La PresaCA
A town of 34,962, settled in 1888.
Is La Presa a good place to live?
La Presa grades C+ overall, 283rd among California's 841 graded towns, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. It has 5 miles of trail and it is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns. On the other side, homes are expensive, about $630K for a typical one and 5.9 times the San Diego metro’s $106K median household income. 16% of the land in La Presa is conserved, where California’s towns sit at 4.2% and U.S. towns at 4.3%. The biggest place to walk is Dictionary Hill County Preserve, 169 acres with 1.2 miles of trail.
What makes La Presa stand out
Where La Presa beats most towns.
97% of working residents leave La Presa for work
Where La Presa’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How La Presa grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far La Presa is from typical.
Its best grade is an A− for the outdoors (5 miles of trails; 16% conserved land), which describes the town but isn’t part of the overall grade; its C+ comes from the livability subjects above.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Mexico–United States border wall and 64 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around La Presa. Close and well known come first.
Big draw14 mi LandmarkMexico–United States border wall
Big draw9 mi Stadium & arenaSnapdragon Stadium
9 mi Stadium & arenaPetco Park
9 mi Zoo & aquariumSan Diego Zoo4.0M visitors a year
8 mi Park & preserveBalboa Park
14 mi Theme parkSeaWorld San Diego4.0M visitors a yearPhoto credits
Mexico–United States border wall: Földhegy, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Snapdragon Stadium: Terrible Tim, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Petco Park: Mds08011, CC BY 4.0 · San Diego Zoo: en:User:Cburnett, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Balboa Park: Antoine Taveneaux, CC BY-SA 3.0 · SeaWorld San Diego: ZooFari, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Moving to La Presa: who provides what
La Presa is unincorporated, so San Diego County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in La Presa.
La Presa has milder winter nights than nearly all U.S. towns and sends most of its workers to San Diego and beyond.
About half of La Presa’s working residents commute to San Diego
La Presa has 3,841 jobs for its 15,619 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
La Presa: one in ten workers work remotely from home, below California’s towns (14%) and close to U.S. towns (11%). For most workers, La Presa is a place to come home to: only 3% work in town. Also worth knowing: jobs in La Presa grew by 574 from 2013 to 2023, reaching 3,841. The top destinations are San Diego (47%), Chula Vista (7%) and El Cajon (4%).
| La Presa | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 9.7% | 14% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.1% | 6.6% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $93,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Public schools in La Presa beat 64% of California districts
Public schools: the La Mesa-Spring Valley school district. Two of its 7 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sci Tech Engr Arts and Math Acad at La PresaLargest public middle schoolGrades 5–8 | Grades 5–8 | 800 | – |
| Mount Miguel HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,539 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
Conserved land covers 16.3% of La Presa
Across 3 parks and preserves: 5.1 miles of trail. For La Presa, the concentration of trails is 0.9 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Dictionary Hill County Preserve | 1.2 mi | 169 |
| 2. Sweetwater Lane County Park | 0.4 mi | 10 |
| 3. Spring Valley County Park | 0.3 mi | 6 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
La Presa faces a high natural-hazard risk, led by inland flooding
The risk rating from FEMA in La Presa is 70 of 100. Since 1979, 33 flood insurance claims have been paid out locally. Of the losses FEMA expects locally, 68% come from inland flooding and 27% from earthquakes.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Mild winters and pleasant summers in La Presa
January nights average 44.5°, milder than in 97% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 81.9°.
The July high for La Presa comes to 82°F. Snow is a rarity.
| La Presa | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 45°F | 40°F | 22°F |
| July high | 82°F | 89°F | 85°F |
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
La Presa is healthier than 63% of U.S. towns
The share of adults in La Presa who feel lonely: 38%. In La Presa, just over a fifth of adults worry about having enough food, and 28% have obesity.
| La Presa | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 36% | 33% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 16% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 29% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 72% | 72% | 79% |
| What stands out | La Presa | CA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults facing housing insecurity | 18.2% | 14.9% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 8.5% | 7.3% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 20.6% | 17.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The median home in La Presa sells for about $760K
La Presa’s going rate for rent is $1,852 a month. A home in La Presa typically sold within 18 days of listing. 58% of the homes sold in La Presa went for more than their asking price.
| La Presa | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,852 a month | $1,898 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 67% | 64% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about La Presa
Colleges nearby
27 within 15 miles of the center of La Presa
About 6 of every 100 La Presa residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across California.
About La Presa
Census-designated place in California, United States
La Presa (Spanish for "The Dam") is a census-designated place (CDP) in the East County region of San Diego County, California, United States. The population was 35,033 at the 2020 census, up from 34,169 at the 2010 census. La Presa belonged to the neighboring Spring Valley CDP from its inception in 1970 through 1990. It is still considered part of Spring Valley in informal usage and addresses in the CDP continue to use the name Spring Valley. It was named after Sweetwater Dam. La Presa is served by a 91977 ZIP Code, which is considered Spring Valley according to the USPS.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 6.0 sq mi
- Elevation
- 351 ft
- Area code
- 619
La Presa’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with La Presa.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Presa | #283 | C+ | D | — | B | B |
| Spring Valley | #348 | C | D− | — | B− | B+ |
| San Diego | #249 | C+ | D− | C− | B+ | A |
| Bonita | #176 | B− | D− | — | B+ | A |
| Lemon Grove | #432 | C | D | C | B− | B |
La Presa, Spring Valley and Bonita report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare La Presa with a neighbor →
Questions about La Presa
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is La Presa, CA a good place to live?
La Presa grades C+ overall, better than 40% of U.S. towns and #283 of 841 in California. It grades B for health and B for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Is La Presa, CA expensive?
Yes. The typical home is worth about $630,000, 17% below the California typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.