Published fit 41 uses default walkable weights and a $2,500 ACS rent budget — the same number as the San Diego table. Your current weights score this 39.
Data period. ACS 2024 5-year (2020-2024) · SDPD Oct 2025 – Sep 2026 · OSM Oct 2026. ACS and SDPD retrieved 2026-10-14; OSM retrieved 2026-10-14. Editorial copy last revised Sep 2026.
Fashion Valley and the stadium are searches inside Mission Valley. Rent is $2,831 and the home median is $631,490 — more condo than house. Property Part I is 77.0 per 1,000, second only to the beach spit, because the malls and the hotels are in the count. Violent is 11.0. Not a score for every new building.
Default walkable weights, $2,500 ACS rent budget. Same axes as the city table and the FAQ.
Safety
5
266 violent · 1858 property · 88.0 per 1k (Oct 2025 – Sep 2026)-45 vs city set
Schools
50
Limited school data0 vs city set
Walk
34
OSM: 8 groceries · 13 cafes · 177 transit · 121 parks+10 vs city set
Cost
88
$2,831 ACS median vs published $2,500 rent budget-8 vs city set
Vibe
24
OSM: 13 cafes · 90 restaurants · 5 bars · 121 parks+3 vs city set
Commute to work
From Mission Valley, a typical weekday is 14 min to Downtown, 16 min to UTC, 6 min to Mission Valley. Not live traffic.
Mission Valley is the fastest of these three job centers from here.
Downtown
14 min
Civic Center, Gaslamp · -3 min vs the city-set median
UTC
16 min
University City, the campus · -3 min vs the city-set median
Mission Valley
6 min
Malls, the stadium · -9 min vs the city-set median · fastest of these three
Minutes are baked from neighborhood geography to three job centers — not Google, not this hour’s traffic.
Cost of living
The ACS median rent is $2,831 — every occupied rental mixed together, not the 1-bed in the window.
That is 35% of median household income — over the 30% HUD line. A household at this area’s median income ($98K) could “afford” about $2,445 a month at 30% of pay.
72% of households rent. Median home value is $631,490.
ACS median rent
$2,831
30% income budget
$2,445
Rent / income
35%
Median home
$631,490
Rent since 2014
ACS 5-year median gross rent for San Diego city. Up 70% since 2014. Mission Valley is 22% above the 2024 city median.
Overlapping 5-year ACS windows (B25064), not asking rent. Census does not publish a rent series for each official neighborhood, so the line is the city place. The dashed mark is this area’s ACS 2024 median.
HUD treats 30% of income as the cost-burden line. We do not split ACS rent into 1-bed vs 2-bed. Method.
Within a walk
Within a short walk of this official community planning area: 8 groceries, 13 cafes, 121 parks, and 177 transit stops.
Daily errands and coffee are realistic on foot. Parks are close — 121 mapped parks in that radius. Transit is dense (177 stops or stations).
13 cafes and 90 restaurants make this one of the busier food pockets in the San Diego set.
OpenStreetMap, 800 meters. Not a Walk Score license. More groceries than 9 of the other 19 areas in this city.
Population
24,121
Median age
33.8
Median income
$98K
Renters
72%
Bachelor+
56%
Violent / 1k
11.0
Property / 1k
77.0
ACS 2024 5-year (2020-2024) · 5 census tracts · SDPD Oct 2025 – Sep 2026 · OSM 2026-10-14
Planned
Crime is SDPD Part I reports per 1,000 ACS residents — not a judgment of who lives here. Home and rent figures are ACS medians, not live MLS. Read the method.
On the ground
What it is like to live here, beyond the scores.
Fashion Valley and the stadium are searches inside Mission Valley. Rent is $2,831 and the home median is $631,490 — more condo than house. Property Part I is 77.0 per 1,000, second only to the beach spit, because the malls and the hotels are in the count. Violent is 11.0. Not a score for every new building.
Scores on this page stay inside San Diego. Mission Valley is the official community planning area; other names are searches, not extra polygons. School ratings are not in this snapshot. A neighbor on the schematic map is not a shared fence. SDPD counts are the department's FBI violent and property flags — Part I homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, plus burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft. Arson is not in those flags. Police beats are not this map.
Compiled from Zillow neighborhood guides, 5280 Magazine, Chicago and San Francisco resident guides, Mpls With Love, Eastside LA reporting, Seattle Times coverage, Boston planning-neighborhood writing, Philadelphia neighborhood writing, Portland neighborhood writing, Washington neighborhood-cluster writing, San Diego community-plan writing, and local writing, 2025–2026. Editorial — not part of the fit score.
On Reddit
Public posts from r/sandiego that mention this neighborhood. Not Nextdoor, not people on this block, and not part of the fit score.
No r/sandiego posts in this snapshot mentioned Mission Valley.
Mission Valley shows more Part I than most of this San Diego set (safety 5 vs city 50). SDPD logged 11.0 violent and 77.0 property incidents per 1,000 residents — 88.0 combined. Visitors count in those numbers. This is not a judgment of who lives here.
What is rent in Mission Valley?+−
ACS median rent is $2,831 — studios through large apartments mixed together. About 72% of households rent. Median home value is $631,490. Survey medians, not a listing you can message tonight.
Is Mission Valley walkable?+−
Walk is 34 here vs 24 for the San Diego set — you will likely drive or ride for a weekly shop. Inside 800 meters: 8 groceries, 13 cafes, 177 transit stops, 121 parks. Not a Walk Score license.
Is Mission Valley good for families?+−
Family fit depends on the school rating nearby and how much quiet you want. Nearby school rating is thin in this dataset. Median age is 33.8. That rating is not your assigned campus.
How long is the commute from Mission Valley?+−
14 typical weekday minutes to Downtown. Not the app on your phone this hour. Other job centers are further down this page.
How many people live in Mission Valley?+−
About 24,121 people. Median income $98K. 56% have a bachelor's or higher.
What neighborhoods are next to Mission Valley?+−
Clairemont, Normal Heights, North Park sit closest on this map. If you are choosing between two official community planning areas, start with Mission Valley vs Clairemont.
Next door
Closest on this schematic map, scored with the same published walkable weights as the San Diego table. Distances here are not street geography.
The official plan is Clairemont Mesa. 78,255 people, houses and canyons, 42% renters. Rent is $2,312. Violent Part I is 2.1 per 1,000. It is a drive to the water and a shorter hop to the valley offices.
30th Street is the search. The official plan is North Park. Cafes and houses on the same grid. Rent is $2,034. Violent Part I is 3.2 per 1,000, calmer than the plan to the west. Median age is 35.8.
Hillcrest, Mission Hills, and Bankers Hill are searches inside one plan. The official name is Uptown. Hillcrest is the night; the west side is houses. Median age is 42.2 and the home median is $1,135,056. Violent Part I is 5.7 per 1,000. Property is 19.9.
Adams Avenue is the search. The official plan is Mid-City: Normal Heights. Rent is $1,888, one of the lower central medians, and the home median is $778,085. Violent Part I is 4.6 per 1,000. A small grid, not a campus.
USD is a search on the west side of this plan. The official name is Linda Vista. Home median is $717,082. Property Part I is 25.7 per 1,000, high for a plan that is mostly houses — the commercial edge is inside the same line. Violent is 4.5.