Alpine, California.
Typical home $958,740 (+2.3% in a year), asking rent $2,274 (+1.7%). San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$2,813 (+127%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $21,955 +2%
- $936,785$958,740 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $182,509 +24%
- $776,231$958,740 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Alpine$5,032
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 16 years.
Typical home values in Alpine, CA rose 2.3% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Asking rents in Alpine, CA rose 1.7% over the past year — slower than the nation's +2.7%.
Owning the typical home in Alpine runs $4,324/mo more than renting one. The gap peaked at $4,377 in Jan 2025.
That is $6,598 a month against $2,274 rent: a $5,032 mortgage payment, plus $540 property tax and $1,026 insurance & upkeep.
Owning vs renting — Alpine
The owning line is the typical home's monthly payment at that month's rate, plus property tax and insurance & upkeep; the renting line is the typical asking rent; the grey line is the mortgage payment on its own. Same homes, same months, both ways of paying for a roof.
- Owning all in$6,598
- Renting$2,274
- Mortgage only$5,032
Property tax · $540/mo 0.68% of value a year — the ACS 2020-2024 median bill over the median home value for San Diego County, CA
Insurance & upkeep · $1,026/mo insurance, maintenance and repairs together, from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey — the national figure for mortgaged homeowners, scaled to this market's home value. BLS publishes the three bundled and they cannot be split.
Both are priced off the same month's home value, so they rise with the market. Neither is a quote — a specific home's bill depends on its assessment, its age and its insurer.
Living in Alpine, San Diego County, California
Alpine, in San Diego County, had 14,696 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $108,660 a year and half less, against $106,268 across San Diego County; 13% of its people live below the poverty line. 74% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 26% are rented. Unemployment in San Diego County was 4.9% in August 2026, and the county had 0.1% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then shops.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Alpine is a community in San Diego County where most homes are lived in by their owners, more so than is typical for a place this close to a major city. Household incomes run a little above the county's, and the typical home costs a good deal to buy, while rents are high too. Residents are somewhat older than the typical American, and a share of adults hold a four-year degree.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, in the building trades and in manufacturing. Among the largest workplaces in Alpine are the Alpine Union Elementary Schools, the Forest Service and Albertsons. The typical commute is a fairly long one, and a noticeable number of people work from home.
Things to do. The weather is mild for most of the year: winters are cool but not harsh, summers turn hot in August, and rain is light. For a day out, the best-known choices are all a longer drive away. San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park are both zoos, and Balboa Park is a large city park with museums nearby.
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- 5,414households
- 33%of adults have a degree
- 13%below the poverty line
- 30 mintypical commute
- 16%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. San Diego County had 1,535,067 jobs in 2025, 0.1% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 63° and lows near 42°; warmest in August, with highs near 89° and lows near 62°. About 16 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Alpine weather station, a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Alpine
- Alpine Union Elementary SchoolsSchool district161FTE
- Forest ServiceFederal government · Department of Agriculture125
- AlbertsonsSupermarkets and other grocery stores120
- Wellpath Recovery SolutionsResidential mental health and substance abuse facilities95
- KTA ConstructionSewer main, pipe and connection, construction60
- El Centro de Salud de la Comunidad de San YsidroCommunity health centers and clinics, outpatient49
- San Diego GAS & ElectricElectric power distribution46
- K H Minton Painting33
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 8 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 449 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and federal offices from OPM's federal workforce data (2026); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- WildfireVery high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- LandslidesRelatively moderate
- EarthquakesRelatively moderate
- Heat wavesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Alpine’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on San Diego County and the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA metro.
Alpine home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Alpine$958,740
- California$761,538
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Alpine listings, and the typical home goes pending in 30 days — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Alpine26.26%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
- Alpine30
- United States27
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Alpine73
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Alpine18
Zip codes with a Alpine address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Alpine — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.