Moving to
Winter Gardens.

All Winter Gardens data Compare Winter Gardens

22,131people live here $97,973median household income▲ 21% above US $1,913median rent per month▲ 35% above US $608,600median home value▲ 83% above US

Winter Gardens is an unincorporated community in San Diego County, CA. It has no city government: the county runs it, and the Census counts it as its own place.

What it's like to live in Winter Gardens

Winter Gardens is an unincorporated community in California with household incomes running above the national average. Those factors carry real weight for anyone weighing where to move next.

The tradeoffs are worth naming plainly. Winter Gardens deals with rent well above the national average, home prices well above the national average, air quality that falls short of national benchmarks, and a population that has been shrinking.

The good

Higher-than-average incomes

The not so good

Rent well above the national average
High home prices
Air quality concerns
Shrinking population
High student-teacher ratio
High rent burden for renters

How Winter Gardens compares

Median household income

Winter Gardens$97,973

California avg$99,122

US$80,734

Median rent (per month)

Winter Gardens$1,913

California avg$2,036

US$1,413

Median home value

Winter Gardens$608,600

California avg$734,700

US$332,700

What it takes to move to Winter Gardens

Based on Winter Gardens's median rent, home value and household income

To rent

$3,826

up front: first month plus a typical one-month deposit

Income to keep rent under 30%: $76,520 a year
53% of Winter Gardens renters spend 30% or more of their income on rent

To buy

$121,720

a 20% down payment on the median home

With 10% down: $60,860
Homes cost 6.2× the typical local household income (US: 4.1×)

Moving costs, closing costs and taxes not included.

The details

Cost of living▲ 35% above US

$1,913/mo median rent

Rent is expensive here, at $1,913 a month median and well above the national average. This is the kind of city where housing costs deserve serious budgeting before committing to a move. Home prices are steep, with a median around $608,600. Renting first to get a feel for the city before buying is often the more practical route.

Median home value $608,600 · 53% of renters cost-burdened

Job market

4.6% county unemployment

Unemployment in San Diego County is 4.6%, close to the national average of 4.3%. That's the county-wide rate; BLS doesn't measure a place this size on its own.

San Diego County (county-wide)

Safety

167 violent crimes per 100k, whole jurisdiction

Winter Gardens doesn't have its own police department, so there's no crime rate for it alone. The figures shown are for the San Diego County Sheriff's Office jurisdiction as a whole, which runs below the national average for violent crime and covers many communities. Individual neighborhoods can differ a lot from that overall rate.

Property crime 315/100k · Policed by San Diego County Sheriff's Office (county-wide rate) · 2025 data

Getting aroundNear US average

26 min average commute

Commutes run about average, at 25.9 minutes. Fine day to day, but it adds up over a year, and where someone lives relative to where they work starts to matter. 8 in 10 workers drive to work; 14% work from home.

How workers get to work

Drive alone

75%

Work from home

14%

Carpool

6.9%

Other

2.9%

Walk

1.1%

Public transit

0.7%

Climate

Summers are warm, with highs around 85°F, and winters are mild, with lows rarely dropping below 43°F. It's a dry climate with limited rainfall.

Average month

High °FLow °FPrecip (in)

30-year averages, 1991–2020

Education & workforce▼ 30% below US

25% bachelor's degree or higher

College degree attainment runs below average at 25%. That tends to reflect a more trade and working-class economy, which can be great or limiting depending on the industry.

Schools

6 public schools inside the boundary

There are 6 public schools inside the boundary and 1 private school. The student-to-teacher ratio is 23:1, above the national average of 16:1.

Parks & recreation

The nearest national park or historic site is Cabrillo National Monument (21 miles away). There are 3 national parks and sites within a day's drive.

Bottom line

Winter Gardens's strongest point is household incomes running above the national average; the main tradeoffs are rent well above the national average and home prices well above the national average. A year of median rent ($1,913/mo) equals 23% of the median household income here, about the same as the 21% typical nationwide. It may be a harder fit for renters on a tight budget and anyone who doesn't drive.

See all the data for Winter Gardens →·All California cities →