The Dilemma of the San Diego Recent College Graduate: Stay or Leave?

 

Palm trees, sunshine, and a surfer on a picturesque postcard promise that the California dream awaits university students who attend one of the many colleges in San Diego. Four years of community build, memories created, and local burrito shops reviewed. From Padres games to late night jazz bars, Sunset Cliffs views to Chicano Park street murals, the diversity in cultures, activities, and beauty in San Diego can be difficult to leave. But when it comes time to walk across the graduation stage and throw your cap, every college student is faced with choosing what their next season will be. Do I stay in San Diego or leave?

 

As a current academic senior in college at Point Loma Nazarene University, I’ve noticed that although San Diego is a place where many college students graduate, far fewer can realistically stay here and live on their own without financial strain. For most recent graduates, the question is not whether San Diego is desirable after college, it’s whether the entry-level job market salary can keep up with rent and cost of living. When gas, food, housing, and other necessities claw up nearly every dollar, what lifestyle sacrifices must shift to make the monthly payments?

 

Although wages are typically higher nationwide in San Diego, the cost of living parallels the inflated numbers. San Diego County’s area median income for a single person household averages around $52,320 annually. However, the county’s “very low-income threshold” for a single person is $57,900, and the “low-income threshold” for a single person is $92,700. To a non-California native, these numbers may seem high – surely a single individual can afford living on such a salary. But while the average recent college graduate salary in San Diego is higher than the general average, at about $66,473 a year, a typical new graduate still falls below the low income line – not the immediate payout a two hundred thousand dollar degree might illusively promise. 

Student housing data in San Diego shows average student-apartment costs around $2,390 a month, on the lower end. Unfortunately, market prices are simply too high for many lower-income students and graduates to comfortably live and enjoy San Diego.

 

Subtract the cost of San Diego rent, transportation, food, insurance, and student loans, and many recent graduates are left with the choice to live paycheck to paycheck or move elsewhere. Because there is no single count of all recent college graduates who comfortably remain in San Diego post-grad, the available research suggests the number of those who stay is limited, especially for those trying to live alone.

 

Still, data suggests that higher education has an eventual payoff, despite the end result for San Diego graduates might have a rocky start. On average, bachelor’s-degree holders in San Diego have been estimated around $82,000 median salary, with graduate-degree holders around $108,000. 

 

However, with financial discipline, budgeting, and compromise, life in the 619 can be possible. For the majority of students who are unwilling to sacrifice friendships rooted in San Diego or proximity to the Pacific, they will have to grapple with the reality of bunking with several roommates to mitigate costs. Trading a personal bedroom for a shared space with roommates, a longer drive to the ocean instead of a walk, and crowded street parking rather than an epoxied garage, some recent graduates value the city more than the luxury of their prospective home. 

 

I’ve observed post-grad students divide into two main groups: those who can buy time to stay, and those who can’t financially make it work. Students entering high-paying fields, like tech or engineering, may have a more competitive chance, but those who are in the arts may struggle to find their footing right out of college. Granted, this assumes most graduates are able to secure a full-time position immediately following their graduation.

 

For myself and many peers, San Diego becomes a compromise – share apartment space, move farther from the coast, take on more roommates, or leave altogether. 

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To further explore this post-grad dilemma, watch my short documentary called New Horizons: Stay or Leave? In this film, we explore many of these questions through the lens of recent graduates, long time locals, and San Diego professors. Set in Ocean Beach, San Diego, a recent college graduate navigates the tension between sky-high rent and an irreplaceable sense of community, discovering that the true value of life by the ocean lies in the friendships built there.

New Horizons: Stay or Leave?