San Diego has one of the lowest homeownership rates for people under 30

Young San Diegans with dreams of homeownership might need to brush up on country music.

Nashville had the highest percentage of homeowners under 30 years old at the end of last year, said a new study from mortgage website LendingTree. Compare that to the San Diego metropolitan area, which was close to last place among the nation’s 50 largest metros.

LendingTree said 9.4% of Nashville mortgages in the fourth quarter of 2024 belonged to homeowners under 30 years old. The figure was 1.7% in San Diego, ranked No.45 in the list, which saw San Jose (0.8%), New York (1.2%) and Los Angeles (1.3%) on the bottom rung.

To be fair to America’s Finest City, homeownership among younger people is very low. LendingTree said the national average was 3.1% for homeowners under 30 years old.

Matt Schulz, LendingTree’s chief credit analyst, said high home prices, higher interest rates, student loan debt and inflation have put many younger generations’ plan for homeownership on the backburner.

“It isn’t that young Americans don’t want to buy a house,” he said. “That dream hasn’t vanished. The problem is that, for most 20-somethings, the traditional American dream of homeownership just seems more and more unreachable.”

Nashville’s median sale price was $452,000 in mid-February, said the Redfin Data Center, compared to San Diego at $883,000. Overall median numbers by Redfin, like the LendingTree mortgage data, combine single-family homes, condos and townhouses.

Wages are higher in San Diego than Nashville, say the latest Census figures from 2023. The median household income in San Diego metro, which includes the entire county, was $104,321. That compares to $75,197 in the Nashville-Davidson metro area.

So many Californians have moved to Nashville it is becoming something of a joke. Nashville comedian Nate Bargatze had an entire skit encouraging people not to move there in his CBS Christmas special in December. In it, he can’t get his normal table at Cracker Barrel (Jimmy Fallon took it) and warns people the streets are dangerous because singer Jelly Roll is roaming the streets.

“Come visit Nashville and then, you know, leave,” Bargatze joked.

Kelly Cunningham, of the San Diego Institute for Economic Research, said moving is not as easy as just looking at some numbers on a spreadsheet and taking off. He said San Diego’s fantastic weather, recreational opportunities and innovative tech and biotech industries are factors to consider — not to mention if you have family in the area or other obligations.

“It’s hard to pick up and leave but when it comes to financial matters,” Cunningham said, “there are things that worsen (living in San Diego), if you can’t afford a house, can’t afford to live here.”

He said a young person’s chances of owning a home are greater in places like Nashville, even if their new job in Tennessee pays less. Cunningham said the most ideal situation would be to have a high-paying San Diego job that you can do remotely and just move to a lower cost area with the same salary.

If Nashville isn’t your cup of tea, there are other cities where younger folks are more likely to own homes. LendingTree said 8.4% of Indianapolis mortgages were held by people under 30 years old, with a median sales price of $292,000 in mid-February; Pittsburgh, 7% with a median of $229,000; Cincinnati, 6.5% with a median of $289,000; and Louisville, Kentucky, 5.8% with a median of $258,000.