As the largest binational metropolitan area in North America, the San Diego-Tijuana region is truly unique with a gross regional product of $125 billion ($120B San Diego; $5B Tijuana), that ranks 30th in the world, providing jobs in the manufacturing, biotechnology, agriculture, construction, defense, service and tourism related sectors. The San Diego-Tijuana border region is also the most prosperous along the U.S.-Mexico border.

However, this regional outlook masks several important facts. First, the income disparity between San Diego and Tijuana is far greater than the disparity between other border twin cities. In two Texas-Mexico border regions (El Paso/Juarez and Laredo/Nuevo Laredo), an average Texan earns a little less than 2.5 times their counter parts in Mexico. By comparison, the average San Diegan earns over 4 times more than the average Tijuanense (See table 1).

Second, even though San Diego is the wealthiest county on the border, it also has the highest cost of living in the entire U.S.-Mexico border. As a basis of comparison, in 2003 San Diego had a cost of living that was 40% above the national average while El Paso, Texas had a cost of living that was 5.8% below the average across the nation according to the ACCRA cost of living index.19

Third, in spite of San Diego’s relative affluence, many communities across the County remain very poor, due to the higher housing costs and an increased cost of living relative to other U.S. border cities. In the San Diego communities of Logan Heights and San Ysidro, for example, over 38% of families with children under 18 had incomes below poverty line. This percentage is higher than some counties in Texas.

These contradictions are readily visible across San Diego County. In this binational region there are some of the wealthiest and most expensive communities of the United States such as Rancho Santa Fe, Del Mar and La Jolla. At the same time, the region is also home to some of the fastest-growing squatter communities in North America built of cardboard and scrap materials immediately across the border in Tijuana. Across San Diego County, an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Mexican transnational farm workers still live in migrant worker camps with no access to clean water , while nearby sits well-appointed housing developments and estates.

Fourth, disparities in income are not limited to just San Diego. Across Tijuana there are vivid reminders of the huge gap that exists between the haves and the have nots in this increasingly divided city exemplified by thriving commercial districts, such as Zona Rio and Mesa de Otay, and affluent suburban neighborhood, such as Playas de Tijuana or Hipódromo, while a growing number of Tijuanenses live in over crowded squatter settlements without basic infrastructure.

But the widening income gaps don’t stop there. Due to rising public safety concerns, a sizable number of Tijuana’s professional class now lives on the other side of the line, in suburban communities such as Bonita, East Lake, Otay Ranch or Coronado. While one may continue to work in Tijuana, these working professionals and their families, shop, go to school and enjoy recreational activities in San Diego. For these Tijuanenses the level of appreciation and sensitivity to the growing economic and societal inequalities in their community of origin wanes over time as they can conveniently escape the daily realities of Tijuana each time they cross over to their adopted home on the other side of the international line.

Income disparity, both between and within San Diego and Tijuana, means that there are growing pockets of extremely underserved communities in this binational region. In both San Diego and Tijuana, these communities tend to have large populations of recent immigrants or migrants, with the majority coming from areas of extreme poverty from the interior of Mexico. How to meet the needs of these underserved communities is thus a common challenge that San Diego and Tijuana must face together.

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