San Diego posts country's largest college grad gain
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San Diego attracted a net increase of 12,532 college graduates in 2023. Photo: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
More college-educated adults moved to San Diego in 2023 than any other city in the country, according to a new study from USA Today Homefront.
Why it matters: Growing the city's college-educated population boosts the region's high-wage economic sectors, including biotech and aerospace.
Driving the news: San Diego saw a net inflow of 12,532 college-educated residents last year, compared with just 1,298 adults without higher education degrees, USA Today found by analyzing data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
Yes but: While San Diego welcomes more high-income workers than any city, it also has one of the worst upward mobility rates in the nation.
By the numbers: San Diego's net increase in college-educated adults was the country's largest, but the number of college graduates leaving — 23,452 — was the 13th largest nationwide.
- The city's influx of 35,984 degree holders was the country's fifth largest.
What they're saying: Bill Fulton, professor at UCSD's Department of Urban Studies and Planning, said the data tells the story of an ebb and flow of college-educated workers.
- "Lots of college-educated people come, and lots of college-educated people go," he told Axios. "Probably, they come when they're young and want to surf and live a Southern California lifestyle, and there's biotech opportunities available, and then when they want to settle down and start a family, they leave."
Zoom out: Charlotte and Houston joined San Diego as cities with the largest net gains, while Boston suffered the biggest "brain drain."
- Researchers cited housing costs and affordability as major drivers of relocations.
- San Diego's high housing costs may not have had the same effect because they were balanced by "the economic opportunities and cultural amenities available," said Margaret Chin, chair of sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City.
The other side: Claudia Phillips, a researcher working with USA Today Homefront, told Axios the degree-holder influx in the short-term could also create job competition and rapid rent increases.
- Over time, she said, the influx could displace existing workers fromthe region, or pushed into lower-wage jobs to remain.
- Fulton said it's an overall positive phenomenon for San Diego: It means the region remains a place people want to move, that offers viable opportunities to do so.