San Diego County properties now valued at record $806 billion

The value of land in San Diego County continues to tick up, despite economic and real estate pressures.

San Diego County’s assessed value of all taxable property — including residential, commercial and industrial land — is now $806 billion, the Assessor’s Office recently said. That is an increase of 4.95% from Jan. 1, 2024, to Jan. 1, 2025. It was down from a 5.58% jump last year, and 7.1% two years ago.

The value of San Diego County land has climbed almost every year for 30 years, except for three decreases during the Great Recession in the late 2000s. Taxes are used to pay for schools, libraries, parks, public safety and other government services.

Residential properties make up the vast majority of taxable land in the county with 1,020,253 parcels. They are followed by 55,478 business properties, 15,162 boats and 1,562 aircraft.

One wrinkle in this year’s data is the number of business properties decreased by 2.5%, or a loss of 1,361 businesses. That includes a variety of businesses: restaurants, offices, hotels, bars, biotech spaces, manufacturing facilities and basically any type of operation with a physical presence. San Diego County Assessor Jordan Marks said it’s a noticeable enough decrease that it can’t be explained away with work-from-home trends.

San Diego County has yet to match its pre-pandemic tax rolls for businesses. There were 57,699 business accounts in 2019, dropping 2% in 2020 and 5% in 2021. The number had been steadily increasing 1% to 2% each year before this slowdown.

In positive news for San Diego homeowners, they are still seeing the benefits of Proposition 13, which limits annual property tax increases to 2%. The 1978 law covered 92% of county properties this year.

“Thanks to Proposition 13,” Marks said, “no homeowner should lose their home due to unaffordable property taxes.”

The Assessor’s Office recorded a 23% drop in home sales in the past year, marking its lowest volume since 2007. Still, home prices continued to increase during the time period covered, keeping property taxes flowing into county coffers. That might change in next year’s report as San Diego County home prices were only up 0.37% as of May.

In terms of specific areas, the city of San Diego had the highest assessed land value at $386 billion. It was followed by Carlsbad at $48 billion, Chula Vista at $46 billion and Oceanside at $36 billion. The lowest assessed values were in Imperial Beach and Lemon Grove, both at $3.6 billion.

Poway, at $15.8 billion, saw the biggest growth in land value, increasing 6.72% in a year as of Jan. 1. The lowest was Escondido, at $24 billion, up 4% in a year.

This year’s countywide 4.95% increase is a steadier change when looking at historical trends. In 2005, property values rose a record 13.3% in a year but was followed by the Great Recession. Property values dropped 2.31% in 2009, 1.56% in 2010 and 0.14% in 2012.