Community Overview

San Diego County combines an innovative spirit, exemplary cultural amenities and a matchless climate into the perfect locale for doing business. The county covers 4,261 square miles –- more than four-fifths the size of Connecticut -– in the southwestern-most corner of the continental United States. It is bound by the 60-mile international border with Mexico to the south and by 70 miles of beautiful coastline with the Pacific Ocean on the west.

San Diego County encompasses 18 incorporated cities and is home to more than 3.1 million people. It’s the second most populous county in California, and from 2000 to 2008 was the fourth fastest growing among California counties with 1 million people or more.

The San Diego region continues to enjoy a diverse and vibrant economy. The local unemployment figure in June 2008 was 5.9 percent, well below the state of California’s 7.0 percent and nearly matching the national rate of 5.7 percent. The region’s 2008 gross regional product is forecast to reach $170.4 billion, up 4.6 percent over 2007.

San Diego has emerged as a national leader in the new, knowledge-based economy. It has the most diversified high-tech economy in the nation, with hundreds of biotech, communications, software, Internet and information technology companies. Leading collaborative efforts to bring innovation to market are world-class institutions like the University of California, San Diego; The Scripps Research Institute; the Salk Institute for Biological Studies; and the Burnham Institute.

In July 2006, Money magazine ranked San Diego as the 5th best big U.S. city in which to live, based on its strong economy, excellent educational institutions, year-round balmy weather, and wonderful lifestyle.

The San Diego region was rated the nation's No. 1 biotech cluster in a 2004 study by the Milken Institute. The area scored 100 on Milken’s Biotech Index, which ranks communities on two broad criteria: 1) the biotechnology innovation pipeline –- infrastructure that allows a metro to capitalize on its biotech knowledge and creativity, such as the quality of its workforce and amount of research and development dollars it receives; and, 2) the current impact assessment -– an area’s success in bringing ideas to the marketplace and creating companies, jobs and products.

In June 2003, San Diego was ranked fifth on the Milken’s list of America’s Best Performing Cities, an index that measures “where jobs are being created, economies are growing and businesses are thriving.” Forbes magazine, in a May 2003 article, cited the “thousands of pioneering researchers drawn to the biotech mecca of San Diego,” noting that the 92121 zip code of Sorrento Mesa is “the most densely packed (biotech) cluster in the U.S.”

In January 2004, Fast Company magazine noted that “the telecom and wireless industries have been woven in the life of (San Diego) for decades. As a result,” Fast Company wrote, “San Diego has the highest concentration of wireless employment in the country. Add 75,000 miles of underground fiber-optic cable -– more than any other region in the country -– and you have a picture of a very connected city.”

The San Diego region’s strong entrepreneurial spirit and high concentration of intellectual capital have fueled the growth of several technology industry clusters. The region boasts 111,728 high-tech jobs -– equating to more than 9% of all private sector jobs. 

Source: California Dept. of Finance, 2008; California Employment Development Dept., 2008; San Diego Institute for Policy Research, 2007; The Milken Institute, 2003 and 2004; Money magazine, 2006; Fast Company, 2004; Forbes, 2003; San Diego County, 2006