'San Diego workers rent homes across border in Tijuana to make ends meet'

 The sky-high cost of living in San Diego has forced some local workers to rent home across the border in dirt-cheap Tijuana while commuting between the two cities.

Amy McEfee, who’s employed as a warehouse stock clerk in San Diego, used to pay $1,200 a month for a room in a house with four roommates in the Southern California city.

Now, she pays just $400 for a one-bedroom apartment in the Mexican border town — commuting each day back into the US for work.

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McEfee wakes up and takes an Uber to the U.S.-Mexico border, and then crosses on foot. She then takes the San Diego Trolley to work.

“I’m not like, ‘Oh my gosh, I have a better life here,'” she told journalist Helen Zhao of her decision to relocate to Tijuana.

“I’m [also] not like, ‘My gosh, the phone bill’s due, I don’t know how I’m going to pay for it.’ Yeah, those days are gone.”

McEfee wakes up each workday and takes an Uber to the U.S.-Mexico border, which she crosses on foot before riding the San Diego Trolley to her job.

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The 40-something stock clerk says the transition has made her less anxious.

The 40-something clerk said the transition has made her less anxious.

“When I was living in San Diego, it was a constant,” she said. “I was always worried about my car breaking down. I was worried about having gas to get to work.”

Vered Familiar, who works as a shipyard safety technician in San Diego, used to fork over $2,100 for a one-bedroom apartment in the city.

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Vered Familiar, who works as a shipyard safety technician in San Diego, used to fork over $2,100 for a one-bedroom apartment in the city.

Now, she pays just $550 for a five-bedroom spread in Tijuana.

“I was trying not to get in debt,” said Familiar, 27, who grew up in Tijuana and moved back this year. “I was trying to live in the bare minimum and I couldn’t do it.”

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Now, she pays just $550 for a five-bedroom spread in Tijuana.

Zachary Gabriel, a manufacturing technician, said he starts his commute at 2 a.m. each workday so he can avoid the long lines at the border to make it to work in San Diego by 6 a.m.

He said he had no choice but to make the move to Tijuana.

“This is survival for me. I am the sole provider for my wife and my children at a minimum,” the 35-year-old said. “I have nobody to lean back on.”

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He said he had no choice but to make the move to Tijuana.

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Despite low rents in Tijuana, the surrounding state of Baja California is under a level 3 travel advisory from the State Department.

The median rent in San Diego is $3,100 per month, with prices topping out at $7,500 in tony enclaves like Jolla. It ranked as the ninth-most expensive city in the country last year.

Meanwhile, Californians in general pay top dollar to live in the Golden State — making it the most expensive for cost of living in the US, according to US News & World Report.

Despite low rents in Tijuana, the surrounding state of Baja California is under a level 3 travel advisory from the State Department, which advises travelers to reconsider traveling there due to threats “terrorism, crime, and kidnapping.”

Tijuana itself is known for having one of the highest murder rates in the world, recording 1,807 homicides in 2024. San Diego recorded just 71 homicides the same year.

https://nypost.com/2026/04/17/us-news/desperate-san-diego-workers-forced-to-rent-homes-across-border-in-tijuana-to-make-ends-meet/