Bonsall, California.
Typical home $1,004,883 (+0.1% in a year), asking rent $3,669 . San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$2,890 (+121%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $1,349 +0%
- $1,003,534$1,004,883 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $156,780 +18%
- $848,103$1,004,883 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.
- Bonsall$5,274
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 20 years.
Typical home values in Bonsall, CA rose 0.1% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Bonsall, San Diego County, California
Bonsall, in San Diego County, had 4,546 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $113,537 a year and half less, against $106,268 across San Diego County. 69% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 31% 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Bonsall is a small community in northern San Diego County where most homes are lived in by their owners. Household incomes run above the county's, and homes here are priced well beyond what most places in the country ask, with rents to match. A good share of adults hold a four-year degree, and winters are mild, with cool days and chilly nights in December and warm but not extreme summers.
Work. Residents work mainly in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, in manufacturing, and in professional and business services. Within Bonsall itself, the largest workplaces include Bonsall Unified, the school district, and Altman Specialty Plants, a wholesaler of florist's supplies. Commutes are fairly long, and quite a few people work from home. Across San Diego County, unemployment has eased a little over the past year, while the number of jobs has barely changed.
Things to do. Close to home, Alta Vista Gardens is a botanical garden a short drive away, and the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum is also a short drive away. For a longer outing, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park is a zoo a longer drive away, and Legoland California, an amusement park, is a longer drive away as well.
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- 1,638households
- 48%of adults have a degree
- 31 mintypical commute
- 21%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 65° and lows near 45°; warmest in August, with highs near 81° and lows near 63°. About 13 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Vista weather station, 4 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Bonsall
- Bonsall UnifiedSchool district293FTE
- Altman Specialty PlantsFlorist's supplies merchant wholesalers146
- Rawhide RanchSummer camps45
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 2 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 191 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); 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 floodingVery 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 Bonsall’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very 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.
Bonsall home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Bonsall$1,004,883
- California$761,538
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Bonsall listings — the market is heating up.
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.
- Bonsall25.78%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Bonsall40
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Bonsall12
Zip codes with a Bonsall address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Bonsall — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.