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What can you rent for $1,500 in San Diego County?

Spoiler Alert: It's cheaper to live outside the city.

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — If you live in San Diego, you know there’s a price to living in paradise. Finding out how much is too much depends on location and the length of a commute you're willing to make. 

Rent Café, a nationwide apartment search website, analyzed how much space renters can expect to find around San Diego for $1,500.

Spoiler Alert: It's definitely cheaper outside the city.

In San Diego, $1,500 doesn't go far. You're looking at about 500-square-feet for that price. The cheapest place to get the most bang for your buck is Fallbrook, California and that's about a 40-mile commute to downtown San Diego.

CBS 8 checked Apartments.com in Fallbrook and for $1,500 a month and a 40-mile commute, it can get you a whopping 800-square-feet, or a 2 to 3 bedroom apartment when space is what you require on a budget.

Meanwhile, San Diego renters settle for a one bedroom for the same rent.

  • The next largest space is Lakeside at 712-square-feet
  • National City comes in 3rd at 659-square-feet
  • El Cajon and Spring Valley are 4th and 5th consecutively, at 645-square-feet 
  • Santee comes in 6th with 636-square-feet
  • Escondido is 7th at 623-square-feet
  • Vista is 8th with 603-square-feet
  • Chula Vista is 9th with 598-square-feet
  • La Mesa is 10th at 587-square-feet

Rent Cafe says Chula Vista is the 20th city with the least space among the hundred cities analyzed because it only gets you 598-square-feet, or as much as a one bedroom apartment in San Diego. 

To put this into context, the average apartment size in San Diego is 860-square-feet.

WATCH RELATED: San Diego cost of living compared to other cities in the US (February 2022)

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