,784
  2. 2.Arts, Entertainment, Recreation, & Accommodation (LQ 1.16×)160,996
  3. 3.Information (LQ 1.07×)31,738
  4. 4.Public Administration (LQ 1.05×)78,317
  5. 5.Other Services (LQ 1.02×)75,848

Census ACS · as of 2023

Housing

Median Home Value

$791,600

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Gross Rent

$2,154/mo

Census ACS · as of 2023

Homeownership Rate

54.6%

Data USA · as of 2024

Home Value Distribution

  • $750,000 to $999,999173,694 (27.2%)
  • $500,000 to $749,999146,071 (22.9%)
  • $1,000,000 to $1,499,999123,779 (19.4%)
  • $2,000,000 or More49,764 (7.8%)
  • $1,500,000 to $1,999,99945,096 (7.1%)
  • $400,000 to $499,99936,821 (5.8%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Education

Bachelor's Degree or Higher

42.1%

Census ACS · as of 2023

High School Diploma or Higher

89.0%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Workforce

Labor Force Participation

66.3%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Worker Earnings

$49,552

Census ACS · as of 2023

Mean Commute Time

25.5 min

Data USA · as of 2024

Households Without a Vehicle

5.4%

Census ACS · as of 2023

How People Get to Work

  • Drove Alone1,077,507 (65.9%)
  • Worked At Home306,200 (18.7%)
  • Carpooled132,093 (8.1%)
  • Walked52,801 (3.2%)
  • Public Transit31,598 (1.9%)
  • Other18,917 (1.2%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Similar Locations

5 counties with comparable population, workforce, income, education, and cost of living. Click any to compare.

More on FDI Connect

Compare San Diego County against other US geographies, save it to your shortlist, see active property listings on the interactive map, and unlock the full demographic dashboard.

Data: US Census Bureau American Community Survey, served via Data USA and the Census Bureau API. See each metric tile for the specific dataset.