Del Mar, California.
Typical home $3,830,884 (+10.3% in a year), asking rent $6,791 . San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$11,589 (+136%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $357,846 +10%
- $3,473,038$3,830,884 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $907,986 +31%
- $2,922,898$3,830,884 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.
- Del Mar$20,107
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 13 years.
Typical home values in Del Mar, CA rose 10.3% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Owning the typical home in Del Mar runs $19,575/mo more than renting one. The gap peaked at $19,748 in Jan 2025.
That is $26,365 a month against $6,791 rent: a $20,107 mortgage payment, plus $2,157 property tax and $4,101 insurance & upkeep.
Owning vs renting — Del Mar
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$26,365
- Renting$6,791
- Mortgage only$20,107
Property tax · $2,157/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 · $4,101/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 Del Mar, San Diego County, California
Del Mar is a city of 3,954 people in San Diego County. Half its households earn more than $199,152 a year and half less, against $106,268 across San Diego County; 3% of its people live below the poverty line. 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 people in San Diego County work in schools and health care, then professional services.
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. Del Mar is a small coastal city whose residents are older than in most places, and incomes here run well above the county's, with very few people living below the poverty line. Nearly all adults hold a four-year degree. Homes and rents are among the most expensive anywhere, and the typical commute is a modest one.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, in professional and business services, and in restaurants, hotels and entertainment. Among the largest workplaces in Del Mar are the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, a racetrack, and Ranch and Coast Plastic Surgery, a medical practice. Unemployment across San Diego County is a little lower than a year ago, though the county has about the same number of jobs as before.
Things to do. The San Dieguito River runs in or beside town, and Black's Beach is a short drive away. A longer drive brings you to Balboa Park, a large city park, and the San Diego Zoo. Winters are mild, and summers are warm but not hot, with little rain through the year.
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- 1,855households
- 86%of adults have a degree
- 3%below the poverty line
- 22 mintypical commute
What people in San Diego County 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 67° and lows near 46°; warmest in August, with highs near 82° and lows near 65°. About 11 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the San Diego Miramar Nas weather station, 10 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Del Mar
- Del Mar Thoroughbred ClubThoroughbred racetracks297
- Del MARMail and parcel delivery24
- Ranch and Coast Plastic SurgeryMedical practice20
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 3 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 341 people in all. 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
- EarthquakesRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- Coastal floodingRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Del Mar’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. 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.
Del Mar home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Del Mar$3,830,884
- California$761,538
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Del Mar listings — 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.
- Del Mar29.63%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Del Mar20
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Del Mar5
Zip codes with a Del Mar address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Del Mar — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.
Zillow publishes no zip-level series with this city on the address.