San Diego gets lumped in with Los Angeles a lot when people are talking about the Southern California childcare market, and it’s understandable – same state, same coast, broadly similar wealth demographics. But anyone who’s actually worked in the San Diego nanny market will tell you pretty quickly that it operates differently than LA, and understanding those differences matters whether you’re a family looking to hire or a childcare professional deciding where to build your career.
At Seaside Nannies, we’ve been placing candidates in San Diego for years, and we’ve watched this market develop its own distinct character. The families are different. The expectations are different. The logistics are different. What it takes to succeed as a nanny here is somewhat different. And the hiring dynamics that work in LA or San Francisco don’t always translate directly to San Diego without some adjustment.
The Lifestyle Component Is Real
San Diego’s identity is built around its outdoor lifestyle – beaches, canyons, hiking trails, a climate that genuinely permits outdoor activity almost year-round. Families who choose to live here often choose it specifically because they want their children to grow up in an environment where outdoor time is central, where beach days are normal, and where the rhythm of life has a quality that’s different from more high-pressure urban markets.
That orientation shows up in what families expect from childcare. San Diego nannies spend significantly more time outdoors than nannies in most other markets. They’re at the beach, at Balboa Park, in the canyons, at beach-adjacent playgrounds that require knowing which ones are safe, which ones are shaded, which ones are good for toddlers versus bigger kids. They need to understand sun safety in a way that matters – not as a theoretical concept but as a daily practice, because the San Diego sun is genuinely intense and skin protection for children here is an ongoing real responsibility, not an occasional afterthought.
Families here often look specifically for nannies who share this outdoor orientation – people who are genuinely energized by beach time and hiking and being outside, not people who will manage it because it’s required. If you’re a nanny who prefers indoor environments, San Diego isn’t the worst market to work in, but you’re going to be better positioned in households that are themselves more indoor-oriented, which exist here but are probably less common than in some other markets.
The Proximity to the Border Matters
San Diego is a border city, and that shapes certain aspects of how households here function. Many families in San Diego have significant connections to Mexico, whether through family ties, business relationships, or simply the cultural integration that’s natural when you live twenty minutes from Tijuana. Bilingual candidates – specifically Spanish-English bilingual – are highly valued here in a way that’s more practical than it might be in some other markets. It’s not just a nice credential; it’s often genuinely useful in a San Diego household.
This also affects the candidate pool. San Diego draws childcare candidates from across the region, including candidates who live in Mexico and commute across the border, candidates from throughout Latin America who’ve settled here, and a generally more bilingual available talent base than you’d find in most other US markets. For families, this is a resource. For nannies considering this market, it means that Spanish language skills are worth developing and highlighting if you have them.
Military Families Are a Significant Presence
San Diego is home to a massive military installation base, and military families represent a meaningful portion of the childcare market here. These families have specific characteristics that affect what a nanny position with them looks like. They move. Not eventually – frequently and on short notice, by definition. A nanny who builds a strong relationship with a military family in Coronado or Point Loma needs to understand going in that the family may receive orders at any point and that a PCS move means the position ends.
This isn’t a reason to avoid military family positions – many nannies who work with these families describe them as among the most organized, appreciative, and professionally structured employers they’ve encountered. But it is something to understand clearly before accepting a position. The timeline uncertainty is real, and nannies who build their financial planning around long-term position security need to factor that in.
For families, the military market also creates specific hiring patterns. Good candidates here know that military family positions come with an inherent timeline, and they factor that into how they evaluate opportunities. Families who are transparent about their situation – including where they are in their current posting and what they know about upcoming potential moves – tend to attract candidates who are genuinely comfortable with that arrangement rather than candidates who find out later and feel misled.
The Market Is More Laid-Back Than It Seems
San Diego has real wealth – La Jolla, Rancho Santa Fe, Del Mar, some of the coastal communities have very high concentrations of high-net-worth families with significant household staff needs. But the culture here is generally less formal and less status-oriented than LA, and that affects how families interact with the people they hire.
San Diego nannies often describe their employment relationships as feeling more genuinely collaborative and less hierarchical than what they’ve encountered in LA or New York. Families here tend to be less interested in performance, in showing off their nanny’s credentials to their social circle, and more interested in finding someone who genuinely connects with their kids and fits into their household’s vibe. The interview process here often has a different quality – more relaxed, more focused on interpersonal fit, less focused on impressive credentials for their own sake.
This doesn’t mean families here are less discerning. It means they’re discerning about different things. A nanny who presents extremely formally and emphasizes credentials above personality and warmth may actually land better in other markets than in San Diego, where the fit of a person to a household’s actual culture often matters more to families than a spotless resume.
What Families and Nannies Both Need to Know
Compensation in San Diego is solid but generally a step below LA and San Francisco. The trade-off that many candidates make is quality of life – lower housing costs relative to LA, genuinely better weather, a pace of life that’s less relentless. Many experienced nannies who’ve worked in multiple California markets choose San Diego intentionally because the lifestyle math works out in a way it doesn’t elsewhere.
For families, the San Diego market rewards genuine transparency about what a position involves. Candidates here have enough options that they’ll move past families who seem evasive or who are overselling the position, and they’re often good enough at reading households during interviews to know when something feels off. Being upfront – about the schedule, the kids, the household’s outdoor expectations, the family’s culture – tends to attract the right candidates rather than the widest pool of candidates, and in a market like San Diego, the right fit matters more than volume.
At Seaside Nannies, we work with families across all of San Diego’s distinct communities – from the beach neighborhoods to the inland communities to the affluent coastal enclaves – and the matching process here requires understanding which parts of that diversity fit which candidates. Getting that right is what makes placements stick.
