The stress of apartment searching in San Diego: monthly rents and cost of living exceed national average, while scammers target renters

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By Heidi Hope

December 15, 2025 (San Diego) -- Hunting for an affordable apartment in San Diego County is a recipe for aggravating stress. Rents and living expenses in the city of San Diego are among the highest in the nation. East County communities are also too expensive for a single person working a low-wage part-time job to afford.

Scam rental advertisements and inappropriate landlords worsen the struggle for renters and potential tenants, as I have learned in my own difficult apartment-hunting experiences.

My apartment-hunting nightmare

Since returning to San Diego from my undergraduate program five years ago in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have utilized the following resources in an effort to rent a safe and affordable apartment:

 

Sadly, these efforts have been unsuccessful due to the continuously rising rent, difficulty in finding roommates to share the rent with and inconsistent work hours getting cut at many grocery stores and coffee shops I’ve been working at. Without a car and having to use public transportation, I am limited in many job opportunities as buses are frequently late and unreliable.

Most importantly, within all of these housing websites, especially roommies.com,  Craigslist.com and Facebook marketplace, there have been countless incidents of apparent scams and fraud that I have encountered in trying to rent an affordable room. I have repeatedly caught suspected scammers aggressively asking for bank account information and legal documentation without confirming the property’s address or visiting schedules until the bank account is received. I have also been stalked on social media after responding to a listing and asked to set up private meetings that had nothing to do with renting the room.

Similarly, I rented from an engaged couple who violated the lease agreement that they created by themselves. They brought a dog into the house (pets were not allowed) using the excuse of watching it for the family and turned the TV volume on so loud that I could not sleep. They also did not fix the broken laundry machine. Yet all of these were confirmed to be not permitted at home in the lease. 

In addition, this couple made comments about my personal life and accused me of causing conflicts between them, all because I did not want to hang out with the man sitting on the same sofa. They even threatened to rent  the place to another tenant without limiting animals. All of these violated the lease. After this final situation, I decided to pack up and move out. 

After having my work hours cut, I could no longer afford living expenses. In addition, while packing to move out, I injured my shoulder and ended up admitted to the hospital for a big surgery.

I am currently sleeping on a sofa at a relative’s home. However, the landlord does not want to fix the leaking ceiling that has caused major flooding whenever it is raining, the kitchen stove is a fire hazard and the hot water and Wifi are always unsteady. The relative will not file a complaint due to fear of retaliation, yet the rent in this complex is getting raised next year despite the unlivable conditions. 

As of now, I am still unable to find an affordable room for rent, even to share with a roommate. 

Due to the risk of fraud online, I have also had to limit my apartment hunting options down to only apartments.com and Zillow 

It breaks my heart to discover my first few options on apartments.com consist of an apartment costing $2,000/month and a studio costing $3,000/month. All of these are more than my monthly income. Even after finding roommates, not all of them could afford these numbers.

This stressful reality has made me question how many more jobs I should have or how much harder I can work to pinch a penny to afford this rising cost and not have to move every few years. 

 

The expensive costs of living in the San Diego region

If you think it is affordable to live in San Diego County, think again as you consider all the increasing expenses.

According to Good Life Management, the current monthly rent for a studio or a one- bedroom apartment in the city of San Diego is around $2,000-$3,000/month. The cost of living overall is increasing everywhere including food, utilities, transportation and gas. Every single living expense in San Diego right now is more expensive than the national average. Rent in San Diego  is the number one highest in the nation as of September 2025.

According to Apartment List, CBS 8 confirmed that as of June, the overall cost of living in the city of San Diego is the ninth most expensive in the nation, one and a half times higher than the national average.

The average monthly rent for a studio is now $2,103. According to the neighborhood data, the area with the lowest rent in San Diego is Ocean Beach with $1,677 monthly rent, and the highest area is Carmel Valley with $3,908. This data has been confirmed and reported by Times of San Diego. Furthermore, most necessary utilities are around $350 or more per month, along with the grocery prices increasing, such as one loaf of bread is around $4 and one gallon of milk is around $5 on average.

The MIT Living Wage survey also confirms the annual gross income needed for a single adult to be able to afford living in San Diego would be around $63,867 per year. These are incredibly out of reach for people like me, with my monthly income of less than $2,000 before taxes, not counting expenses for other necessities such as utilities, groceries and a bus pass. 

East County cities are also out of reach with some rents even higher than San Diego, while groceries, utilities and healthcare fees are pricey beyond imagination.

According to the  Payscale.com cost of living calculator, La Mesa is above the national average regarding monthly rent and living expenses. The average rent in La Mesa is around $2,587/month, along with utilities bills around $295/ month and gas around $4.60/ gallon. Living in La Mesa would also be over my budget unless I share at least the rent with a roommate. 

The city of El Cajon is similar to La Mesa. The average rent here is $2,503/month, confirmed by  https://www.payscale.com/cost-of-living-calculator/California-El-Cajon.   

Along the same line,Payscale.com reports that Santee and Lemon Grove also fall under the above average range regarding cost of living and monthly rent. The monthly rent in Santee is $2,430/ month and in Lemon Grove is $2,140/month.

 

Looking at major unincorporated communities, Lakeside and Alpine are in the same boat. The monthly rent in Lakeside is $2,228/ month and Alpine knocks the socks off with the most expensive rent, $3,078/month, according to the Payscale.com findings.

Lastly, according to RentCafe.com , the monthly rent in Spring Valley is $2,461/ month on average. A studio is $1,731 and a one bedroom is $1,961 on average in Spring Valley, also a two beds apartment is $2,505 and three beds apartment is $2,912.

Looking at these numbers for a studio and a one bedroom in Spring Valley somehow gives me a slight bit of hope that I might be able to rent at least a studio in this area with a roommate, hopefully after I have learned how to drive and can afford a car for commuting to work. 

From all of my past experiences looking for housing support, I have only found two steady places that are accessible to get updated information on resources, which are the county housing commission’s site, SDHC.org/housing-opportunities/affordable-rentals/, and Doorofhope.salvationarmy.org. However, I sadly received an update from Door of Hope recently that their program has changed, as now they can only accept referrals after getting approved by the Housing Commission and no more self-referrals. 

How many more jobs should I keep taking on and how much more belt-tightening should I be to swing all of these rising expenses? Where in the world do I go to for help with safe apartment hunting? I have already cancelled all of my streaming services and miscellaneous expenses. I have never used gym or movie membership or shopped for new clothes frequently unless they get tattered. I have also never eaten out at fancy restaurants. All I have left are my monthly phone bill, bus pass, toiletries and food to spend on.

When will I ever be able to afford rent plus these daily needs while saving for an emergency and future retirement? 



 

 


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Comments

Unfortunately...

Submitted by on

This has all become normalized. High rents, rundown apartment buildings, shady landlords, terrible managers, lousy neighborhoods, and disrespectful neighbors. Furthermore - we are 'forced' to hand over personal information such as our social security number, bank account number, etc. opening ourselves up to identity theft or worse. Many onsite apartment managers are not trained professionals and don't know the laws, particularly the ones that protect renters, and our basic rights. Rents raised every year, sometimes illegally beyond the 5% plus CPI. Repairs are indeed often neglected. Property owners do have bills to pay, yet seem to be kinda greedy as well when it comes to getting the highest amount of rent possible no matter what condition the apartment or the building is in. Getting housing assistance from the county is very difficult due to the backlog of applicants. Waiting list is around 10 to 12 years last time I checked. A section 8 housing choice voucher certainly helps a lot. Very stringent rules and guidelines one must follow, or risk losing it, possibly forever.