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In another thread, there was some discussion about the median income in San Diego County. At the risk of being accused of having "too much time on my hands" , I thought it might be interesting to slice and dice SANDAG's numbers for median incomes throughout the county to see where the "richest" and "poorest" folks (at least by median income) live.
I used the 2015 SANDAG reports, which divide the county up into "statistical area regions" or SRA, based on how the U.S. Census divides up the nation. The regions don't always align with specific cities in the county. I will give links at the bottom to the different reports so that you can see where your neighborhood falls.
Please note: I did NOT devise the way SANDAG divided things up, so please don't attack me if you don't agree with the numbers I am going to list below. For instance, Del Mar and Mira Mesa are treated as a single SRA and it would probably be a better indicator to have those two split up. So, keep in mind that these are Census SRAs and not necessarily what you or I might agree with. And, obviously, if you sliced certain areas a little differently, you'd end up with different numbers, but this is the way the Census slices things. SANDAG uses U.S. Census data for the numbers, and, of course, the Census doesn't ask for pay stubs, so there could be some "fudge factor".
County-wide, the median household income is just above $67,000. That is a good number to keep in mind so that you can see which areas fall above and beyond the county wide median income.
The colors by the way indicate the part of the county --
North County Inland
SouthBay
North County Coastal
East County
Central SD
National City SRA $40,074
Southeastern SD SRA $42,415
Mid-City SD SRA $43,829
Chula Vista SRA $45,681
Anza Borrego SRA $47,725
South Bay SRA $51,993
El Cajon SRA $52,957
Palomar-Julian SRA, $55,308
Mountain Empire SRA $56,384
Lemon Grove SRA, $57,756
Vista SRA $58,308
La Mesa SRA $58,110
Escondido SRA $58,990
San Marcos SRA $62,567
COUNTY WIDE MEDIAN INCOME $67,000
Fallbrook SRA $68,804
Kearny Mesa $65,606
Pine Valley SRA $66,158
Oceanside SRA $67,353
Lakeside SRA, $67,974
Peninsular SRA (includes Pt Loma, PB, OB), $68,294
University SRA $70,455
Spring Valley, $71,607
Santee, $74,806
Harbison Canyon-Crest SRA, $79,556
Pauma SRA, $79,602
Elliott-Navajo SRA, $79,714
Valley Center SRA $81,174
Carlsbad SRA $85,121
Ramona SRA $85,030
Coronado SRA $95,472
Sweetwater SRA $90,682
San Dieguito SRA $98,688
North San Diego SRA (includes Scripps Ranch) $99,825
Del Mar/Mira Mesa SRA $110,369
Poway SRA $112,246
Jamul SRA $115,747
According to Forbes, the average household income in Rancho Santa Fe is $333,000- which actually sounds pretty low but many people may have hidden sources of income. Why is that stat important? Putting aside just how exclusive Rancho Santa Fe is, the number is instructive because Rancho Santa Fe is one of the few communities that has no multi-housing units (apartments) and no Section 8 housing. Therefore you see what homeowners make on average which isn't true with the other areas you list with the exception of Jamul. My guess is that the people that live in HOUSES in Coronado, Carlsbad, Poway, Del Mar, are closer to over $200K easily. If Jamul had multi-housing units, the average income would be WAY lower. I think anyone can understand this, which makes the list very misleading.
According to Forbes, the average household income in Rancho Santa Fe is $333,000- which actually sounds pretty low but many people may have hidden sources of income. Why is that stat important? Putting aside just how exclusive Rancho Santa Fe is, the number is instructive because Rancho Santa Fe is one of the few communities that has no multi-housing units (apartments) and no Section 8 housing. Therefore you see what homeowners make on average which isn't true with the other areas you list with the exception of Jamul. My guess is that the people that live in HOUSES in Coronado, Carlsbad, Poway, Del Mar, are closer to over $200K easily. If Jamul had multi-housing units, the average income would be WAY lower. I think anyone can understand this, which makes the list very misleading.
I agree that a major hole in the data is the way they have divided up North County Coastal. If you separated out Del Mar, Solana Beach, and Rancho Santa Fe/Fairbanks into one SRA instead of lumping Mira Mesa in with Del Mar, you'd have different median incomes obviously.
You raise a good point about total assets being a truer picture than just median income. The reports, by the way, also show the statistics for percentages who own and rent, as well as median home values, so as you suggest, that could be used to create a different and more complex picture. So, you could cross tab that if you want to and let us know what you discover. I'd be very curious to see that.
Of course, there is also the issue of population density. Places like Rancho Santa Fe and Anza Borrego have at most a few thousand residents (same is true of Jamul). So, comparing them to places like mid-city or El Cajon, which have many thousands more residents, could be misleading too. If I remember my statistics, the larger the population included in a sample, the more variables that are likely to skew the "median".
The reports do divide each SRA by percentages in each income category, and that would be interesting to break out as well. For instance, I am sure that if you looked just at the percentages of folks in each SRA earning $150,000 or more, it would tell a different story than median incomes. I just don't have the time to go through and do that. :0
Other interesting and helpful statistics in the reports are:
- Level of education of residents, by percentages
- Percentage below the poverty line
- Percentage of students attending public versus private schools
- Percentage of families who speak languages other than English
- Demographics
With this level you can see, for example, that the median income in the two coastal tracts W of I5 in Del Mar are significantly higher than the county median. You can also see that many times, areas slightly inland have higher median incomes. I'm pretty sure this is because those inland areas are more SFHs and fewer multiple-unit dwellings.
With this level you can see, for example, that the median income in the two coastal tracts W of I5 in Del Mar are significantly higher than the county median. You can also see that many times, areas slightly inland have higher median incomes. I'm pretty sure this is because those inland areas are more SFHs and fewer multiple-unit dwellings.
Thanks for that link, someguy! It looks like a fun tool for a data geek like me. The connection between SFHs and median income is a good one to point out. I haven't delved into your site too much yet, but the SANDAG reports clearly show a correlation between areas where there is high home ownership compared to renters. Also, if we want to get fussy we'd probably want to look at things like education levels and ages, as well as other demographic information.
But, I just wanted to share the median income, not become a data analyst. I did think it was interesting that some areas that we consistently tag here as being "poor" are actually not that bad when you look at median incomes alone.
And, this is also probably a good overview of the county for newcomers. While as has been pointed out median income isn't the full picture (any more than test scores are for schools), it does give you a sense of the county, and perhaps may give you an idea of where you'll find "people like us" income-wise to some extent. (Again, I am not saying that median income is going to tell you everything you need to know about an area, but it's a starting point).
My guess is that the people that live in HOUSES in Coronado, Carlsbad, Poway, Del Mar, are closer to over $200K easily. If Jamul had multi-housing units, the average income would be WAY lower. I think anyone can understand this, which makes the list very misleading.
I wouldn't be surprised if it was a bimodal distribution. I.e., anybody who bought in the last 10 years or so would have to have very high income, but there could be significant number of older folks, longtime homeowners, who bought on more modest salary.
I don't know these areas very well so this is just a wild guess, but this (bimodal distribution) was the case for where I used to live in the bay area.
With this level you can see, for example, that the median income in the two coastal tracts W of I5 in Del Mar are significantly higher than the county median. You can also see that many times, areas slightly inland have higher median incomes. I'm pretty sure this is because those inland areas are more SFHs and fewer multiple-unit dwellings.
Someguy, I had a chance to take a look at your link above. That definitely breaks things down in a way that will be more logical to most people. And, I like the ability to see a map of the county overall, as that clearly shows where the pockets of people with higher and lower incomes are in the county. In general, the breakdowns of the SRAs in the SANDAG report align pretty closely with the more detailed glance and when you scan down you can see median incomes in more specific areas, rather than the broader areas used by SANDAG.
One thing that is interesting to me in seeing it visually mapped out like that is that clearly all areas of the county have areas with "below average" incomes, as well as "above average" income areas. It is not as black and white as "everyone in XYZ area of San Diego is wealthy/poor/whatever" which we all have a tendency to fall into from time to time.
It's also a great tool for overlaying other characteristics on top of household income. For instance, you can see where a larger/lesser percentage of people have college degrees, are foreign born, are over 65, are working, etc. Addressing JakeDog's question about owner occupied vs. renters, you can also see the percentage of people that own versus rent in each census tract*. Heck, you can even see where there are greater/lesser concentrations of people employed in "professional, scientific, and technical industry" jobs. It's great to be able to get a visual snapshot of the county using so many different variables.
It's much more useful than trying to piece together the SANDAG data. So thank you for pointing us to it!
Again, I think this would be useful for anyone considering moving to San Diego County, as it gives a good overview of the county from an income perspective. And, perhaps it will be useful to refer to in future conversations we have here as well.
You're welcome. Thanks for the SANDAG data -- it's always nice to compare a random sampling to make sure the data looks consistent.
I also noticed the heterogeneity of median incomes even at the tract level. I suspect if one could "zoom" further down, it would remain or even increase. Lots of places have long-time residents who might have gotten in decades or even generations ago and therefore can stay on a very modest income while right next door someone just paid $750K for a tear-down and rebuild that will be worth $2mm+. Snapdrgr's suggestion of a bi-modal (or at least non-standard) distribution is a good one.
My current home base (probably most similar to Carlsbad or perhaps CV) is a lot more homogenous on a tract-to-tract basis which jibes with my overall impression. You rarely have someone buying an existing property with structure for a tear-down. Interestingly, home base's median income is approaching double the SD area one and is higher than all but a few of the SD tracts. The median SFH price is $200K versus Carlsbad's median of $725K. No doubt the Sunshine Tax is alive and well!
According to Forbes, the average household income in Rancho Santa Fe is $333,000- which actually sounds pretty low but many people may have hidden sources of income. Why is that stat important? Putting aside just how exclusive Rancho Santa Fe is, the number is instructive because Rancho Santa Fe is one of the few communities that has no multi-housing units (apartments) and no Section 8 housing. Therefore you see what homeowners make on average which isn't true with the other areas you list with the exception of Jamul. My guess is that the people that live in HOUSES in Coronado, Carlsbad, Poway, Del Mar, are closer to over $200K easily. If Jamul had multi-housing units, the average income would be WAY lower. I think anyone can understand this, which makes the list very misleading.
Though you would think this would be fairly obvious, I think you brought up an important distinction that gets lost when you look at all this data that doesn't seem congruent when you look closer. A lot of areas may have income averages in the low 100s, but housing that is on average, several times that.
I think it's also important to pull out "household" income, because individual incomes don't mean a lot when you look a these areas where there are two incomes in the household. On a rudimentary level, it makes people reading through this forum or looking at data, "Hey, I make $110K a year too, I should be able to buy in these areas where that's the average income." Take into consideration the mix of housing, how much is single family, apartments, ect, you will can get there is a range of people living in these communities. In higher end areas, Rancho Santa Fe being an extreme example, the average income versus the average house seems out of line with what most people can afford.
I don't think you get away from the reality that for a lot of high end housing, people have a lot of assets, or a high income, and in the vast majority of cases....both. By high income, I mean an income that is above the "average" household income, and income that it would take to qualify for the entire mortgage, even if they aren't taking it out.
RosieSD has a lot of great info and her posts have a lot of valuable data.
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, I thought it might be interesting to slice and dice SANDAG's numbers for median incomes throughout the county to see where the "richest" and "poorest" folks (at least by median income) live. 
