Chula Vista, California

If you ask anyone what their ideal temperature would be, they’re going to say “the warmth of the south without the humidity” or “the temperate climate of the midwest or northeast, but no snow,” which is a long-winded way of saying “San Diego.” Chula Vista is all the beauty and beautiful weather of San Diego without the astronomical price tag. The weather is beautiful all year round, giving you plenty of time to explore one of Chula’s many parks and beautiful ocean-front views!

Locals like to say it's the ideal place to raise a family: "I have lived here for almost 28 years and like many have been commuting to San Diego for work. Chula Vista is great for raising a family. It's different than places south of it like South San Diego, Imperial Beach, and San Ysidro and from places north of it like National City. It has the usual grocery stores or health stores like Sprouts and Grocery Outlet, great for low-cost organic food, and specialty grocery stores like Northgate Market. It also has authentic Mexican restaurants and bakeries like La Moreliana plus great Chinese restaurants. There are also some fabulous restaurants like D’Lish if you like homemade pasta, the famous Tacos El Gordo if you like delicious tacos, various great seafood places, etc.*"

Because there aren’t a ton of work opportunities in Chula Vista, a lot of people choose to work north of the city in San Diego. On the flip side, there are a lot of people who were working or relocated work to San Diego and couldn’t rationalize the San Diego price tags, so they went with Chula Vista. These two things make the average commute much longer than the national average.

Local on commuting: Honestly, commuting from Chula Vista is not worth it. The traffic is so bad and gas prices right now are high. I commuted for a little bit and every day I felt so exhausted that I never wanted to do any work when I got back home. If you have a class at 9:30, leaving the house at 7:30 am would work, I think I did that too. It doesn’t save you from traffic though. Traffic is usually from like 7-9 am and then 3-6:30 pm

Despite the massive growth Chula Vista has seen, it’s still widely known as a suburb of San Diego. While there is a lot to do downtown, CV is full of families and planned neighborhoods with HOAs. 3rd Ave has a ton of great breweries and restaurants, but it’s not considered a walkable city and you’ll need a car to get anywhere. Residents of Chula Vista take advantage of the proximity to nature and the beaches for their weekend getaways.

If you want to get a sense of the activities that happen here check out the Chula Vista Calendar of Events.

Chula Vista, being so close to a larger city like San Diego, is mostly a commuter city. That said, CV is very small-business minded and community-centered. Besides small-business owners, the majority of people are employed by local school districts and the local medical centers. Chula Vista has been growing steadily since 2013 and tourism plays a huge part in their growing economy.