Chula Vista vs San Diego

A side-by-side comparison of Chula Vista and San Diego: population, income, housing, and more.

Chula Vista and San Diego are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

San Diego has the higher population (1,385,061 vs 275,030 in Chula Vista). Chula Vista has the higher median household income ($105,173 vs $104,321 in San Diego). San Diego has the higher median home value ($848,500 vs $697,400 in Chula Vista).

Population, income & housing

	Chula Vista	San Diego
Population	275,030	1,385,061
Median age	37.0 yrs	36.0 yrs
Median household income	$105,173	$104,321
Median home value	$697,400	$848,500
Median gross rent	$2,122	$2,223
Housing units	90,535	559,653
Homeownership rate	60.2%	47.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.3%	49.9%
Unemployment rate	8.8%	5.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chula Vista	San Diego
Population	268,920 → 275,030 (+2.3%)	1,409,573 → 1,385,061 (-1.7%)
Median household income	$81,272 → $105,173 (+29.4%)	$79,673 → $104,321 (+30.9%)
Median home value	$492,700 → $697,400 (+41.5%)	$602,600 → $848,500 (+40.8%)
Median gross rent	$1,622 → $2,122 (+30.8%)	$1,695 → $2,223 (+31.2%)

Chula Vista

Population

268,920275,030

Median household income

$81,272$105,173

Median home value

$492,700$697,400

Median gross rent

$1,622$2,122

San Diego

Population

1,409,5731,385,061

Median household income

$79,673$104,321

Median home value

$602,600$848,500

Median gross rent

$1,695$2,223

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chula Vista	San Diego
Under 5	5.6%	5.3%
5 to 17	18.8%	13.5%
18 to 24	8.5%	10.7%
25 to 34	14.3%	18.7%
35 to 44	14.6%	14.7%
45 to 54	13.6%	12.0%
55 to 64	11.5%	10.9%
65 to 74	7.8%	8.2%
75 and over	5.1%	5.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chula Vista	San Diego
White (non-Hispanic)	15.9%	41.4%
Black or African American	5.0%	5.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	14.4%	17.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.4%
Some other race	0.4%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.5%	5.2%
Hispanic or Latino	60.4%	29.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chula Vista	San Diego
No high school diploma	14.3%	9.8%
High school graduate	20.7%	15.0%
Some college or associate's	32.6%	25.3%
Bachelor's degree	21.9%	28.8%
Graduate or professional degree	10.4%	21.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chula Vista	San Diego
Drove alone	73.3%	64.2%
Carpooled	9.9%	7.8%
Public transit	2.4%	3.0%
Walked	1.4%	3.4%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.7%
Worked from home	11.7%	19.2%
Other means	1.2%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chula Vista	San Diego
1-unit, detached	52.1%	43.5%
1-unit, attached	14.1%	9.9%
2 to 4 units	5.5%	7.8%
5 to 19 units	10.1%	16.9%
20 or more units	13.9%	20.9%
Mobile home & other	4.3%	1.2%

Poverty & households

	Chula Vista	San Diego
Poverty rate	8.4%	11.1%
Average household size	3.20	2.55
Mean commute (minutes)	29	24
Median year structure built	1986	1978