Descanso, California.
Typical home $658,973 (+2.3% in a year). San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,768 (+105%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $15,017 +2%
- $643,956$658,973 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $97,339 +17%
- $561,634$658,973 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.
- Descanso$3,459
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 22 years.
Typical home values in Descanso, CA rose 2.3% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Descanso, San Diego County, California
Descanso, in San Diego County, had 1,499 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $110,132 a year and half less, against $106,268 across San Diego County; 4% 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Descanso is a small community in the mountains of San Diego County, where neighbors tend to know one another.
Work. Households here earn somewhat more than the county as a whole, and fewer people live below the poverty line than you might expect. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, in professional and business services, or in restaurants, hotels and entertainment, and a share work from home. Across San Diego County, the University of California-San Diego, the County of San Diego and San Diego Unified are among the largest workplaces.
Things to do. Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, a protected area, is a short drive away, as is Lake Cuyamaca, a reservoir. Pine Creek Wilderness, another protected area, is also a short drive away, for those who like quiet walks. Winters are cold, with snow most years, and summers are warm.
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- 570households
- 16%of adults have a degree
- 4%below the poverty line
- 11%work from home
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 51° and lows near 32°; warmest in August, with highs near 84° and lows near 58°. About 20 inches of snow and 30 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Cuyamaca weather station, 9 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in San Diego County
- University of California-San DiegoUniversity or college18,717
- County of San DiegoSocial service agency18,392
- San Diego UnifiedSchool district11,195FTE
- Ucsd Medical CenterGeneral hospital10,244FTE
- National UniversityUniversity or college5,052
- illuminaBiotechnology research and development laboratories or services in the medical sciences4,687
- National UniversityColleges, universities, and professional schools4,649
- San Diego State UniversityUniversity or college4,229
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 2,263 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 408,395 people in all across the county; Descanso has none of its own. Colleges come from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24), school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); 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
- LandslidesRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- EarthquakesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Descanso’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.
Descanso home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Descanso$658,973
- California$761,538
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Descanso 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.
- Descanso28.35%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Descanso24
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Zip codes with a Descanso address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Descanso — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.
Zip codes in Descanso
| Zip activate to sort by Zip | Place activate to sort by Place | Population sorted descending, activate to sort ascending | Rent activate to sort by Rent | Home value activate to sort by Home value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 91962 | Pine Valley | 2,574 | — | $645,784 |
| 91916 | Descanso | 1,710 | — | $663,197 |