Rent In This San Diego County City Outpaces Even Pricey San Francisco

By Editor, Times of San Diego

April 29, 2022

Rents in San Diego increased again in April, with median costs for a two-bedroom apartment rising to $2,520 – more than $1,000 over national levels – according to an industry analysis.

But that’s not the highest rate in the county – median Carlsbad rents in April reached $3,050, up 23.8% for the year, ApartmentList.com noted in its May Rent Report.

That outpaces even pricey San Francisco, the most expensive of all California’s major cities, with a median two-bedroom rent of $2,760, and is comparable to Fremont, Palo Alto and Redwood City in the Bay Area and greater San Jose.

Where other communities in the county rank on median rents for two-bedroom units, and how much they rose over the past year:

• Chula Vista – $2,380, up 21.9%
• La Mesa – $2,480, up 22%
• Oceanside – $2,660, up 17.5%
• San Marcos – $2,370, up 21%
• Vista – $2,550, up 25.1%

To compare, nationally rents for two-bedroom apartments stand at $1,319.

Year-over-year rent growth in San Diego has reached 18.8%, after reaching 3.4% at this time last year. In addition, rents in San Diego are up by 21.9% since the start of the pandemic two years ago.

Locally, the metropolitan Riverside area saw an even larger rent rise during the pandemic – by 37%. The southwest was hot overall, with Phoenix, Tucson and Las Vegas all seeing increases of 35% or more.

This is the fourth month that the city has seen rent increases after a decline in December. San Diego’s year-over-year rent growth leads the state average of 15.9%, as well as the national average of 16.3%.

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