- The San Diego region is home to 3,200 cleantech companies; ranked #2 in the nation in solar installations per capita and total solar installations with 351 megawatts of installed solar capacity (Cleantech San Diego, 2021)
- San Diego named the #4 sustainable city in the U.S. (Rocket Homes, 2021)
- San Diego’s cleantech sector supports more than 45,000 jobs and has an economic impact of $8 billion (Cleantech San Diego, 2021)
- The San Diego region currently ranks #4 in the nation for cleantech leadership; ranked #2 in the nation for solar installations (Cleantech San Diego, 2021)
- The San Diego region has 53,000 electric vehicles on the road (Cleantech San Diego, 2021)
- San Diego is home to 11,306 jobs in the solar industry (Cleantech San Diego, 2021)
- Low carbon economy is a $3 billion industry, generated 10,000+ jobs in recent years
- San Diego region ranks #9 U.S. Cleantech Innovation Hub (Cleantech San Diego, 2021)
- San Diego region ranks #21 global startup ecosystem (Startup Genome Report: Cleantech Edition, 2021)
- San Diego’s cleantech sector supports nearly 40,000 jobs, has an economic impact of $8.2 billion (Cleantech San Diego, 2021)
- San Diego became the largest American city to pursue a clean energy community choice program (Cleantech San Diego, 2021)
- The San Diego region is a Smart Cities Readiness Challenge award winner (Smart Cities Council, 2019)
- World’s first LEED Platinum commercial terminal (San Diego International Airport)
- San Diego/Tijuana named World Design capital 2024, becoming the first binational region to be awarded the distinction (World Design Organization, 2021)
- San Diego County offers a combined population of more than 7.1 million people, a 27,000 square mile footprint, two international airports, and the busiest land port of entry in the western hemisphere (Go Global: San Diego’s Trade and Investment Initiative, 2021)
- The U.S. is the largest exporter of services in the world, and San Diego is a top 10 services exporter among U.S. metros (Go Global: San Diego’s Trade and Investment Initiative, 2021)
- $3.5 billion in foreign investment into San Diego in 2020 (Go Global: San Diego’s Trade and Investment Initiative, 2021)
- $22 billion in total exports from San Diego in 2020 (Go Global: San Diego’s Trade and Investment Initiative, 2021)
- $46 billion in total imports to San Diego in 2020 (Go Global: San Diego’s Trade and Investment Initiative, 2021)
- 7 international ports of entry (Go Global: San Diego’s Trade and Investment Initiative, 2021)
- San Diego International Airport (SAN) is named the best airport in the U.S. (Forbes, 2019)
- Home to two international airports, including world’s first cross border airport terminal
- The cybersecurity cluster accounts for more than 24,000 jobs, including 12,400 cyber-specific roles, and a total economic impact of $3.5 billion annually (San Diego Cyber Center of Excellence, 2021)
- Cybersecurity remote job postings made up 9.3 percent of all local cyber job openings in April, up from 3.3 percent in September 2019 (Securing the Future: AI and San Diego’s Cyber Cluster, 2021)
- Productivity in the Cyber cluster has grown 7.5 percent since 2018, nearly triple the average for all San Diego industries, thanks to the development and adoption of AI (Securing the Future: AI and San Diego’s Cyber Cluster, 2021)
- In 2020 alone, the U.S. Navy’s Naval Information Warfare Systems Command set aside $7.1 billion for private-industry Cyber and AI contracts, $1.6 billion of which was specifically for the San Diego region. That $1.6 billion is equal to 46 percent of the total economic contributions of San Diego’s Cyber cluster (Securing the Future: AI and San Diego’s Cyber Cluster, 2021)
- Cyber-specific employment has grown 7.4 percent since 2018 (Cybersecurity in the San Diego Region, 2021)
- The San Diego region’s colleges and universities offer a collective 118 degree-track programs for occupations employing Cyber professionals (Cybersecurity in the San Diego Region, 2021)
- Nearly half of regional cybersecurity companies are doing business internationally (Cybersecurity in the San Diego Region, 2021)
- The U.S. military is the largest single driver of the San Diego economy. Defense contributes $33.6 billion in direct spending and accounts for $52.4 billion, or one-fifth, of San Diego County’s GRP each year. Moreover, 342,000 people, or 23 percent of the region’s workers, are employed by the military (Securing the Future: AI and San Diego’s Cyber Cluster, 2021)
- Largest concentration of military assets in the world; The military injected $35 billion in direct spending into San Diego’s economy in fiscal year 2021, including $18.5 billion in contracts to more than 1,700 local companies (San Diego Military Advisory Council, 2021)
- Defense spending in the San Diego region produces 349,000 jobs (San Diego Military Advisory Council, 2021)
- Military-related spending in San Diego County grew by 5.4% in 2021 and continues to be a significant driver of the local economy (San Diego Military Advisory Council, 2021)
- In San Diego County, nearly 350,000 jobs can be attributed to the defense industry at large (San Diego Military Advisory Council, 2021)
- For every $1 dollar the government spends on defense in San Diego, $1.56 is added to the local economy (San Diego Military Advisory Council, 2021)
- San Diego-area defense contractors received $18.5 billion in contracts during the 2021 fiscal year (San Diego Military Advisory Council, 2021)
- Roughly 60,000 IT professionals call San Diego home, representing just more than four percent of total regional employment (San Diego Cyber Center of Excellence, 2021)
- $118,900 average annual pay, one of the highest paying employment sectors in the region (Qualcomm’s Contribution to San Diego’s Economy, 2019)
- Qualcomm, the largest smartphone chipmaker in the world, has an economic impact of $4 billion annually and 10,030 local workers (Qualcomm’s Contribution to San Diego’s Economy, 2019)
- Qualcomm employs roughly 12 percent of the region’s total tech talent (Qualcomm’s Contribution to San Diego’s Economy, 2019)
- University of California, San Diego Health is ranked #1 in San Diego and #9 in Pulminology, placing it among the nation’s best hospitals (UCSD Health, 2021)
- San Diego is #3 in the U.S. for life sciences and biotech jobs (Biospace, 2021)
- San Diego life sciences firms captured nearly three quarters of the estimated $3 billion in foreign investment injected into the regional economy in 2020 (Go Global: San Diego’s Trade and Investment Initiative, 2021)
- San Diego is the #3 life sciences cluster in the U.S. (JLL, 2020)
- Life Sciences activity in San Diego County accounts for $27.7 billion in gross regional product and $47.8 billion in total business sales annually (Biocom, 2020)
- Life Sciences firms in San Diego produce nearly 178,000 jobs with total earnings of $16 billion annually (Biocom, 2020)
- LunaDNA named among top ten most innovative social good companies of 2020 for their work with DNA and genome sequencing (Fast Company, 2020)
- San Diego’s life science workforce is among the largest and best paid in California (San Diego Union Tribune, 2020)
- The aerospace industry in the San Diego region has an annual economic impact of nearly $30 billion (EMSI, 2021)
- In North County alone, the aerospace cluster generates 13,800 total jobs and an average of $1.6 billion in wages annually (EMSI, 2021)
- The industry has an annual economic impact of $1.8 billion in North County San Diego, taking into account direct, indirect, and induced effects (EMSI, 2021)
- Britain’s annual Clarivate study says San Diego County is a research powerhouse, with UC San Diego housing the the ninth-largest collection of highly cited researchers in the world (Clarivate, 2021)
- Scripps Research’s Ardem Patapoutian was awarded the Nobel Prize for helping discover how humans sense temperature and touch (2021)
- UC San Diego:
– Ranks 6th nationally in research spending, ahead of Harvard, UCLA and Stanford (National Science Foundation, 2021)
– Will generate $18.8 billion in annual economic impact for the state of California by 2023 (Tripp Umbach, 2021)
– Conducts $1.2 billion in sponsored research (Tripp Umbach, 2021)
– Ranks 9th among top biomedical research institutions in the world (Nature Index, 2019)
- San Diego secured record-breaking venture capital investment, outpacing 2020 by more than $2.6 billion (Connect, 2021)
- San Diego is the #3 best city in the country for startups (Crowdfund Capital Advisors, 2022)
- Local companies raised $8.94 billion privately in 2021, with 26 of the 273 companies being $100 million-plus fundings (Connect, 2021)
- 195 total startup acquisitions in 2021 (Connect, 2021)
- 22 San Diego companies went public in 2021 (Connect, 2021)
- San Diego County startups received $3.47 billion in venture funding in 2019, with Biotech and Pharmaceutical startups taking 43% of the funding. (Connect Report, 2020)
- Ranked #4 in U.S. for thriving small businesses and startups (GoBankingRates, 2019)
- Home to the San Diego Padres, who completed their 2021 MLB season as 14th in runs and 15th in hits
- San Diego Loyal led by Landon Donovan make playoffs in first year in front of fans (2021)
- San Diego Wave women’s pro soccer land in town with World Champions Alex Morgan and Abby Dahlkemper joining from the U.S. women’s national team (2021)
- World champion skaters flocked to San Diego as the X-Games returned to North County (2021)
- Snapdragon Stadium set to launch at SDSU West in 2022
- San Diego is within the top 3 best cities for recreation in the U.S. (Wallet Hub, 2021)
- San Diego ranked one of the top 3 healthiest cities in the U.S. (Advisory Board, 2020)
- San Diego ranks #5 in best cities to start a tech career (Learn to code with me, 2021)
- 157 of 273 private funding rounds for San Diego companies were tech or consumer companies (Connect, 2021)
- Employment in technology industries, educated workforce and millennial population along with venture capital investment in the region are among the attributes that have placed San Diego on the top 10 U.S. tech markets list (Cushman & Wakefield, 2020)
- Software startups made up over 61 percent of San Diego County’s new innovation startup companies established in 2019. More than 140 new software companies were created, ranking San Diego County fifth among California counties for software startups (San Diego Innovation Report, Connect, 2020)
- San Diego is one of the best cities for wage growth in 2021
- Southwestern College:
– #19 Nationwide, Top 20 Best Schools for Internships (Princeton Review, 2022)
– #3 Nationwide for Best Career Services (Princeton Review, 2021) - San Diego State University:
– Ranks #8 in the nation for its International Business Program (U.S. News & World Report, 2022)
– Top Best for Veteran Friendly School (U.S. Veterans Magazine, 2021) - UC San Diego:
– Ranked among the top 10 post-grad business schools in the nation according to 2021 U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate School Rankings (S. News, 2020)
– Ranked the #1 public university in U.S. (Washington Monthly, 2020)
– Graduates the highest portion of female STEM students of any school in the country. One in three female students at UC San Diego graduate with a STEM degree—three times the national average (BestColleges.com, 2020)
– Ranked among the top 10 “Best Public Universities in America” (Business Insider, 2020)
- Miramar College:
– Ranks among the top 20% of community colleges in Californiafor: least expensive tuition, diversity in U.S. community colleges, highest graduate earnings, least debt for graduates (Community College Review, 2021) - MiraCosta College:
– Automotive Technology Program has been accredited by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (2021)
– Only community college in California to offer a craft brewing certificate program that meets the standards set by Master Brewers Association of the Americas (2021) - University of San Diego:
– Ranked #9 best college campus in America (Niche, 2021)
– Ranked #9 best Catholic college in America (Niche, 2021) - Cal State San Marcos:
– Ranks 32nd nationally out of more than 1,500 schools measured in the eighth annual Social Mobility Index (2021)
- San Diego ranked #6 city in the country for women in STEM (CommercialCafe, 2021)
- San Diego, Oceanside, Chula Vista ranked 3 of the Best Cities for LGBTQ Inclusion (Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Municipal Equality Index, 2021)
- JLL named #1 employers for diversity in 2021 (Forbes)
- Booz Allen Hamilton named #2 employers for diversity in 2021 (Forbes)
- Illumina named:
– Best Places to Work for LGBTQ talent (Corporate Equality Index, 2021)
– Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (2021)
– #1 America’s Most JUST Companies for Workers in Pharma/Biotech list (Forbes 2021) - San Diego’s Chula Vista became the first city in California to be designated as a Certified Welcoming City by Welcoming America, ranked #2 in the country for immigrants (2019)