Food prices in San Diego tell two different stories: grocery prices are down nearly 4 percent, while prices for food prepared away from home rose 2.9 percent over 2025. Since 2020, restaurant prices have increased by a total of 30 percent. As costs remain elevated, hunger in San Diego returns to pandemic rates, with more than 25 percent of San Diegans experiencing nutrition insecurity.
Some food categories have recently offered relief. Egg prices finally started to decline as the industry recovered from an avian flu outbreak; costs have decreased over 50 percent since their peak in 2025. Similarly, cheese and other dairy products have become less expensive as a result of increased milk production in the past six months.
Other staples continue to strain household budgets. Although the effects of tariffs are dwindling, beef prices rose to an all-time high in December 2025, driven by high feed and land costs as well as shrinking cattle herd populations. At the same time, restaurant food prices are climbing due to a 35 percent increase in food & labor costs, an 18 percent increase in utility costs, and a 14 percent increase in occupancy costs.
In response to rising restaurant prices, many locals are choosing to eat at home. However, rising housing prices still leave residents with less money for food despite reliance on programs such as SNAP and CalFresh. The San Diego Hunger Coalition reports that 29.1 million meals were provided by hunger relief sectors in San Diego County in September 2025. Key contributors included CalFresh at 54 percent, school & youth meals at 27 percent, and food banks at 14 percent. Even so, “another 5.2M meals would have been needed for a hunger free region,” according to the report. Within the county, El Cajon, City Heights, Chula Vista, Logan Heights, and College Grove report the highest numbers of nutrition-insecure residents, with seniors and disabled individuals disproportionately affected.
Economic pressures further compound the issue. Rising costs cause a 24 percent decrease in pretax income, exacerbating food insecurity among workers. The lingering effects of the tariffs continue to weigh on the labor market: the unemployment rate in San Diego stands at 4.8 percent, 0.2 percent higher than the national average.
Even if nutritious food was affordable and accessible, “remedies would need to address drivers of food choice beyond price and income, such as preferences and aspirations shaped by marketing, or time use and cooking costs in meal preparation,” William K. Masters and colleagues write in the Annual Review Resource Economics.
Local realities are shaped by broader economic trends. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator, the buying power of the U.S. dollar has declined by 20 percent since 2020. San Diegans pay 1 percent more than the national average for food and 7 percent more for gas.
San Diego remains number two as the US city where the cost of living increased the most last year, second only to New York City, despite slightly cooling inflation rates nationwide.
