† Citizen voting-age population estimated for prior cycles; 2004 predates the ACS and is extrapolated. Source: ACS 5-year, table B05003.
——
D+60R+60
1 counties by 2024 margin · County returns · MIT Election Lab
People and households
Who lives here
Exact values for this place, its state, and the United States.
Race · ethnicity · ancestry
Communities and origins
GroupSan DiegoCaliforniaUnited States
German9.1%6.8%12.5%
English8.0%6.3%9.5%
Irish7.8%5.9%9.4%
Italian4.2%3.4%4.8%
American2.5%2.8%5.3%
French1.8%1.3%1.6%
Polish1.6%0.9%2.2%
Scottish1.6%0.9%1.3%
Mexican29.7%32.3%11.3%
Puerto Rican0.8%0.6%1.8%
Guatemalan0.6%1.3%0.5%
Spanish0.5%0.3%—
Spaniard0.4%0.3%—
Salvadoran0.3%2.0%0.7%
Colombian0.3%0.3%0.4%
Cuban0.2%—0.7%
Filipino4.6%3.3%0.9%
Chinese2.0%3.9%1.3%
Asian Indian1.5%2.3%1.4%
Vietnamese1.4%1.7%0.6%
Korean0.7%1.2%0.4%
Japanese0.5%0.6%0.2%
Cambodian0.2%——
Laotian0.2%——
African American†3.2%4.4%9.9%
African0.4%0.3%0.5%
Jamaican0.2%—0.4%
Aztec0.3%0.3%—
Maya0.2%——
Hispanic or Latino counts residents of any race; the race groups count only their non-Hispanic residents, so the groups are mutually exclusive and sum to 100%. Expand a row to see ancestries reported within that group.
Age and life stage
Measure
San Diego
California
United States
Median age
37.3
37.9
39.1
Age 18–24
9.8%
9.1%
9.2%
Age 65 and older
15.4%
15.6%
17.2%
Household economy
Measure
San Diego
California
United States
Median household income
$106,268
$99,122
$84,427
Poverty rate
10.3%
12.0%
12.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher (25+)
43.2%
36.6%
35.6%
Languages at home
Measure
San Diego
California
United States
Speaks a non-English language at home
37.3%
44.4%
22.3%
Spanish
24.1%
28.4%
13.6%
Other Indo-European
2.1%
3.4%
2.0%
Chinese (incl. Mandarin & Cantonese)
1.7%
3.5%
1.1%
Tagalog (incl. Filipino)
2.7%
2.1%
0.6%
Religious landscape
Measure
San Diego
California
United States
Catholic
22.9%
26.2%
18.6%
Evangelical Protestant
9.4%
9.0%
16.5%
Unclaimed / not counted
58.6%
55.2%
51.5%
American Community Survey 2024 5-year (CVAP, income, age, poverty, education, language, race, ancestry) · presidential returns from MIT Election Lab through 2024 · 2020 U.S. Religion Census (ASARB) — congregational adherents; unclaimed is the residual not counted by congregations.
San Diego, California
presidential history
Presidential margin, 1892–2024
Democratic minus Republican, by election
Presidential margin over time
Year
Margin (D minus R)
1892
−15.4%
1896
+3.6%
1900
−16.2%
1904
−40.2%
1908
−32.1%
1912
+44.8%
1916
−0.4%
1920
−36.5%
1924
−42.6%
1928
−35.2%
1932
+12.1%
1936
+28.4%
1940
+12.3%
1944
+8.5%
1948
−1.6%
1952
−26.3%
1956
−29.3%
1960
−13.1%
1964
−0.6%
1968
−20.2%
1972
−27.5%
1976
−14.1%
1980
−33.5%
1984
−31.9%
1988
−21.8%
1992
+1.5%
1996
−1.5%
2000
−4.0%
2004
−6.1%
2008
+10.2%
2012
+7.6%
2016
+19.6%
2020
+22.8%
2024
+16.8%
DemocraticRepublican
34 presidential elections
Third column names the leading third-party or independent finisher. Source · MIT Election Lab · ICPSR · VEST (precinct-level 2024). Swing · margin change from the prior cycle. vs U.S. · margin relative to the national result that year.
Year
Won
Democratic
Republican
Other
Margin
Swing
vs U.S.
Total
D
56.9%Harris841,372
40.1%Trump593,270
1.1%Kennedy16,379 +4
D+16.8
R+6.0
D+18.3
1,477,786
All 7 candidates in 2024 · 5 minor / independent
Kamala D HarrisDemocratic56.9%841,372
Donald J TrumpRepublican40.1%593,270
Robert F Kennedy Jr.Independent1.1%16,379
Jill SteinIndependent1.0%14,198
Chase OliverLibertarian0.5%7,486
Claudia De La CruzIndependent0.3%5,063
OtherAll other candidates0.0%18
D
60.2%Biden964,650
37.5%Trump600,094
2.3%
D+22.8
D+3.1
D+18.3
1,602,143
D
56.1%Clinton735,476
36.4%Trump477,766
7.5%
D+19.6
D+12.1
D+17.6
1,311,618
D
52.5%Obama626,957
45.0%Romney536,726
2.5%
D+7.6
R+2.6
D+3.7
1,193,949
D
54.0%Obama666,581
43.8%McCain541,032
2.3%
D+10.2
D+16.3
D+2.9
1,235,503
R
46.3%Kerry526,437
52.5%Bush596,033
1.2%
R+6.1
R+2.2
R+3.7
1,136,351
R
45.7%Gore437,666
49.6%Bush475,736
4.7%
R+4.0
R+2.5
R+4.5
958,634
R
44.1%Clinton389,964
45.6%Dole402,876
10.3%
R+1.5
R+3.0
R+10.0
884,151
D
37.2%Clinton367,397
35.7%Bush352,125
27.1%
D+1.5
D+23.4
R+4.0
986,646
R
38.3%Dukakis333,264
60.2%Bush523,143
1.5%
R+21.8
D+10.0
R+14.1
869,195
R
33.4%Mondale257,029
65.3%Reagan502,344
1.3%
R+31.9
D+1.7
R+13.7
769,267
R
27.3%Carter195,410
60.8%Reagan435,910
11.9%
R+33.5
R+19.4
R+23.8
716,866
R
41.6%Carter263,654
55.7%Ford353,302
2.7%
R+14.1
D+13.3
R+16.2
633,795
R
34.3%McGovern206,455
61.8%Nixon371,627
3.8%
R+27.5
R+7.3
R+4.3
601,137
R
36.1%Humphrey167,669
56.3%Nixon261,540
7.7%
R+20.2
R+19.6
R+19.5
464,863
R
49.7%Johnson211,808
50.3%Goldwater214,445
0.0%
R+0.6
D+12.5
R+23.2
426,286
R
43.3%Kennedy171,259
56.4%Nixon223,056
0.3%
R+13.1
D+16.2
R+13.3
395,421
R
35.1%Stevenson106,716
64.5%Eisenhower195,742
0.4%
R+29.3
R+3.0
R+13.9
303,605
R
36.5%Stevenson101,880
62.9%Eisenhower175,281
0.6%
R+26.3
R+24.7
R+15.6
278,751
R
47.8%Truman98,217
49.4%Dewey101,552
2.8%
R+1.6
R+10.1
R+6.1
205,459
D
53.9%Roosevelt89,959
45.4%Dewey75,746
0.6%
D+8.5
R+3.8
D+1.0
166,764
D
55.6%Roosevelt71,188
43.3%Willkie55,434
1.2%
D+12.3
R+16.1
D+2.4
128,110
D
63.5%Roosevelt64,628
35.0%Landon35,686
1.5%
D+28.4
D+16.3
D+4.2
101,854
D
53.6%Roosevelt45,622
41.5%Hoover35,305
5.0%
D+12.1
D+47.3
R+5.7
85,150
R
32.0%Smith22,749
67.1%Hoover47,769
0.9%
R+35.2
D+7.5
R+17.7
71,151
R
6.3%Davis2,944
49.0%Coolidge22,726
44.7%
R+42.6
R+6.1
R+17.5
46,391
R
27.3%Cox8,478
63.8%Harding19,826
9.0%
R+36.5
R+36.1
R+10.3
31,087
R
46.0%Wilson16,815
46.5%Hughes16,978
7.5%
R+0.4
R+45.2
R+3.6
36,537
O
44.8%Wilson9,731
0.0%Taft0
55.2%
Roosevelt +10.4
D+76.9
D+25.2
21,728
R
25.4%Bryan2,393
57.6%Taft5,412
17.0%
R+32.1
D+8.1
R+22.6
9,403
R
19.3%Parker1,398
59.5%Roosevelt4,303
21.1%
R+40.2
R+24.0
R+20.5
7,230
R
38.7%Bryan2,678
54.9%McKinley3,800
6.4%
R+16.2
R+19.8
R+8.7
6,921
D
50.4%Bryan3,908
46.9%McKinley3,631
2.7%
D+3.6
D+19.0
D+9.7
7,748
R
30.3%Cleveland2,334
45.7%Harrison3,525
24.0%
R+15.4
—
R+17.1
7,712
voter registration
Registered voters
By party of registration, over time
Party registration · 2024D+13.5
vs
Presidential vote · 2024D+16.8
Registration leans Democratic; the presidential vote runs 3.3 points more Republican.
1,938,487 registered voters · 2024 · up from 1,909,948 in 2022
Domestic migration in San Diego in San Diego: net domestic migration by year
Year
Net domestic migration
2011
+99
2012
−334
2013
−817
2014
+987
2015
−8,380
2016
−11,285
2017
−15,748
2018
−10,815
2019
−19,731
2021
−40,718
2022
−16,848
2023
−29,397
2024
−22,231
2025
−23,876
San Diego's media market spans a dense military and tech workforce alongside fast-growing inland suburbs, producing competitive margins in federal and statewide races even as registration trends Democratic by roughly 10 points.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 44.8 points in 1912 and a Republican high of 42.6 points in 1924. Between 2020 and 2024 the market moved 6.0 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 16.8 points.
A population of 3,288,774, a 42% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $106,268 describe the market. The market's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Austin and Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto.
Akashic
Political twins — media markets
The media markets whose fingerprint — 2000–2024 trajectory, demographics, ancestry, religion — sits closest to this one, and why.
Twin score (0–100) = weighted cosine between tier-standardized fingerprints: presidential margins 2000–2024 with 12-yr trend and elasticity, ACS income, age, education, population and race, top reported ancestries, and religious adherence — chips name the closest-shared dimensions and the widest gap. Re-weight the groups in the twins explorer.
Compare two places, side by side
Twelve curated comparisons line up election history, demographics, and the divergence story for two places at a glance. Browse all comparisons →
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
San Diego, California. Akashic. https://akashic.app/dma/825/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
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In 2024, San Diego, California voted Democratic by 16.8 points (D+16.8), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 1,477,786 votes cast, 841,372 went Democratic and 593,270 went Republican.
When did San Diego, California last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which San Diego, California voted Republican was 2004.
How many people live in San Diego, California?
San Diego, California has a population of 3,288,774 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in San Diego, California?
Median household income in San Diego, California is $106,268 — above the national median of $80,734. The California state median is $99,122.
What is the political history of San Diego, California?
Akashic tracks 34 presidential elections in San Diego, California from 1892 to 2024. Of those, 11 went Democratic and 22 went Republican.
