San Diego's median home price sits at $870,000, 107% above the $420,000 national median. On a $88,000 median household income, that puts the price-to-income ratio at 9.9x, or 9.9 years of gross pay for the purchase price alone.
At a 0.76% effective rate, San Diego property taxes add $551 to the monthly payment on the median home, $6,612 a year in total.
California levies a state income tax on top of the $5,402/month this mortgage runs. Model your real after-tax take-home before deciding how much payment you can carry.
San Diego's cost of living index is 153, above the 100 national baseline. That's on top of the housing numbers above, not instead of them.
San Diego's median home price runs 3% lower than nearby Los Angeles: $895,000 there versus $870,000 here.