Best PlacesDel Cerro, San Diego, CA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around Del Cerro, San Diego, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

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Del Cerro, San Diego ranks 318th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.

#318
of 5,983 neighborhoods
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
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of 5,983 neighborhoods
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The best neighborhoods in Del Cerro, San Diego

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Del Cerro, San Diego area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
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BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

Del Cerro, San Diego's strengths and weaknesses

Top 5%Few empty homes
Top 5%The weather
Top 10%High incomes
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Del Cerro, San Diego with other neighborhoods.

Where Del Cerro, San Diego ranks high

  • Low vacancyBetter than 97% of neighborhoods
  • Nice weatherabout 286 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of neighborhoods
  • Household income$151,926 median, better than 91% of neighborhoods
  • Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of neighborhoods
  • Local economyBetter than 90% of neighborhoods

Where Del Cerro, San Diego ranks low

  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of neighborhoods
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 23% of neighborhoods
  • Cheap childcare$1,432 a month, better than only 25% of neighborhoods
  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 26% of neighborhoods
  • State infrastructureBetter than only 26% of neighborhoods

What it costs to buy a home in Del Cerro, San Diego

A household needs to earn about $246,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Del Cerro, San Diego home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $151,926, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$246,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$5,729
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $960,813 home
Median rent
$2,416
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$4,899
Property tax$510
Homeowners insurance$320

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Del Cerro, San Diego's effective rate of 0.64%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Del Cerro, San Diego

Del Cerro, San Diego's age mix sits close to the national median.

Median age
41
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
19%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.7
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1821%
18 to 3421%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6419%
65 and older19%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Del Cerro, San Diego.


Who works in Del Cerro, San Diego, and how

Work in Del Cerro, San Diego centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
23%
above the national average
Unemployment
1.9%
below the national average
Job growth
+5.1%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Professional & technical20%
Health care & social16%
Education9%
Retail trade8%
Hospitality & food8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 72%
  • Work from home 23%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 5%

Life in Del Cerro, San Diego

Del Cerro, San Diego has more parkland per resident than 95% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 11 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Del Cerro, San Diego and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Parkland
209 acres
about 32.2 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 95% of neighborhoods
To the coast
11 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in Del Cerro, San Diego, month by month

Del Cerro, San Diego sees roughly 286 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 45. Every month averages in that range.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January69°56°45°
April73°61°53°
July82°71°65°
October82°68°58°

Flying in and out of Del Cerro, San Diego

San Diego International sits about 8 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.7 million passengers in 2025, with 121 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
SAN
San Diego International, about 8 miles
Airport size
Large hub
24th-busiest in the US, 121 nonstop destinations
Average drive
11 min
from the area, with no traffic

Del Cerro, San Diego measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Del Cerro, San Diego against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.


Common questions about living in Del Cerro, San Diego

Is Del Cerro, San Diego a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Del Cerro, San Diego ranks 318th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on few empty homes, the weather, and high incomes, and lowest on taxes and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Del Cerro, San Diego expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $960,813. The overall cost of living runs about 38% above the national average. Set against a $151,926 median income, cost of living beats 82% of neighborhoods.

Is Del Cerro, San Diego safe?

Yes, Del Cerro, San Diego is safer than 78% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $313 per resident a year.


Compare Del Cerro, San Diego with other neighborhoods


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Del Cerro, San Diego. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Del Cerro, San Diego represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

Del Cerro, San Diego detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Del Cerro, San Diego: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Del Cerro, San Diego: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Del Cerro, San Diego: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Del Cerro, San Diego: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Del Cerro, San Diego detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.