La Mesa Makes Top 10 Best Suburbs List In San Diego County

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CA – La Mesa was named one of the top 10 suburbs in San Diego County by HomeSnacks, coming in eighth place.

The big city lifestyle isn't for everyone, but living in the suburbs gives residents the benefits of living in a big city without actually having to live in one. That's why HomeSnacks, a website that combines data from dozens of sources to help readers understand what it's like to live in different places across America, went on the hunt for the best suburbs in San Diego County.

Not all suburbs are created equally, so the people at HomeSnacks analyzed 17 suburbs in San Diego County to rank the best of the best. Solana Beach topped the list.

These are the 10 best suburbs in San Diego County, according to HomeSnacks:

1. Solana Beach
   • Population: 13,312
   • Unemployment Rate: 3.3%
   • Median Home Price: $1,045,900
   • Median Income: $100,352
2. Coronado
   
   • Population: 24,852
   • Unemployment Rate: 6.1%
   • Median Home Price: $1,332,500
   • Median Income: $92,413
3. Del Mar
   
   • Population: 4,312
   • Unemployment Rate: 5.3%
   • Median Home Price: $2,000,000
   • Median Income: $108,556
4. Encinitas
   • Population: 62,160
   • Unemployment Rate: 6.0%
   • Median Home Price: $820,400
   • Median Income: $100,698
5. Poway
   • Population: 49,675
   • Unemployment Rate: 5.4%
   • Median Home Price: $583,100
   • Median Income: $98,859
6. Carlsbad
   • Population: 112,008
   • Unemployment Rate: 6.1%
   • Median Home Price: $674,400
   • Median Income: $97,145
7. Santee
   • Population: 56,839
   • Unemployment Rate: 7.3%
   • Median Home Price: $363,000
   • Median Income: $77,460
8. La Mesa
   • Population: 59,125
   • Unemployment Rate: 8.1%
   • Median Home Price: $421,200
   • Median Income: $56,693
9. Chula Vista
   • Population: 260,598
   • Unemployment Rate: 9.7%
   • Median Home Price: $402,000
   • Median Income: $66,956
10. San Marcos
    • Population: 91,479
    • Unemployment Rate: 6.4%
    • Median Home Price: $418,200
    • Median Income: $63,960

The remaining rankings were Oceanside (11), Vista (12), Lemon Grove (13), Spring Valley (14), Imperial Beach (15), El Cajon (16) and Escondido (17).

METHODOLOGY:

HomeSnacks used the following list of criteria to grade suburbs in San Diego County:

• Low unemployment rate
• High Median household incomes
• Population density
• High home values
• A lot of college educated people
• Low poverty
• High rate of insured families

The people at HomeSnacks used data from the American Community Survey (2012-2016) to research each suburb. HomeSnacks defined a suburb as being within 30 miles of the city of San Diego. They limited their analysis to places that have 4,000 people, which left them with a total of 17 suburbs to evaluate near San Diego.

They ranked each place with scores from 1 to 17 in each category, with 1 as the best. They then averaged the rankings for each suburb to create a quality of life index. Solana Beach was crowned as the "Best Suburb near San Diego."

To read more about the study and to see the complete results, visit HomeSnacks.

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