San Diego–Tijuana
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San Diego–Tijuana is an international
transborder agglomeration A transborder agglomeration is an urban agglomeration or conurbation that extends into multiple sovereign states and/or dependent territories. It includes city-states that agglomerate with their neighbouring countries. List of transborder aggl ...
, straddling the border of the adjacent
North American North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...
coastal The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in ...
cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
of
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
,
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
,
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and
Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and
< ...
,
Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
,
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. The 2012 population of the region was 4,922,723, making it the largest
bi-national conurbation A transborder agglomeration is an urban agglomeration or conurbation that extends into multiple sovereign states and/or dependent territories. It includes city-states that agglomerate with their neighbouring countries. List of transborder agglo ...
shared between the United States and Mexico, the second-largest shared between the US and another country. In its entirety, the region consists of
San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...
in the United States and the
municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
of
Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and
< ...
,
Rosarito Beach Rosarito is a coastal city in Playas de Rosarito Municipality, Baja California, situated on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. As of 2010, the city had a population of 65,278. Located south of the US-Mexico border, Rosarito is a part of the greater S ...
, and Tecate in Mexico. It is the third most populous region in the California–Baja California region, smaller only than the metropolitan areas of
Greater Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...
and the
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
. The largest centers of the urban area maintain global city status and as a whole the metropolitan region is host to 13 consulates from Asian, European, North American, Oceanian, and South American nations. Over fifty million people cross the border each year between Tijuana and San Diego, giving the region the busiest land-border crossing in the world. Since the implementation of the
North American Free Trade Agreement The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA ; es, Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, TLCAN; french: Accord de libre-échange nord-américain, ALÉNA) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that crea ...
(NAFTA) in 1994, San Diego–Tijuana has become a dominant
commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
center in the United States and Mexico. The economic success of
globalization Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
has allowed San Diego–Tijuana to grow to the third richest region in the former Californias region, with a
GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...
of $136.3 billion in 2002. Renowned for natural beauty,
tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
is a leading industry in the region and its coastal environs have been paramount factors in the growth of
action sports Action sports, adventure sports or extreme sports are activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and highly specialized gear. Extreme tourism overl ...
-lifestyle companies. Other key industries include
military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
,
biotech Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...
, and
manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...
. San Diego–Tijuana traces its European roots to 1542 when the land was explored by
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
explorers on behalf of
imperial Spain The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
. In 1601 it was mandated by the Spanish
viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...
in
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
that safe ports be found, one of which would be San Diego Bay, for returning Spanish trade
ships A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...
from
Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
to
Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has bee ...
. During this mission, explorer
Sebastián Vizcaíno Sebastián Vizcaíno (1548–1624) was a Spanish soldier, entrepreneur, explorer, and diplomat whose varied roles took him to New Spain, the Baja California peninsula, the California coast and Asia. Early career Vizcaíno was born in 154 ...
was also told to map the California coast in great detail, leading to the further exploration of the modern-day site of San Diego–Tijuana. Since 2010, statewide
droughts in California The historical and ongoing droughts in California result from various complex meteorological phenomena, some of which are not fully understood by scientists. Drought is generally defined as “a deficiency of precipitation over an extended peri ...
and in northern Mexico have further strained the San Diego–Tijuana binational region's
water security Water security is the focused goal of water policy and water management. A society with a high level of water security makes the most of water's benefits for humans and ecosystems and limits the risk of destructive impacts associated with water. T ...
.


History

The
Kumeyaay The Kumeyaay, also known as Tipai-Ipai or by their historical Spanish name Diegueño, is a tribe of Indigenous peoples of the Americas who live at the northern border of Baja California in Mexico and the southern border of California in the Unit ...
, referred to as
Diegueño The Kumeyaay, also known as Tipai-Ipai or by their historical Spanish name Diegueño, is a tribe of Indigenous peoples of the Americas who live at the northern border of Baja California in Mexico and the southern border of California in the Unit ...
by the Spanish, are the original inhabitants of
San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...
and northern
Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
. The
Kumeyaay The Kumeyaay, also known as Tipai-Ipai or by their historical Spanish name Diegueño, is a tribe of Indigenous peoples of the Americas who live at the northern border of Baja California in Mexico and the southern border of California in the Unit ...
lived in this region for over 10,000 years as
hunter-gatherers A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...
and
horticulturists Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...
. The boundaries of the
Kumeyaay The Kumeyaay, also known as Tipai-Ipai or by their historical Spanish name Diegueño, is a tribe of Indigenous peoples of the Americas who live at the northern border of Baja California in Mexico and the southern border of California in the Unit ...
lands once extended from the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
, south to
Ensenada, Baja California Ensenada is a city in Ensenada Municipality, Baja California, situated on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Located on the Bahía de Todos Santos, the city had a population of 279,765 in 2018, making it the third-largest city in Baja California. The ...
, east into the
Imperial Valley , photo = Salton Sea from Space.jpg , photo_caption = The Imperial Valley below the Salton Sea. The US-Mexican border runs diagonally across the lower left of the image. , map_image = Newriverwatershed-1-.jpg , map_caption = Map of Imperial ...
and north to Warner Springs. The Payomkawichum, or the
Luiseño The Luiseño or Payómkawichum are an indigenous people of California who, at the time of the first contacts with the Spanish in the 16th century, inhabited the coastal area of southern California, ranging from the present-day southern part of L ...
, also had a presence in modern-day North County San Diego. Western exploration of the Californias dates back to the 16th century when in 1535
Hernán Cortés Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (; ; 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of w ...
first visited the Baja California Peninsula in his search for
Calafia Calafia, or Califia, is the fictional queen of the island of California, first introduced by 16th century poet Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo in his epic novel of chivalry, ''Las sergas de Esplandián'' (The Adventures of Esplandián), written aro ...
. Subsequent exploration in 1542 by
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo ( pt, João Rodrigues Cabrilho; c. 1499 – January 3, 1543) was an Iberian maritime explorer best known for investigations of the West Coast of North America, undertaken on behalf of the Spanish Empire. He was the firs ...
brought the western explorers to what is now the California-Baja California region. Cabrillo first named
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
, San Miguel. Initial expeditions by the west to the Californias were followed by pacification and conversion efforts by the Spanish Empire and the Catholic Church. The first Catholic religious order to visit the region was the
Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
in 1683, followed by the
Franciscans , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...
in 1768, and the Dominicans in the 1770s. The California mission system is a reminder of the Pacific Coast's colonial era. In 1769 Father
Junípero Serra Junípero Serra y Ferrer (; ; ca, Juníper Serra i Ferrer; November 24, 1713August 28, 1784) was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest and missionary of the Franciscan Order , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size ...
founded
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
after occupying the Kumeyaay village of
Kosa'aay Kosa'aay was a Kumeyaay village in what is now Old Town, San Diego. Etymology In the Kumeyaay language, Kosa’aay translates to “drying out place”. During Spanish settlement, the name was Hispanicized to Cosoy. Population The village was ma ...
and created the first of the
California missions The Spanish missions in California ( es, Misiones españolas en California) comprise a series of 21 religious outposts or missions established between 1769 and 1833 in what is now the U.S. state of California. Founded by Catholic priests of ...
,
Mission San Diego de Alcalá Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá ( es, Misión San Diego de Alcalá) was the second Franciscan founded mission in The Californias (after San Fernando de Velicata), a province of New Spain. Located in present-day San Diego, California, it ...
. The Valley of Tijuana was explored the same year by
Juan Crespí Joan Crespí or Juan Crespí (1 March 1721 – 1 January 1782) was a Franciscan missionary and explorer of Las Californias. Biography A native of Majorca, Crespí entered the Franciscan order at the age of seventeen. He came to New Spain ...
. In 1829
Santiago Argüello Santiago Argüello (1791–1862) was a Californio, a soldier in the Spanish army of the Viceroyalty of New Spain in Las Californias, a major Mexican land grant ranchos owner, and part of an influential family in Mexican Alta California and post- ...
, a Californio and a major Mexican land grant ranchos owner, obtained ownership of a parcel of land known as
Rancho Tía Juana Rancho Tía Juana, or Ti Juan was a land grant made to Santiago Arguello on March 4, 1829, by Governor José María de Echeandía. It covered 26,019.53 acres in what is now Tijuana in the Tijuana Municipality of Baja California, Mexico and part ...
and in 1889 was Tijuana officially founded on this parcel when descendants of Argüello and Agustin Olvera, an early
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
pioneer, agreed to develop the city. The metropolitan region was historically united as part of the province of
Alta California Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as ('New California') among other names, was a province of New Spain, formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but ...
under the
Viceroyalty of New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Amer ...
. In 1821 Mexico won its independence from the Spanish crown and kept the area under the jurisdiction of Alta California. From the late 1860s Mission lands were granted as ranchos to Californio gentry. These distributions of lands accelerated after the Missions were secularized in 1833, ending the dominance of the Missions in the economy. San Diego Bay became a port of call for
whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...
s and hide traders from the United States. The region started depopulating, as settlements in the region began to be raided between 1836 and 1842 by the Kumeyaay resistance, with both
Rancho Tía Juana Rancho Tía Juana, or Ti Juan was a land grant made to Santiago Arguello on March 4, 1829, by Governor José María de Echeandía. It covered 26,019.53 acres in what is now Tijuana in the Tijuana Municipality of Baja California, Mexico and part ...
(1839) and San Diego (~1840 & 1842) raided during that period. In 1846, the
Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
began and the United States continued to expand its borders under the doctrine of
Manifest Destiny Manifest destiny was a cultural belief in the 19th century in the United States, 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand across North America. There were three basic tenets to the concept: * The special vir ...
. As the war came to California, the Battle of San Pasqual was fought in the northern areas of modern-day San Diego. In 1848 the war ended with the Fall of Mexico City and boundaries were redrawn which created a border between San Diego and Tijuana, south of San Diego Bay. 1919 saw the implementation of
Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...
and the rapid growth of Tijuana tourism. Americans flocked to the city, which had become a major destination for the Hollywood elite, which led to the construction of the Agua Caliente Tourist Complex which in turn spurred the rise of hotels and overall growth in the city.


Urban landscape

San Diego–Tijuana urbanity stretches along the coastline from the northernmost city of Oceanside to the southernmost city of Rosarito Beach. The urban area of San Diego–Tijuana is the 72nd largest in the world and 11th largest in
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
, with a population of 5,330,000. The highest population densities are located in the San Diego neighborhoods of University City,
La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...
,
Mission Valley Mission Valley is a wide river valley trending east–west in San Diego, California, United States, through which the San Diego River flows to the Pacific Ocean. For planning purposes the city of San Diego divides it into two neighborhoods: Missi ...
, Pacific Beach the
Downtown San Diego Downtown San Diego is the city center of San Diego, California, the eighth largest city in the United States. In 2010, the Centre City area had a population of more than 28,000. Downtown San Diego serves as the cultural and financial center and ...
district of the East Village among others, and areas of Tijuana. An area of 116 census tracts in the
North County North County is a region in the northern area of San Diego County, California. It is the second-most populous region in the county (after San Diego), with an estimated population of 869,322. North County is well known for its affluence, especial ...
region of the conurbation has a population of 615,092 and a per capita income of $44,131 which is about 50 percent more than that of
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and the entire
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
.U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Tables B01003 and B19025
U.S. Census website
. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
This area contains nearly all of the area located in the cities of Carlsbad,
Encinitas Encinitas (Spanish for "Small Oaks") is a beach city in the North County area of San Diego County, California. Located within Southern California, it is approximately north of San Diego, between Solana Beach and Carlsbad, and about south o ...
,
Solana Beach Solana Beach (''Solana'', Spanish for "warm wind") is a coastal city in San Diego County, California. Its population was at 12,941 at the 2020 U.S. Census, up from 12,867 at the 2010 Census. History The area was first settled by the San Dieg ...
, and
Del Mar Del Mar is Spanish for "of the sea" or "from the sea". It may refer to: Places in the United States * Del Mar, California * Del Mar High School, located in San Jose, California * Del Mar racetrack, located in Del Mar, California * Del Mar Fai ...
. Apart of this region are the communities of
Rancho Santa Fe Rancho Santa Fe is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California, United States, within the San Diego metropolitan area. The population was 3,156 at the 2020 census. The CDP is primarily residential with a few shopping block ...
, Carmel Valley and La Jolla which have consistently been among the ranks of some of the richest neighborhoods in the United States. Outside of the urban centers, older regions of San Diego County south of the
San Diego River The San Diego River is a river in San Diego County, California. It originates in the Cuyamaca Mountains northwest of the town of Julian, then flows to the southwest until it reaches the El Capitan Reservoir, the largest reservoir in the river's ...
, as well as
La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...
and Pacific Beach, are built on a street grid. Suburban growth north of the San Diego river were built as master planned suburban communities on top of mesas with the "city of villages" concept in mind, built around car-dependency. Tijuana's suburban landscape is made up densely packed low-density mixed land uses, with patches of street grids east of the city and more organic growth influenced by topography. Cities like Tecate and Rosarito are built on street grid systems.


Geography

The metropolitan region is situated along the
Pacific Coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western or southwestern border, except for Panama, where the Pac ...
, on the border between the United States and Mexico. The region lies just south of
Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...
and west of
Imperial County Imperial Count (german: Reichsgraf) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. In the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly ( immediately) from the emperor, rather than from ...
, and shares borders with
Greater Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...
. The area has a varied topography with over seventy miles of coastline and snow-capped mountains that rise to the northeast, in San Diego County. The terrain includes flood plains, canyons, steep hills, and mesas. The region has its eastern terminus in the
Colorado Desert California's Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert. It encompasses approximately , including the heavily irrigated Coachella and Imperial valleys. It is home to many unique flora and fauna. Geography and geology The Colorado De ...
and
Imperial Valley , photo = Salton Sea from Space.jpg , photo_caption = The Imperial Valley below the Salton Sea. The US-Mexican border runs diagonally across the lower left of the image. , map_image = Newriverwatershed-1-.jpg , map_caption = Map of Imperial ...
regions, where another conurbation – Mexicali–Calexico – is formed. The urbanized area where San Diego and Tijuana meet is known as San Ysidro on the American side of the border and Colonia Federal/Colonia Libertad on the Mexican side. East from the coast , the Tijuanense boroughs of Mesa de Otay and Centenario are heavy urbanized whereas the corresponding American area of
Otay Mesa Otay Mesa ( ) is a community in the southern section of the city of San Diego, just north of the U.S.–Mexico border. It is bordered by the Otay River Valley and the city of Chula Vista on the north; Interstate 805 and the neighborhoods of Oc ...
is composed of primarily dispersed industrial and distribution facilities. At the Pacific Ocean region of the border, the border is urbanized on the Mexican side while the adjacent American side is an estuarine preserve, and thus not urbanized. According to the
U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
, San Diego County has a total area of , of that of it is land and of it (7.20%) is water. The area of Tijuana Municipality is ; the municipality includes part of the
Coronado Islands The Coronado Islands (''Islas Coronado'' or ''Islas Coronados''; en, Islands of the Coronation(s); Kumeyaay: Mat hasil ewik kakap) are a group of islands located off the northwest coast of the Mexican state of Baja California. Battered by the w ...
, located off the coast of the municipality in the Pacific Ocean. This combined area, with the additional areas of Tecate, , and Rosarito Beach, , place the area of San Diego–Tijuana at . San Diego is by far the most populated county though population density is much higher in the immediate border area adjacent to the south in Baja California than it is in San Diego County. Urban growth is currently developing regions to the east of Tijuana Municipality and south of Rosarito Beach, where developers are building many new residential communities while in San Diego it is observed to the northeast along the
Interstate 15 Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexico–United States border, Mexican border i ...
corridor to
Temecula Temecula (; es, Temécula, ; Luiseño: ''Temeekunga'') is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, United States. The city had a population of 110,003 as of the 2020 census and was incorporated on December 1, 1989. The city is a t ...
and
Murrieta Murrieta is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, United States. The population of Murrieta was 110,949 as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Murrieta experienced a 133.7% population increase between 2000 and 2010, ma ...
. Greater Ensenada is more frequently than not considered part of the region given its proximity and inter-connectivity with the metropolitan area. While it is from the cities of San Diego and Tijuana respectively, recent developments between the port city and Rosarito Beach including upscale,
Americanized Americanization or Americanisation (see spelling differences) is the influence of American culture and business on other countries outside the United States of America, including their media, cuisine, business practices, popular culture, tec ...
subdivisions and resorts such as Punta Azul,
Baja Mar Baja Mar (or Bajamar) is a seaside resort community twenty minutes north of Ensenada and forty minutes south of Greater San Diego–Tijuana in Ensenada Municipality, Baja California, Mexico. The resort community is located just south of another g ...
, and La Salina have greatly increased the urbanity of the corridor between Rosarito Beach and Ensenada. Transportation infrastructure increasingly binds the region, as the under-construction Ensenada International Airport is expected to serve as the third major airport of the metropolitan region, offering flights to Europe, South America, and East Asia.


Climate

San Diego–Tijuana straddles a
Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
and
Semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...
area. The Mediterranean climate is characterized by generally warm, dry summers on the near coastal regions while with a slight temperature increase westward, and relatively cool, mild, wet winters; this is the climate that dominates northern San Diego–Tijuana. In southern San Diego–Tijuana, the semi-arid climate is observed, though characteristics of the Dry-Summer Subtropical Mediterranean climate are present, with most of the annual precipitation falling in the winter. The
Peninsular Ranges The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province) are a group of mountain ranges that stretch from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Coast Ranges, which ...
assist in containing moisture to the coastal areas and create a
rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is carrie ...
to the east as they are west-facing mountains. The climate of the area often varies significantly due to the abundance of
microclimate A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often with a slight difference but sometimes with a substantial one. The term may refer to areas as small as a few squ ...
s characterizing the region. San Diego–Tijuana's topography, bays, coastal hills, mountains, canyons and gorges maintain their own climates while being relatively near to each other. During the May gray and June gloom seasons, a dense cloak of coastal clouds, known as
marine layer A marine layer is an air mass that develops over the surface of a large body of water, such as an ocean or large lake, in the presence of a temperature inversion. The inversion itself is usually initiated by the cooling effect of the water on th ...
, covers the coastal areas, keeping the area cool and moist to up to inland. This coastal cloud cover is frequently observed reaching as far inland as
Poway Poway () is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. The unincorporated community became a city on December 1, 1980. Poway's rural roots influenced its motto "The City in the Country". The city has a population of 49,701 as of 2 ...
and in some cases,
San Diego Country Estates San Diego Country Estates, commonly referred to as ''the Estates'', is a valley resort populace composed of several neighborhoods associated with the unincorporated community of Ramona, California. The Estates are a census-designated place in No ...
. Yet once outside this cloud, the weather in sharp contrast can be warm and sunny. In some cases, June gloom lasts into July, creating cloudy skies over the coastal regions for entire days. An example of the regional temperature fluctuations is shown in the varying averages of downtown San Diego, averaging January lows of 50 °F and August highs of 78 °F;
El Cajon El Cajon ( , ; Spanish: El Cajón, meaning "the box") is a city in San Diego County, California, United States, east of downtown San Diego. The city takes its name from Rancho El Cajón, which was in turn named for the box-like shape of the va ...
, just northeast of downtown San Diego, averaging January lows of 42 °F and August highs of 88 °F; Tijuana, averaging January lows of 45 °F and August highs of 78 °F. The differences are even more observed in North County, where coastal Oceanside maintains an average January low of 45 °F and August highs of 73 °F, while inland Escondido maintains average January lows of 42 °F and August highs of 89 °F. San Diego–Tijuana is also subject to
El Niño El Niño (; ; ) is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date L ...
weather events. In extreme cases, the overwhelming fall of
rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...
creates
mudslide A mudflow or mud flow is a form of mass wasting involving fast-moving flow of debris that has become liquified by the addition of water. Such flows can move at speeds ranging from 3 meters/minute to 5 meters/second. Mudflows contain a significa ...
s and greatly increases the flow of
urban river An urban stream is a formerly natural waterway that flows through a heavily populated area. Urban streams are often polluted by urban runoff and combined sewer outflows. Water scarcity makes flow management in the rehabilitation of urban stream ...
s. This sudden influx of water has the potential to flood populated places and drown out wetland habitat; measures have been taken to reduce this potential negative affect while simultaneously restoring the rivers and their watersheds to a pristine and natural state.


Ecology

This regional climate supports a chaparral and woodlands
ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...
that is further divided in three sub-regions where two are observed in San Diego–Tijuana. These are the coastal sage and chaparral and montane chaparral and woodlands
ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...
s. In the montane region, fire serves a unique purpose as a medium of change, and while fire typically can threaten urban development, it is essential for the historically annual cleanse of the woodlands and reproduction of pyrophytes. Southern
coastal sage scrub Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is ...
is further observed on the coast. This is an ecoregion with extremely high levels
biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
where its
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
species are endangered by human encroachment. In this
terrestrial ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...
, the coastal lowlands are within a semi, semi-arid Mediterranean climate, inhabited by low-growing aromatic, and
drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D.  Jiang, A.  Khan, W.  Pokam Mba, D.  Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
-
deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...
shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...
s. In the water, the
Intertidal The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of Marine habitat, habitats with var ...
,
estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...
and
kelp forest Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp, which covers a large part of the world's coastlines. Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds. They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on Ea ...
biomes dominate the aquatic world; home to an equally diverse set of flora and fauna. The cool nutrient-rich waters of the
north Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
are able to provide kelp forests with millions of
plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...
– the base of the aquatic
food chain A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms (such as grass or algae which produce their own food via photosynthesis) and ending at an apex predator species (like grizzly bears or killer whales), det ...
– due to an upwelling of water from the deep sea in the stormy, winter months.


Flora and fauna

Trees of San Diego–Tijuana included
chamise ''Adenostoma fasciculatum'', commonly known as chamise or greasewood, is a flowering plant native to California and Baja California. This shrub is one of the most widespread plants of the California chaparral ecoregion. Chamise produces a specia ...
,
scrub oak Scrub oak is a common name for several species of small, shrubby oaks. It may refer to: *the Chaparral plant community in California, or to one of the following species. In California *California scrub oak (''Quercus berberidifolia''), a widespr ...
,
manzanita Manzanita is a common name for many species of the genus ''Arctostaphylos''. They are evergreen shrubs or small trees present in the chaparral biome of western North America, where they occur from Southern British Columbia and Washington to Or ...
,
live oak Live oak or evergreen oak is any of a number of oaks in several different sections of the genus ''Quercus'' that share the characteristic of evergreen foliage. These oaks are not more closely related to each other than they are to other oaks. ...
,
lodgepole pine ''Pinus contorta'', with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpine, ...
,
black oak Black Oak may refer to: Places in the United States * Black Oak, Arkansas * Black Oak, Daviess County, Indiana * Black Oak, Lake County, Indiana, a neighborhood of Gary, Indiana * Black Oak, Missouri Other * Black Oak Arkansas Black Oak Ar ...
and closed-cone pine forests. Lowland
shrubs A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...
included
California sagebrush ''Artemisia californica'', also known as California sagebrush, is a species of western North American shrub in the sunflower family. Description ''Artemisia californica'' branches from the base and grows out from there, becoming rounded; it gro ...
, black sage,
white sage ''Salvia apiana'', the white sage, bee sage, or sacred sage is an evergreen perennial shrub that is native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, found mainly in the coastal sage scrub habitat of Southern California and Baja C ...
,
California buckwheat ''Eriogonum fasciculatum'' is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common names California buckwheat and flat-topped buckwheat. Characterized by small, white and pink flower clusters that give off a cottony effect, this species grows vari ...
, as well as
cacti A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...
and
succulents In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...
. Terrestrial mammals included the
mountain lion The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. I ...
,
bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...
,
bighorn sheep The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns. A pair of horns might weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspec ...
,
mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whit ...
as well as a variety of
rodents Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are nat ...
and
lagomorphs The lagomorphs are the members of the taxonomic order Lagomorpha, of which there are two living families: the Leporidae ( hares and rabbits) and the Ochotonidae (pikas). The name of the order is derived from the Ancient Greek ''lagos'' (λα ...
including the California ground squirrel, San Diego kangaroo rat, and
brush rabbit The brush rabbit (''Sylvilagus bachmani''), or western brush rabbit, or Californian brush rabbit, is a species of cottontail rabbit found in western coastal regions of North America, from the Columbia River in Oregon to the southern tip of the ...
.
Black bear Black bear or Blackbear may refer to: Animals * American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species * Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species Music * Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...
s,
jaguars The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the thi ...
and
sea otters The sea otter (''Enhydra lutris'') is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between , making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the smalle ...
historically populated the area, but their range has been restricted by human encroachment and the jaguar and the sea otter are now rarely, if ever, observed. Aquatic mammals included the
gray whale The gray whale (''Eschrichtius robustus''), also known as the grey whale,Britannica Micro.: v. IV, p. 693. gray back whale, Pacific gray whale, Korean gray whale, or California gray whale, is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and bree ...
, a seasonal migratory animal, as well as the
bottlenose dolphin Bottlenose dolphins are aquatic mammals in the genus ''Tursiops.'' They are common, cosmopolitan members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Molecular studies show the genus definitively contains two species: the common ...
,
great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans. It is nota ...
,
killer whale The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black-and-white pa ...
, and
California sea lion The California sea lion (''Zalophus californianus'') is a coastal eared seal native to western North America. It is one of six species of sea lions. Its natural habitat ranges from southeast Alaska to central Mexico, including the Gulf of C ...
and on rare occasion,
Guadalupe fur seal The Guadalupe fur seal (''Arctocephalus townsendi'') is one of eight members of the fur seal genus '' Arctocephalus''. Sealers reduced the population to just a few dozen by the late 19th century, but the species had recovered to 10,000 in number ...
. In recent times the region has seen the rebound of
artiodactyls The even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla , ) are ungulates—hoofed animals—which bear weight equally on two (an even number) of their five toes: the third and fourth. The other three toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or pointing poster ...
such as the Peninsular bighorn sheep, a
distinct population segment {{no footnotes, date=February 2018 A distinct population segment (DPS) is the smallest division of a taxonomic species permitted to be protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. ''Species'', as defined in the Act for listing purposes, is a t ...
of the
desert bighorn sheep The desert bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis nelsoni'') is a subspecies of bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') that is native to the deserts of the United States' intermountain west and southwestern regions, as well as northwestern Mexico. The Bu ...
. Reptiles include
olive ridley sea turtle The olive ridley sea turtle (''Lepidochelys olivacea''), also known commonly as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Cheloniidae. The species is the second-smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in ...
,
western fence lizard The western fence lizard (''Sceloporus occidentalis'') is a common lizard of Arizona, New Mexico, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, Northern Mexico, and the surrounding area. As the ventral abdomen of an ad ...
, various
rattlesnake Rattlesnakes are venomous snakes that form the genera ''Crotalus'' and ''Sistrurus'' of the subfamily Crotalinae (the pit vipers). All rattlesnakes are vipers. Rattlesnakes are predators that live in a wide array of habitats, hunting small anim ...
species and species of
blind snake The Scolecophidia, commonly known as blind snakes or thread snakes, are an infraorder of snakes. They range in length from . All are fossorial (adapted for burrowing). Five families and 39 genera are recognized. The Scolecophidia infraorder is m ...
and
gopher snake ''Pituophis'' is a genus of non venomous colubrid snakes, commonly referred to as gopher snakes, pine snakes, and bullsnakes, which are endemic to North America. Geographic range Species and subspecies within the genus ''Pituophis'' are found t ...
. Amphibians included the
barred tiger salamander The barred tiger salamander or western tiger salamander (''Ambystoma mavortium'') is a species of mole salamander that lives in lower western Canada, the western United States and northern Mexico. Description The barred tiger salamander typica ...
and California tree frog. With a mostly arid climate, reptile species outnumber amphibians by a margin of seven to one. Bird species popular to the region are the
California quail The California quail (''Callipepla californica''), also known as the California valley quail or Valley quail, is a small ground-dwelling bird in the New World quail family. These birds have a curving crest or '' plume'', made of six feathers, tha ...
,
California condor The California condor (''Gymnogyps californianus'') is a New World vulture and the largest North American land bird. It became extinct in the wild in 1987 when all remaining wild individuals were captured, but has since been reintroduced to nor ...
,
California least tern The California least tern, ''Sternula antillarum browni'', is a subspecies of least tern that breeds primarily in bays of the Pacific Ocean within a very limited range of Southern California, in San Francisco Bay and in northern regions of Mexico ...
,
peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (Bird of prey, raptor) in the family (biology), family Falco ...
and
golden eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird of p ...
. Introduced
parrot Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoid ...
species such as the
red-crowned amazon The red-crowned amazon (''Amazona viridigenalis''), also known as the red-crowned parrot, green-cheeked amazon or Mexican red-headed parrot, is an endangered amazon parrot native to northeastern Mexico and possibly southern Texas in the United St ...
parrot have also been found living and breeding in San Diego County and parts of Tijuana Metro. The waters off of the coast of San Diego–Tijuana are densely populate by the denizens of the
kelp forest Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp, which covers a large part of the world's coastlines. Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds. They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on Ea ...
s. Kelp forests are found to a great extent and are populated by
Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, patr ...
,
leopard shark The leopard shark (''Triakis semifasciata'') is a species of houndshark, in the family Triakidae. It is found along the Pacific coast of North America, from the U.S. state of Oregon to Mazatlán in Mexico. Typically measuring 1.2–1.5 m (3.9 ...
s,
gobies Gobiidae or gobies is a family of bony fish in the order Gobiiformes, one of the largest fish families comprising more than 2,000 species in more than 200 genera. Most of gobiid fish are relatively small, typically less than in length, and the ...
,
rockfish Rockfish is a common term for several species of fish, referring to their tendency to hide among rocks. The name rockfish is used for many kinds of fish used for food. This common name belongs to several groups that are not closely related, and ca ...
, and sculpins.
Great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans. It is nota ...
s have been observed in the waters off the coast, while there are numerous documentations of their occurrence in the waters off
Guadalupe Island Guadalupe Island ( es, Isla Guadalupe, link=no) is a volcanic island located off the western coast of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula and about southwest of the city of Ensenada in the state of Baja California, in the Pacific Ocean. The ...
. From the confines of the forests, ocean-going species such as the
Ocean sunfish The ocean sunfish or common mola (''Mola mola'') is one of the largest bony fish in the world. It was misidentified as the heaviest bony fish, which was actually a different species, ''Mola alexandrini''. Adults typically weigh between . The spe ...
are observed. Environmental research in climate and biodiversity is conducted at
Scripps Institution of Oceanography The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (sometimes referred to as SIO, Scripps Oceanography, or Scripps) in San Diego, California, US founded in 1903, is one of the oldest and largest centers for oceanography, ocean and Earth science research ...
and by the Biodiversity Research Center of the Californias of the
San Diego Natural History Museum The San Diego Natural History Museum is a museum located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It was founded in 1874 as the San Diego Society of Natural History. It is the second oldest scientific institution west of the Mississippi and th ...
.


Geology

The land on which San Diego–Tijuana sits is due west of a major
transform fault A transform fault or transform boundary, is a fault along a plate boundary where the motion is predominantly horizontal. It ends abruptly where it connects to another plate boundary, either another transform, a spreading ridge, or a subductio ...
. The transform fault, known as the
San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonics, tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is Fault (geology)#Strike-slip fau ...
was created during the
Cenozoic Era The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configu ...
by the movements of the
Pacific Plate The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At , it is the largest tectonic plate. The plate first came into existence 190 million years ago, at the triple junction between the Farallon, Phoenix, and Iza ...
and
North American Plate The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Asia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. With an area of , it is the Earth's second largest tectonic plate, behind the Pacific ...
. The region experiences earthquakes and felt the shocks of the 2009 Gulf of California earthquake and
2010 Baja California earthquake The 2010 Baja California earthquake (also known as 2010 Easter earthquake, 2010 Sierra El Mayor earthquake, or 2010 El Mayor – Cucapah earthquake) occurred on April 4 (Easter Sunday) with a moment magnitude of 7.2 and a maximum Mercalli intens ...
. The main mountain ranges of the
Peninsular Ranges The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province) are a group of mountain ranges that stretch from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Coast Ranges, which ...
ridging eastern San Diego–Tijuana are the
Palomar Mountain Palomar Mountain ( ; es, Monte Palomar ) is a mountain ridge in the Peninsular Ranges in northern San Diego County. It is famous as the location of the Palomar Observatory and Hale Telescope, and known for the Palomar Mountain State Park. Hist ...
s,
Laguna Mountains The Laguna Mountains are a mountain range of the Peninsular Ranges System in eastern San Diego County, southern California. The mountains run in a northwest/southeast alignment for approximately . The mountains have long been inhabited by the i ...
,
Sierra de Juárez The Sierra de Juárez, also known as the Sierra Juarez, is a mountain range located in Tecate Municipality and northern Ensenada Municipality, within the northern Baja California state of northwestern Mexico. It is a major mountain range in the ...
, and the peaks of the Cuyumacas including
Cuyamaca Peak Cuyamaca Peak is a mountain peak of the Cuyamaca Mountains range, in San Diego County, Southern California. Geography At , its summit is the second highest point in San Diego County. Cuyamaca Peak is located roughly from the Pacific Ocean, wi ...
. The highest points are located in the Lagunas at 6,378 feet (1,944 m) and in the Cuyumacas at 6,512 feet (1,985 m) while the highest is the peak of
Hot Springs Mountain Hot Springs Mountain is a peak located in the Peninsular Ranges in California. The mountain rises to an elevation of and is the highest point in San Diego County. Some snow falls on the mountain peak during winter. It is located in a remote regio ...
at 6,535 feet (1,992 m). These mountain ranges constitute part of the
Salinian Block The Salinian Block or Salinian terrane is a geologic terrane which lies west of the main trace of the San Andreas Fault system in California. It is bounded on the south by the Big Pine Fault in Ventura County and on the west by the Nacimiento Fau ...
, a largely
granitic A granitoid is a generic term for a diverse category of coarse-grained igneous rocks that consist predominantly of quartz, plagioclase, and alkali feldspar. Granitoids range from plagioclase-rich tonalites to alkali-rich syenites and from quart ...
terrane In geology, a terrane (; in full, a tectonostratigraphic terrane) is a crust fragment formed on a tectonic plate (or broken off from it) and accreted or " sutured" to crust lying on another plate. The crustal block or fragment preserves its own ...
dating back to the
Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceo ...
era and thus explaining the abundance of such stone throughout the region. Once part of the North American Plate, the Salinian block broke off due to the formation of the San Andreas Fault and rift resulting in the
Gulf of California The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja Ca ...
and its extension of the
Salton Trough The Salton Trough is an active tectonic pull-apart basin, or graben. It lies within the Imperial, Riverside, and San Diego counties of southeastern California, United States and extends south of the Mexico–United States border into the state of ...
. The faults nearest the urban area are the Elsinore and
Laguna Salada fault The Laguna Salada Fault is a geological fault between the United States and Mexico. About long, it straddles the Imperial County-California–Baja California border. Earthquakes 1892 According to some seismologists the 1892 Laguna Salada ...
s, both secondary to the San Andreas fault.


Major coastal water bodies

The region is set with many natural coastal
harbors A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...
,
estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...
,
inlets An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In marine geogra ...
,
lagoons A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...
, and bays. These included the major water bodies known as: * Buena Vista Lagoon * Agua Hedionda Lagoon * Batiquitos Lagoon *
San Elijo Lagoon San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve is one of the largest remaining coastal wetlands in San Diego County, California, United States. History Native American tribes hunted and gathered along the shores of the estuary at least 8,500 years before ...
* Mission Bay * San Diego Bay *
Tijuana River Estuary The Tijuana River Estuary is an intertidal coastal wetland at the mouth of the Tijuana River in San Diego County, California, in the United States bordering Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. It is the location of the Tijuana River National Estuarin ...


Populace

The populace of the San Diego–Tijuana is
cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...
in that many cultures and ethnic groups are present. A large transitory population exists due to Tijuana's border proximity to the United States. This location draws many
Latin Americans Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-ethn ...
, including
Argentines Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
,
Cubans Cubans ( es, Cubanos) are people born in Cuba and people with Cuban citizenship. Cuba is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic, religious and national backgrounds. Racial and ethnic groups Census The population of Cuba wa ...
,
Guatemalans Guatemalans ( es, guatemaltecos or ''guatemalenses'') are people connected to the country of Guatemala. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Guatemalans, several (if not all) of these connections exist. Guat ...
, and
Andean The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the List of mountain ranges#Mountain ranges by length, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range i ...
nationalities, as well as Chinese,
Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...
, and Japanese people;
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
, French, Spanish and Lebanese also reside in the region. With a population of approximately five million people, the San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area accounts for 40% of the United States – Mexico border population. The metropolitan area experiences the largest rates of growth in an urban area that stretches from Los Angeles to Tijuana. An analysis of age groups in the region found a relatively older population lives on the San Diegan side of the border while a relatively younger population the Tijuana side. The Tijuana region also maintains a population largely composed of people born outside of Baja California.


Cities

;San Diego & Tijuana San Diego is located at , just north of Tijuana. The city is divided into eight districts by the municipal government of the City of San Diego in accordance with policing and community service areas. The city lies south of
North County North County is a region in the northern area of San Diego County, California. It is the second-most populous region in the county (after San Diego), with an estimated population of 869,322. North County is well known for its affluence, especial ...
, and west of
East County East County is a region of San Diego County, California, east of San Diego. Geography East County does not have an official geographic definition, although East County boundaries are unofficially drawn by the County of San Diego for its second ...
, while also being north of parts of South Bay. Though the city boundaries grace Tijuana's, Centre City lies approximately north of Tijuana. San Diego has deep canyons separating its mesas, creating small pockets of natural parkland scattered throughout the city. This makes San Diego a hilly city. The
Coronado Coronado may refer to: People * Coronado (surname) * Francisco Vázquez de Coronado (1510–1554), Spanish explorer often referred to simply as "Coronado" * Coronado Chávez (1807–1881), President of Honduras from 1845 to 1847 Places United ...
and
Point Loma Point Loma (Spanish: ''Punta de la Loma'', meaning "Hill Point"; Kumeyaay: ''Amat Kunyily'', meaning "Black Earth") is a seaside community within the city of San Diego, California. Geographically it is a hilly peninsula that is bordered on the w ...
peninsulas separate San Diego Bay from the ocean. Tijuana is located at , just south of San Diego. The city is divided into nine administrative boroughs, which are in turn divided into
neighborhoods A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; American and British English spelling differences, see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community ...
. These boroughs offer administrative services such as
urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
,
civil registry Civil registration is the system by which a government records the vital events (births, marriages, and deaths) of its citizens and residents. The resulting repository or database has different names in different countries and even in differen ...
, inspection, verification,
public work Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, sc ...
s and community development, served by a delegate. As Tijuana ranks higher in the Mexican
urban hierarchy The urban hierarchy ranks each city based on the size of population residing within the nationally defined statistical urban area. Because urban population depends on how governments define their metropolitan areas, urban hierarchies are convention ...
than San Diego does in the American urban hierarchy, Tijuana contains many foreign consulates including those of China, Korea, Finland, the United States, Germany, Spain, Honduras, France, Austria, Gambia, the United Kingdom, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Israel, Canada, and the Czech Republic. Tijuana does not receive competition from a larger urban center as San Diego does from Los Angeles. However, with
Mexicali Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California. The city, seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali metropolitan area is home to 1,000, ...
growing rapidly, a possible canal project planned and
Silicon Border Silicon Border Holding Company, LLC is a commercial development site designed to produce semi-conductors for consumers in North America. The site is located in Mexicali, Baja California, along the western border of the United States of America and ...
development under way, Tijuana will soon face similar competition. Population figures for California cities are from 2010 U.S. Census data. Population figures for Baja California cities are from 2010 INEG census data. ;Major cities – 100,000+ inhabitants *
Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and
< ...
– 1,810,645 *
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
– 1,386,932 *
Chula Vista Chula Vista (; ) is the second-largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the seventh largest city in Southern California, the fifteenth largest city in the state of California, and the 78th-largest city in the United States. The popul ...
– 275,487 * Oceanside – 174,068 * Escondido – 151,038 * Carlsbad – 114,746 *
El Cajon El Cajon ( , ; Spanish: El Cajón, meaning "the box") is a city in San Diego County, California, United States, east of downtown San Diego. The city takes its name from Rancho El Cajón, which was in turn named for the box-like shape of the va ...
– 106,215 ;Other cities – 40,000+ inhabitants *
Vista Vista usually refers to a distant view. Vista may also refer to: Software *Windows Vista, the line of Microsoft Windows client operating systems released in 2006 and 2007 * VistA, (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture) ...
– 98,381 *
San Marcos San Marcos is the Spanish name of Saint Mark. It may also refer to: Towns and cities Argentina * San Marcos, Salta Colombia * San Marcos, Antioquia * San Marcos, Sucre Costa Rica * San Marcos, Costa Rica (aka San Marcos de Tarrazú) ...
– 94,833 *
Rosarito Beach Rosarito is a coastal city in Playas de Rosarito Municipality, Baja California, situated on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. As of 2010, the city had a population of 65,278. Located south of the US-Mexico border, Rosarito is a part of the greater S ...
– 90,022 * Tecate – 64,764 *
Encinitas Encinitas (Spanish for "Small Oaks") is a beach city in the North County area of San Diego County, California. Located within Southern California, it is approximately north of San Diego, between Solana Beach and Carlsbad, and about south o ...
– 62,007 * La Mesa – 61,121 *
Santee Santee may refer to: People * Santee Dakota, a subgroup of the Dakota people, of the U.S. Great Plains * Santee (South Carolina), a Native American people of South Carolina Places * Lake Santee, Indiana, a reservoir and census-designated place * ...
– 60,037 * National City – 56,173 *
Poway Poway () is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. The unincorporated community became a city on December 1, 1980. Poway's rural roots influenced its motto "The City in the Country". The city has a population of 49,701 as of 2 ...
– 48,481 ;Cities with under 40,000 inhabitants * El Refugio – 36,400 * Santa Fé – 34,234 * Cuero de Venados – 27,789 * Lemon Grove – 27,627 *
Imperial Beach Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texas ...
– 26,137 * La Joya – 22,126 * Terrazas del Valle – 20,421 *
Coronado Coronado may refer to: People * Coronado (surname) * Francisco Vázquez de Coronado (1510–1554), Spanish explorer often referred to simply as "Coronado" * Coronado Chávez (1807–1881), President of Honduras from 1845 to 1847 Places United ...
– 20,192 * Villa del Campo – 13,906 *
Solana Beach Solana Beach (''Solana'', Spanish for "warm wind") is a coastal city in San Diego County, California. Its population was at 12,941 at the 2020 U.S. Census, up from 12,867 at the 2010 Census. History The area was first settled by the San Dieg ...
– 12,941 *
Del Mar Del Mar is Spanish for "of the sea" or "from the sea". It may refer to: Places in the United States * Del Mar, California * Del Mar High School, located in San Jose, California * Del Mar racetrack, located in Del Mar, California * Del Mar Fai ...
– 4,161


Mexico – United States border

The international border between the United States and Mexico runs from San Diego–Tijuana eastward towards the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...
. The Pacific Ocean terminus of the border was defined as a line passing from the confluence of the
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
and Gila rivers (now the southeastern corner of the U.S. State of California) to the Pacific Ocean such that it would pass one Spanish league south of the southern end of San Diego Bay. This ensured that the United States received the natural harbor at San Diego. There are three existing border crossings in San Diego–Tijuana, with two more planned. San Ysidro/
El Chaparral The El Chaparral port of entry or border crossing (''Puerto Fronterizo El Chaparral'') is as of 2012 the main vehicle crossing point from San Diego into Tijuana, Mexico, replacing the former entry point known as Puerta México which stood immediate ...
is the busiest
border crossing Border control refers to measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it a ...
in the world; In 2019 alone, more than 77.2 million people entered the U.S. through this port. 2019 represents the most recent year that the US-Mexico Border was fully open for traffic. There are maximum 30 vehicle border crossing lanes at the San Ysidro Port of Entry into the United States and 6 or 8 lanes into Mexico from San Ysidro. The San Diego/Tijuana border is also a major point of entry for
trafficking Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...
, where 50 brothels of trafficked Mexican girls exist in San Diego County. The majority of cross-border trips into the United States are those made by
commuters Commuting is periodically recurring travel between one's place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regul ...
into the Greater San Diego area and
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...
as a whole. There is a thriving reverse traffic for entertainment in Tijuana and affordable
goods and services Goods are items that are usually (but not always) tangible, such as pens, physical books, salt, apples, and hats. Services are activities provided by other people, who include architects, suppliers, contractors, technologists, teachers, doctor ...
. The San Ysidro port of entry is the main border crossing for non-commercial traffic. Crossing times are notoriously slow at San Ysidro, particularly for those entering the U.S. in cars. Given delays frequently experienced upon entry to Mexico, many cross-border travelers choose to cross on foot. Infrastructure on both sides of the border delivers travelers and commuters to border crossings via respective
public transportation Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
systems of which includes the
San Diego Trolley The San Diego Trolley is a light rail system operating in the metropolitan area of San Diego. It is known colloquially as "The Trolley". The Trolley's operator, San Diego Trolley, Inc. (SDTI), is a subsidiary of the San Diego Metropolitan Tra ...
blue line that runs from downtown San Diego to the border crossing.


Economy

Leading industries in San Diego–Tijuana are trade, services, electronics, tourism, life sciences, high-tech and defense sectors. In 2002 San Diego and Tijuana had a
gross regional product Gross regional product (GRP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a region or subdivision of a country in a period (quarterly or yearly) of time. A metropolitan area's GRP (gross metropolitan prod ...
of $136.3 Billion; and in 2007 this figure increased to $176 Billion. The greater San Diego area has a
knowledge-based economy The knowledge economy (or the knowledge-based economy) is an economic system in which the production of goods and services is based principally on knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to advancement in technical and scientific innov ...
that is only growing; Tijuana's sub-metropolitan region is reliant on a diversified manufacturing sector. Leading private employers to the metropolitan region are
Qualcomm Qualcomm () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology. It owns patents critical to the 5G, 4 ...
, SAIC,
Sempra Energy Sempra is a North American energy infrastructure company based in San Diego, California. The company is one of the largest utility holding companies in the United States with roughly 40 million consumers. Sempra's focus is on electric and natura ...
,
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
,
Kyocera is a Japanese multinational ceramics and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded as in 1959 by Kazuo Inamori and renamed in 1982. It manufactures industrial ceramics, solar power generating systems, telecommuni ...
, Pfizer Global Research & Development,
Callaway Golf Callaway, legally Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp., is an American global sports equipment manufacturing company that designs, manufactures, markets and sells golf equipment, more specifically clubs and balls, also including accessories such as b ...
,
Sharp Healthcare Sharp HealthCare is a not-for-profit regional health care group located in San Diego. Sharp includes four acute care hospitals, three specialty hospitals, three affiliated medical groups, and a health plan. Sharp has approximately 2,600 physician ...
,
Scripps Health Scripps Health is a nonprofit health care system based in San Diego, California. The system includes five hospitals and 19 outpatient facilities, and treats a half-million patients annually through 2,600 affiliated physicians. The system also inc ...
,
Sanyo , stylized as SANYO, is a Japanese electronics company and formerly a member of the Fortune Global 500, ''Fortune'' Global 500 whose headquarters was located in Moriguchi, Osaka, Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo had over 230 subsidiari ...
,
Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Ni ...
,
Panasonic Corporation formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb s ...
,
Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
,
Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company ** Hyundai ...
,
Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...
,
Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...
,
Pioneer Corporation commonly referred to as Pioneer, is a Japanese multinational corporation based in Tokyo, that specializes in digital entertainment products. The company was founded by Nozomu Matsumoto in January 1, 1938 in Tokyo as a radio and speaker repair s ...
,
Maxell , commonly known as Maxell, is a Japanese company that manufactures consumer electronics. The company's name is a contraction of "Maximum capacity dry cell". Its main products are batteries, wireless charging products, storage devices, LCD/laser ...
, Douglas Furniture, and
International Rectifier International Rectifier was an American power management technology company manufacturing analog and mixed-signal ICs, advanced circuit devices, integrated power systems, and high-performance integrated components for computing. On 13 January 20 ...
. On the 2020 Globalization and World Cities classification, San Diego was rated as Beta - level global city up from Gamma level, while Tijuana was rated as a high sufficiency city.


Maritime

The economy of the urban area is influenced by the
Port of San Diego The Port of San Diego is a seaport in San Diego, California. It is located on San Diego Bay in southwestern San Diego County, California, and is a self-supporting district established in 1962 by an act of the California State Legislature. In add ...
which gives the region a strong
maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Princ ...
sector; the conurbation is the location of the only major submarine and shipbuilding yards on the
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...
and of the largest
naval fleet A fleet or naval fleet is a large formation of warships – the largest formation in any navy – controlled by one leader. A fleet at sea is the direct equivalent of an army on land. Purpose In the modern sense, fleets are usually, but not ne ...
in the world. The cruise ship industry, which is the second largest in the California-Baja California region, generates an estimated $2 million annually from the purchase of food, fuel, supplies, and maintenance services. In California alone, the port is the fastest-growing port in terms of cruise ship dockings and the second largest behind the
Port of Los Angeles The Port of Los Angeles is a seaport managed by the Los Angeles Harbor Department, a unit of the City of Los Angeles. It occupies of land and water with of waterfront and adjoins the separate Port of Long Beach. Promoted as "America's Port", t ...
.


Manufacturing

Manufacturing accounts for a large part of the regional economy more-so observed in Tijuana. The focus of manufacturing in the region is on soft and
hard Hard may refer to: * Hardness, resistance of physical materials to deformation or fracture * Hard water, water with high mineral content Arts and entertainment * ''Hard'' (TV series), a French TV series * Hard (band), a Hungarian hard rock supe ...
technological products. In metropolitan Tijuana, manufacturing has historically allotted for a large sector of the economy and San Diego County's economy has increasingly focused on manufacturing which 2002 allotted for $25 billion of the county's economic income. The 2000s decade saw Tijuana overtake the
Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...
as
medical device A medical device is any device intended to be used for medical purposes. Significant potential for hazards are inherent when using a device for medical purposes and thus medical devices must be proved safe and effective with reasonable assura ...
manufacture capital of North America. The amount of diverse and numerous manufacture companies in the area have made the metropolitan region one of the world's largest concentrated manufacturing areas.


Tech

San Diego–Tijuana is ground zero for a transborder tech sector. Engineers and entrepreneurs in the entirety of the border region are fueling the growth of this economic industry in which a symbiotic relationship exists between think-tanks in the north and manufacturing heads in the south that creates a healthy environment for startup companies. San Diego alone was rated by Forbes in 2014 as one of the best places to start a tech company. Several areas of San Diego are home to offices and research facilities for numerous biotechnology companies and pharmaceutical companies. Among American metropolitan areas, metropolitan San Diego is the third largest concentrated area of high technology and biotechnology businesses. The presence of
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...
and other research institutions helped fuel biotechnology growth. In June 2004, San Diego was ranked the top biotech cluster in the U.S. by the
Milken Institute The Milken Institute is an independent economic think tank based in Santa Monica, California with offices in Washington, DC, New York, Miami, London, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore. It publishes research and hosts conferences that apply market-based p ...
. San Diego is home to companies that develop wireless cellular technology.
Qualcomm Incorporated Qualcomm () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology. It owns patents critical to the 5G, ...
was founded and is headquartered in San Diego; Qualcomm is the largest private-sector technology employer (excluding hospitals) in San Diego County. Due to San Diego's military influence, major national defense contractors, such as
General Atomics General Atomics is an American energy and defense corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, specializing in research and technology development. This includes physics research in support of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion energy. The ...
and
Science Applications International Corporation Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Inc. is an American technology company headquartered in Reston, Virginia that provides government services and information technology support. History The original SAIC was created in 196 ...
(SAIC), are or have been headquartered in San Diego.


Major business districts

Business districts include the Core Columbia district of
Downtown San Diego Downtown San Diego is the city center of San Diego, California, the eighth largest city in the United States. In 2010, the Centre City area had a population of more than 28,000. Downtown San Diego serves as the cultural and financial center and ...
, the Rio Zone in Tijuana, the
Rancho Bernardo Rancho Bernardo is a master-planned community in the northern hills of the city of San Diego, California. Geography The topography of Rancho Bernardo consists of canyons and rolling hills that have large bedrock outcroppings. The major floral bio ...
, Carmel Valley,
Mission Valley Mission Valley is a wide river valley trending east–west in San Diego, California, United States, through which the San Diego River flows to the Pacific Ocean. For planning purposes the city of San Diego divides it into two neighborhoods: Missi ...
, Sorrento Mesa, and University City neighborhoods of San Diego. Notability among business districts extends to Rancho Bernardo, the site of
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
US corporate headquarters.


Tourism

Tourism is a major industry of the region, owing much to the area's mild
Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
. Tijuana alone is the most visited city in the
Western Hemisphere The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the prime meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the antimeridian. The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Politically, the term We ...
, second only to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. 50,000,000 people visit the city each year and about 300,000 visitors cross by foot or car from the San Ysidro point of entry to Tijuana every day. Balboa Park, the
San Diego Zoo The San Diego Zoo is a zoo in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, housing 4000 animals of more than 650 species and subspecies on of Balboa Park leased from the City of San Diego. Its parent organization, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, is a p ...
,
SeaWorld SeaWorld is an American theme park chain with headquarters in Orlando, Florida. It is a proprietor of marine mammal parks, oceanariums, animal theme parks, and rehabilitation centers owned by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment (one park will be ...
, the
San Diego Zoo Safari Park The San Diego Zoo Safari Park, originally named the San Diego Wild Animal Park until 2010, is an 1,800 acre (730 ha) zoo in the San Pasqual Valley area of San Diego, California, near Escondido. It is one of the largest tourist attractions in S ...
,
Legoland Legoland (, trademark in uppercase as LEGOLAND) is a chain of family theme parks focusing on the construction toy system Lego. They are not fully owned by The Lego Group itself; rather, they are owned and operated by the British theme park com ...
, the city's
beaches A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...
, and golf tournaments hosted in the region such as the Farmers Insurance Open are just some of the major tourist destinations in the conurbation. Mexico's
drinking age The legal drinking age is the minimum age at which a person can legally consume alcoholic beverages. The minimum age alcohol can be legally consumed can be different from the age when it can be purchased in some countries. These laws vary between ...
of 18 and legal and regulated prostitution make Tijuana a common weekend destination for many young Southern Californians and
sex tourists Sex tourism refers to the practice of traveling to foreign countries, often on a different continent, with the intention of engaging in sexual activity or relationships in exchange for money or lifestyle support. This practice predominantly oper ...
. Popular attractions in the region include: *
Aquatica San Diego Sesame Place San Diego is a children's theme park and water park, located in Chula Vista, California. It opened on March 26, 2022 on the former site of Aquatica San Diego. It is the first theme park in the world to open up as a certified auti ...
* Avenida Revolución * Balboa Park *
Belmont Park Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse racing facility in the northeastern United States, located in Elmont, New York, just east of the New York City limits. It was opened on May 4, 1905. It is operated by the non-profit New York Racin ...
*
Birch Aquarium Birch Aquarium at Scripps (sometimes referred to as Scripps Aquarium or Birch Aquarium) is an aquarium and the public outreach center for Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. Accredited by the Association ...
*
Cabrillo National Monument Cabrillo National Monument ( es, Monumento nacional Cabrillo) is at the southern tip of the Point Loma Peninsula in San Diego, California, United States. It commemorates the landing of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay on September 28, ...
* Christ of the Sacred Heart Statue *
Hotel del Coronado Hotel del Coronado, also known as The Del and Hotel Del, is a historic beachfront hotel in the city of Coronado, just across the San Diego Bay from San Diego, California. A rare surviving example of an American architectural genre—the wooden ...
*
Legoland Legoland (, trademark in uppercase as LEGOLAND) is a chain of family theme parks focusing on the construction toy system Lego. They are not fully owned by The Lego Group itself; rather, they are owned and operated by the British theme park com ...
* Legoland Water Park *
San Diego Zoo The San Diego Zoo is a zoo in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, housing 4000 animals of more than 650 species and subspecies on of Balboa Park leased from the City of San Diego. Its parent organization, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, is a p ...
*
San Diego Zoo Safari Park The San Diego Zoo Safari Park, originally named the San Diego Wild Animal Park until 2010, is an 1,800 acre (730 ha) zoo in the San Pasqual Valley area of San Diego, California, near Escondido. It is one of the largest tourist attractions in S ...
* Sea World San Diego *
Tijuana Cultural Center The Tijuana Cultural Center (CECUT) is a cultural center in the Zona Río district of Tijuana, Mexico. The center opened 20 October 1982, and accommodates more than a million visitors per year. Nowadays this iconic Tijuana institution has diffe ...
*
Zona Norte Zona Norte (officially ''Colonia Zona Norte'', "North Zone (neighborhood)") is an official neighborhood, as well as a red light district located in Tijuana, Mexico. It is among the largest red-light districts in North America known for its brot ...
Many large
luxury hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...
s line the San Diego Bay and coast at
Playas de Tijuana Playas de Tijuana (Spanish for "beaches of Tijuana") is the westernmost borough of the municipality of Tijuana, Baja California, stretching from the United States border in the north to Rosarito Beach Municipality in the south. The Bullring by t ...
. The Bay and its marinas are surrounded by more than fifteen hotels while historic buildings such as the
Hotel del Coronado Hotel del Coronado, also known as The Del and Hotel Del, is a historic beachfront hotel in the city of Coronado, just across the San Diego Bay from San Diego, California. A rare surviving example of an American architectural genre—the wooden ...
and Rosarito Beach Hotel lie on the Coronado Peninsula and Rosarito coast. In Playas,
Baja Mar Baja Mar (or Bajamar) is a seaside resort community twenty minutes north of Ensenada and forty minutes south of Greater San Diego–Tijuana in Ensenada Municipality, Baja California, Mexico. The resort community is located just south of another g ...
, and
Baja Malibu Baja Malibu is a beach and resort in Tijuana Municipality, Baja California named after the beach town Malibu of Los Angeles County. The beach is a popular tourist area in the San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan region and draws surfers from all over ...
, several luxury hotels and condominiums can be found lining the coast in customary
beach resort A seaside resort is a town, village, or hotel that serves as a vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requirements, such as in the German ' ...
fashion, including Park Towers and AQUA condominiums.


Cross-border Trade & NAFTA

The
North American Free Trade Agreement The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA ; es, Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte, TLCAN; french: Accord de libre-échange nord-américain, ALÉNA) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that crea ...
has a great influence on transborder trade in the San Diego–Tijuana economy. Of all the goods exchanged to the north 20% transported are destined for San Diego, 60% are destined for other California counties, and the remaining 20% are destined to other American states. The metropolitan economy has become increasingly integrated as the NAFTA process has reduced trade and investment barriers which facilitates the trade and extensive sales services via cross-border exchange. San Diego–Tijuana is a critical commercial link to the United States. In Tijuana, companies that have established assembly plants in industrial parks referred to as ''
maquiladora A (), or (), is a word that refers to factories that are largely duty free and tariff-free. These factories take raw materials and assemble, manufacture, or process them and export the finished product. These factories and systems are present t ...
s'' include
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
,
Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
,
Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
,
Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...
, Matsushita/
Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...
,
Nabisco Nabisco (, abbreviated from the earlier name National Biscuit Company) is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International. Nabisco's ...
,
Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...
,
Pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and de ...
,
Plantronics Plantronics, Inc. is an American electronics company — branded Poly to reflect its dual Plantronics and Polycom heritage — producing audio communications equipment for business and consumers. Its products support unified communications, mob ...
,
Pall Corporation Pall Corporation, headquartered in Port Washington, New York, is a global supplier of filtration, separations and purification products. Total revenues for fiscal year 2014 were $2.8 billion, with $103 million spent on R&D. Pall Corporation's bu ...
,
Tara Labs TARA (The Absolute Reference Audio) Labs is a manufacturer of high-end audio cables from Medford, Oregon. It is currently led by president Merrill Bergs. The trademark of Tara Labs is their use of solid wire. History TARA Labs was establish ...
, and
Sanyo , stylized as SANYO, is a Japanese electronics company and formerly a member of the Fortune Global 500, ''Fortune'' Global 500 whose headquarters was located in Moriguchi, Osaka, Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo had over 230 subsidiari ...
, while San Diego supports the expansion of its own industrial parks in Otay Mesa. Additionally some of these companies, such as Samsung, source the development of items locally. Even prior to the implementation of NAFTA, Tijuana was home to many businesses selling products and services at a lower rate than in the United States. Today businesses such as
auto detailing Auto detailing is an activity that keeps the vehicle in its best possible condition, especially cosmetic, as opposed to mechanical. This is achieved by removing both visible and invisible contaminants from the vehicle's interior, and polishing ...
, medical services,
dentistry Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, disorders, and conditions o ...
and
plastic surgery Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes craniofa ...
are heavily marketed and located near Tijuana's border with San Diego. In addition, there are
high-tech High technology (high tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or the newest te ...
firms and
telemarketing Telemarketing (sometimes known as inside sales, or telesales in the UK and Ireland) is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits prospective customers to buy products or services, either over the phone or through a subsequent f ...
companies, including Medtronic Inc., in the city. This influx of companies is drawing skilled people from the United States with technical trades and college degrees to Tijuana transforming the city economy into a knowledge-based one.


Transportation


Public transportation

In San Diego, the
San Diego Trolley The San Diego Trolley is a light rail system operating in the metropolitan area of San Diego. It is known colloquially as "The Trolley". The Trolley's operator, San Diego Trolley, Inc. (SDTI), is a subsidiary of the San Diego Metropolitan Tra ...
's Blue Line goes from the San Ysidro Border Crossing, roughly along Interstate 5 to Downtown and Old Town. As the trolley travels it also serves as a means of transportation for the southern suburbs. Passengers may transfer at the 12th & Imperial station to an Orange Line trolley, serving the
eastern suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...
. Another option is to transfer at the Old Town Trolley Station to a Green Line trolley serving
Mission Valley Mission Valley is a wide river valley trending east–west in San Diego, California, United States, through which the San Diego River flows to the Pacific Ocean. For planning purposes the city of San Diego divides it into two neighborhoods: Missi ...
and the campus of
San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...
. Free parking is available in plenty at the
Qualcomm Stadium San Diego Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. The stadium opened in 1967 as San Diego Stadium and was known as Jack Murphy Stadium from 1981 to 1997. From 1997 to 2017, the stadiu ...
station on days when the stadium is not hosting events. All trolley stations also provide connection points to MTS bus services, as MTS has designed the trolley to be the backbone of the local public transit system. In Tijuana there is currently no public rail system, although, there is a system of buses that operate in the area. However, it was reported by the
San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...
that San Diego officials desired that the
California High-Speed Rail California High-Speed Rail (also known as CAHSR or CHSR) is a publicly funded high-speed rail system currently under construction in California in the United States. Planning for the project began in 1996, when the California Legislature and Gover ...
be extended to Tijuana and South Bay in order to capitalize on the potential economic benefits. Many businesses in South Bay offer Mexican car insurance on a short-term, prepaid basis. Most large car rental companies in San Diego do permit their vehicles to be taken across the border but generally require a hefty fee, sometimes costing more than the rental, for Mexican auto insurance. Visitors to the region should note that automobile insurance does not travel across the international border. Vehicles registered in Mexico may also require separate insurance for use in the United States. In California Automobile insurance is required by the State.


Major highways

San Diego–Tijuana is at the junction of major interstates, state routes and federal highways. The region is at the terminus of ten major
Interstate The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...
s and
Federal Highway Federal Highways and Federal Routes can be found in: *Australia: Federal Highway *Brazil: Brazilian Federal Highway and Brazilian Highway System *Germany: ''Bundesstraßen'' *Malaysia: Federal Highway and Malaysian Federal Roads System *Mexic ...
s. Radiating to the east and south are connections to the
Imperial Valley , photo = Salton Sea from Space.jpg , photo_caption = The Imperial Valley below the Salton Sea. The US-Mexican border runs diagonally across the lower left of the image. , map_image = Newriverwatershed-1-.jpg , map_caption = Map of Imperial ...
,
Mexicali Valley Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California. The city, seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali metropolitan area is home to 1,000, ...
, and the
Arizona Sun Corridor The Arizona Sun Corridor, shortened Sun Corridor, is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of Arizona. The Sun Corridor is comparable to Indiana in both size and population. It is one of the fastest growing ...
via
Interstate 8 Interstate 8 (I-8) is an Interstate Highway in the southwestern United States. It runs from the southern edge of Mission Bay at Sunset Cliffs Boulevard in San Diego, California, almost at the Pacific Ocean, to the junction with I-10, ...
, the
Inland Empire The Inland Empire (IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County to the west. It includes the cities o ...
, the
Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of ...
and
metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...
and
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
via
Interstate 15 Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexico–United States border, Mexican border i ...
; and to the Greater Ensenada area via Federal Highway 1D. To the north and west the area is connected to the
Los Angeles metropolitan area Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...
,
Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...
, and Cascadia via
Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Califor ...
.
Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Califor ...
and Federal Highway 1 are critical highways for commercial and international trade due to their junction at the
San Ysidro Port of Entry __NOTOC__ The San Ysidro Port of Entry (aka San Ysidro Land Port of Entry or San Ysidro LPOE) is the largest land border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, and the fourth- busiest land border crossing in the world (second-busiest if one exclu ...
, linking major industrial regions along the
British Columbia Coast , settlement_type = Region of British Columbia , image_skyline = , nickname = "The Coast" , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = British ...
,
West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...
, and the
Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...
of Baja California at the busiest port of entry in the world. The metropolitan area is linked by Federal Highway 2 and State Route 111 to
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...
cities. Within the metropolitan region, there are many transportation routes via
highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...
. These included
Interstate 805 Interstate 805 (I-805) is a major north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway in Southern California. It is a bypass auxiliary route of I-5, running roughly through the center of the Greater San Diego region from San Ysidro (part of the c ...
, connecting
Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and
< ...
to
Del Mar Del Mar is Spanish for "of the sea" or "from the sea". It may refer to: Places in the United States * Del Mar, California * Del Mar High School, located in San Jose, California * Del Mar racetrack, located in Del Mar, California * Del Mar Fai ...
. Many highways have a terminus in South Bay and run north and west towards other agglomerations such as the
Inland Empire The Inland Empire (IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County to the west. It includes the cities o ...
and
Los Angeles metropolitan area Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...
. State Routes that link to these urban areas include State Route 79 and State Route 78. San Diego–Tijuana is linked to Ensenada by various ways as well; including Federal Highway 3, Federal Highway 1 and Federal Highway 1D, running from the border cities of Tijuana and Tecate to the ''Cinderella of the Pacific''. In addition to the extensive highway system, the cities and regions within San Diego–Tijuana are interconnected by many
state route A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...
s as well. State Route 52 connects communities in northern San Diego, State Route 905 connects the Otay Mesa Port of Entry with South Bay cities, State Route 125 connects South Bay with
East County East County is a region of San Diego County, California, east of San Diego. Geography East County does not have an official geographic definition, although East County boundaries are unofficially drawn by the County of San Diego for its second ...
, State Route 94 connects South Bay with the
Mountain Empire The Mountain Empire is a rural area in southeastern San Diego County, California. The Mountain Empire subregion consists of the backcountry communities in southeastern San Diego County. The area is also sometimes considered part of the East Coun ...
, and State Route 78 connects North County Coastal with North County Inland, as well as to the mountain communities of the San Diego County Peninsular Ranges.
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
has a major network of roads, predominantly free Highways with several toll roads, and Interstates.
Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Califor ...
runs south from the Canadian-border city of
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
and terminates at the San Ysidro International border where it becomes Federal Highway 1. Another major freeway is
Interstate 8 Interstate 8 (I-8) is an Interstate Highway in the southwestern United States. It runs from the southern edge of Mission Bay at Sunset Cliffs Boulevard in San Diego, California, almost at the Pacific Ocean, to the junction with I-10, ...
that runs west from the
Arizona Sun Corridor The Arizona Sun Corridor, shortened Sun Corridor, is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of Arizona. The Sun Corridor is comparable to Indiana in both size and population. It is one of the fastest growing ...
at
Casa Grande, Arizona , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = Casa Grande-Casa Grande Union High School-1920-2.jpg , imagesize = 250px , image_caption = Historic Casa Grande Union High School which now serves as the ...
and terminates at Ocean Beach in
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
. The roadway system in
Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and
< ...
is very low end compared to the quality of streets in the United States. The majority of the roads are in desperate need of repair with many newly constructed off ramps being set up in an impractical method often requiring sharp and hard turns. When it comes to long-distance travel through
Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
, many people use the toll roads that are well maintained and are at a standard comparable to that of U.S. roads.


Port

San Diego–Tijuana's only
deepwater port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...
is both a
container port A container port or container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land vehicles, for example train ...
and
cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "s ...
destination. The
Port of San Diego The Port of San Diego is a seaport in San Diego, California. It is located on San Diego Bay in southwestern San Diego County, California, and is a self-supporting district established in 1962 by an act of the California State Legislature. In add ...
has recreation terminals and docked ships at the
Maritime Museum of San Diego The Maritime Museum of San Diego, established in 1948, preserves one of the largest collections of historic sea vessels in the United States. Located on the San Diego Bay, the centerpiece of the museum's collection is the '' Star of India'', an 1 ...
, which is located at the Embarcadero. The port is serviced by nine cruise lines including
Carnival Cruise Line Carnival Cruise Line is an international cruise line with headquarters in Doral, Florida. The company is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Its logo is a funnel (ship), funnel shaped like a whale's tail, with a red, white, and blue colo ...
and
Royal Caribbean International Royal Caribbean International (RCI), also formerly known as Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL), is a cruise line brand founded in 1968 in Norway and organised as a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group since 1997. Based in Miami, Flo ...
. A new cruise terminal was recently constructed at the Port to compensate for the increased levels of maritime tourism. Cargo and
container terminal A container port or container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land vehicles, for example train ...
s are located to the south of the Embarcadero where two marine cargo facilities are administered. The Port of San Diego was ranked by the United States'
Bureau of Transportation Statistics The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), part of the United States Department of Transportation, is a government office that compiles, analyzes, and publishes information on the nation's transportation systems across various modes; and striv ...
as one of America's top 30 U.S.
container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...
ports in 2007. The Port also serves as the primary port of entry for larger car corporations including
Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...
,
Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
, and
Nissan , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...
into the United States of America. The nearby
Port of Ensenada The Port of Ensenada is a marine freight and cruise terminal in Ensenada, Baja California. This deepwater port lies in Bahia de Todos Santos. Ships arrive from major ports in Asia, North America, and South America. The port accommodates cruise ...
also serves as a transport point where cruise ships arrive and depart from Southern Californian, European, and Central American ports. Cargo arriving at the Port of Ensenada is also transported to the metropolitan region via the Tijuana-Ensenada Freeway. The Port of Punta Colonet is being planned as an alternative port to the West Coast ports of the United States and Canada; though the port is not without its negative environmental impacts. south of Tijuana, the port is intended to compete with the twin ports of
Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...
and
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, Once completed the port would serve as the primary dock for Asian vessels unloading shipping containers. and would have a rail line to San Diego–Tijuana.


Airports

San Diego–Tijuana is the home base of two major
international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...
s: the
San Diego International Airport San Diego International Airport , formerly known as Lindbergh Field, is an international airport northwest of Downtown San Diego, California, United States. It is owned and operated by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.. US Federa ...
(Lindbergh Field) and
Tijuana International Airport General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional General Abelardo L. Rodríguez) or simply Tijuana International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional de Tijuana), , in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, is ...
(General Abelardo L. Rodríguez), and McClellan-Palomar Airport (Carlsbad). San Diego International Airport is located northwest of Centre City and from Tijuana. Operated by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, the San Diego International airport is the second busiest single-
runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...
commercial airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfac ...
in the world, behind only
London Gatwick Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after Hea ...
. SAN has approximately 600 departures and arrivals, carrying 50,000 passengers, each day. As of October 2010, San Diego International Airport is served by 20 passenger airlines. In 2010 the Tijuana International Airport served 3,649,500 passengers. It is the fifth busiest airport in Mexico and serves as the focus city for
Aeroméxico Aerovías de México, S.A. de C.V. () operating as Aeroméxico (; stylized as AM), is the flag carrier airline of Mexico, based in Mexico City. It operates scheduled services to more than 90 destinations in Mexico; North, South and Central Ame ...
including flights to
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
, China.
Cross Border Xpress Cross Border Xpress (CBX), historically also called the Tijuana Cross-border Terminal and the Puerta de las Californias, is an airport terminal located in the Otay Mesa area of southern San Diego, California, United States, with an access bridge ...
consists of a pedestrian toll bridge which directly links the terminal in Mexico with the CBX terminal on the U.S. side – the only airport in the world with terminals on the territory of two countries. McClellan-Palomar Airport is located near the central business district of Carlsbad, serving North County. The top ten flights in 2010 and 2009 from all three airports were to
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
with 737,000 passengers,
Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
with 618,000 passengers,
Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
with 571,000 passengers,
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
with approximately 408,000 passengers,
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
with 402,000 passengers,
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
with 394,000 passengers,
Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...
with 382,429,
Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
with 380,000 passengers,
Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
with 375,000 passengers, and
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
with 358,241. In 2008 it was reported that construction will begin on Ensenada International Airport along the Tijuana-Ensenada Scenic Tollway, between La Mision and El Suazal. The airport is intended to serve Greater Ensenada, Rosarito Beach Municipality, and the westernmost borough of Tijuana. The airport will have a runway and will be capable of serving
Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...
s and
Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the project was annou ...
s. Service is being planned to
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
,
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
,
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
,
Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
,
Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...
, among other large transit hubs. The bankers group of investors for Ensenada International Airport are from all over the globe maintaining residency in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, the United States and
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
. In addition to serving as a new domestic transportation hub, the main customer for the new international airport is going to be the air package delivery company DHL.


Ports of Entry

In 2002, according to the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the number of trucks driving north through the Otay Mesa Port of Entry numbered over 725,710, representing approximately $20 billion worth of freight. Over time congestion has increased as the population of the region has grown at a high rate. San Diego and Tijuana have both begun collaborative renovation plans in order to ease border congestion. The San Ysidro Land Port of Entry Expansion Project involves adding ten lanes to the San Ysidro border crossing and the creation of the El Chaparral Port of Entry. Another plan includes adding an extra border crossing to the east of Otay Mesa with completion estimated for the year 2015. Projects such as these will attempt to reduce the loss of millions of dollars per day due to waiting at the border. There are currently three
ports of entry In general, a port of entry (POE) is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has border security staff and facilities to check passports and visas and to inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not imported. Internatio ...
serving the metropolitan region. The
San Ysidro Port of Entry __NOTOC__ The San Ysidro Port of Entry (aka San Ysidro Land Port of Entry or San Ysidro LPOE) is the largest land border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, and the fourth- busiest land border crossing in the world (second-busiest if one exclu ...
/
El Chaparral The El Chaparral port of entry or border crossing (''Puerto Fronterizo El Chaparral'') is as of 2012 the main vehicle crossing point from San Diego into Tijuana, Mexico, replacing the former entry point known as Puerta México which stood immediate ...
expansion projects, and the opening of the new
Otay Mesa East Port of Entry The Otay Mesa East Port of Entry is a planned border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, approximately 2 miles east of the existing Otay Mesa Port of Entry. The crossing will connect the Otay Centenario borough of Tijuana with East Otay Mes ...
, will add significant capacity. The most trafficked port of entry is the
San Ysidro Port of Entry __NOTOC__ The San Ysidro Port of Entry (aka San Ysidro Land Port of Entry or San Ysidro LPOE) is the largest land border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, and the fourth- busiest land border crossing in the world (second-busiest if one exclu ...
—the busiest international crossing in the world. It serves as the primary entry point for the commuting populace of the metropolitan region. The
Cross Border Xpress Cross Border Xpress (CBX), historically also called the Tijuana Cross-border Terminal and the Puerta de las Californias, is an airport terminal located in the Otay Mesa area of southern San Diego, California, United States, with an access bridge ...
pedestrian border crossing, which opened December 9, 2015, is for the exclusive use of ticketed passengers at
Tijuana International Airport General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional General Abelardo L. Rodríguez) or simply Tijuana International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional de Tijuana), , in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, is ...
. Further east, the
Otay Mesa Port of Entry The Otay Mesa Port of Entry (Spanish: ''Puerto de Entrada Mesa de Otay'') is one of three ports of entry (POE) in the San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan region, in the U.S. state of California, connecting Otay Mesa in the City of San Diego with th ...
deals with high volumes of commercial traffic as it is located in the manufacturing zone of the region. The Otay Mesa Port accounts for billions of dollars worth of product. Further east, the
Otay Mesa East Port of Entry The Otay Mesa East Port of Entry is a planned border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, approximately 2 miles east of the existing Otay Mesa Port of Entry. The crossing will connect the Otay Centenario borough of Tijuana with East Otay Mes ...
is planned. And the farthest east, the
Tecate Port of Entry The Tecate Port of Entry is one three ports of entry in the San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan region. The land port is located between Tecate, California in San Diego County's Mountain Empire and Tecate Municipality in Baja California. It connec ...
is the smallest port of entry and is not designed for dealing with large volumes of traffic as it follows a long winding road through the
Mountain Empire The Mountain Empire is a rural area in southeastern San Diego County, California. The Mountain Empire subregion consists of the backcountry communities in southeastern San Diego County. The area is also sometimes considered part of the East Coun ...
.


Higher education

The region is home to over twenty higher education schools including numerous universities, private, and state colleges and maintains an excellent educational infrastructure. Tijuana is home to high ranked national colleges and universities and San Diego is ninth most educated city in the United States. Notable schools included the
Autonomous University of Baja California The Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC) ( es, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California) is a public institution of higher education in Baja California. Established in 1957, UABC has its headquarters located in the city of Mexicali. ...
(Tijuana campus);
Ibero-American University The Ibero-American University ( es, Universidad Iberoamericana), also referred to by its acronym ''UIA'' but commonly known as ''Ibero'' or ''La Ibero'') is a private, Catholic, Mexican higher education institution, sponsored by the Mexican provi ...
(Tijuana campus); CETYS University (Tijuana campus);
University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and Schoo ...
(USD);
San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...
;
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...
(UCSD);
California Western School of Law California Western School of Law is a private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from th ...
; and
Thomas Jefferson School of Law Thomas Jefferson School of Law (TJSL) is a private law school in San Diego, California. It offers a Juris Doctor and three Master of Laws programs, including one that is exclusively online,"How to enroll in America's first LLM Program". http: ...
. Of the colleges in San Diego–Tijuana, UCSD is the highest ranked college; ranking as 14th best university in the world by the
Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong University ...
and in 2010 ranking as the top university in the United States by ''
The Washington Monthly ''Washington Monthly'' is a bimonthly, nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C. The magazine is known for its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, which serves as an alterna ...
''.


Communication


Telephone

Telephonic communication between the two cities requires
international call International telephone calls are those made between different countries. These telephone calls are processed by international gateway exchanges (switches). Charges for these calls were high initially but declined greatly during the 20th century ...
ing. To call Tijuana from the United States, "011" (the US
international call prefix An international call prefix, international dial-out code or international direct dial code (IDD code) is a trunk prefix that indicates an International call, international phone call. In the dialling sequence, the prefix precedes the country call ...
) must be dialed followed by Mexico's
country calling code Country calling codes or country dial-in codes are telephone number prefixes for reaching telephone subscribers in the networks of the member countries or regions of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The codes are defined by the ...
"52"; to call San Diego from Mexico, "00" (the
ITU The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...
prefix) must be dialed followed by "1" (the
North American Numbering Plan The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is a telephone numbering plan for twenty-five regions in twenty countries, primarily in North America and the Caribbean. This group is historically known as World Zone 1 and has the international callin ...
calling code). Then the caller will in both cases proceed to dial the
area code A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, rea ...
and the local number. San Diego County Area Codes *+1-
619 __NOTOC__ Year 619 ( DCXIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 619 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era b ...
*+1-
858 __NOTOC__ Year 858 ( DCCCLVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – King Louis the German, summoned by the disaffected Frankish ...
*+1-
760 __NOTOC__ Year 760 ( DCCLX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 760 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era b ...
*+1- 442 Tijuana Metro Area Codes *+52-665 *+52-664 *+52-661


Broadcasting

Limited San Diego television channels are included in Mexican cable in Tijuana and Ensenada.
Broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...
is shared between the two cities as necessary, as is the case along both land U.S. borders.
Frequency coordination Frequency Coordination is a technical and regulatory process that removes or mitigates radio-frequency interference between different radio systems that operate on the same frequency. Normally frequency coordination is a function of an administr ...
means that all broadcast stations must be approved by both countries before making any major changes. In this case, approval is required by the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) in the U.S. and
Federal Telecommunications Institute The Federal Telecommunications Institute ( Spanish: ''Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones''; abbreviated as IFT and incorrectly referred to as IFETEL) is an independent government agency of Mexico charged with the regulation of telecommunicat ...
in Mexico. Additionally, the FCC requires a permit to supply programming to a foreign broadcaster for transmission back into the U.S. Cooperative frequency coordination between both city regions is quite common; an example is XETV-TV 6, a Tijuana-based television station used to target audiences in San Diego until its US-based studio closure in 2017, where the ''K'' being replaced by the ''X'' as an indicator that it is a Mexican-licensed station. These stations were not required to shut down their
NTSC The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...
analog TV Analog television is the original television technology that uses analog signals to transmit video and audio. In an analog television broadcast, the brightness, colors and sound are represented by amplitude, phase and frequency of an analog s ...
operations in June 2009, as full-powered FCC-
licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
stations must. In 2007, a
bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...
in the
U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...
called the
DTV Border Fix Act The DTV Border Fix Act () was a bill introduced to the U.S. Congress in 2007. It would have allowed all television stations within 80 kilometers (50 miles) of the Mexican border, in areas such as San Diego and the Rio Grande Valley, to keep their ...
was introduced, which would have allowed all stations in San Diego, and all television stations within of the Mexican border, to keep their analog signals active for another five years, delaying the television transition that the rest of the United States would be going through; while the bill passed the Senate, it did not pass the House. Under FCC regulations, San Diego is the largest
media market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...
in the United States that is legally unable to support a
duopoly A duopoly (from Greek δύο, ''duo'' "two" and πωλεῖν, ''polein'' "to sell") is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market. It is the most commonly studied form of oligopoly due to its simplicit ...
between two full-power television stations; by law, duopolies are not allowed in any U.S. market with fewer than nine full-power stations and once a duopoly is formed, there must be eight unique station owners that remain in a single market. The California side of the market does not fall under either requirement as there are only seven full-power stations in that part of the San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area. Though two sister stations existed (the
E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...
group of KGTV and KZSD-LD, and the
NBC Owned Television Stations NBC Owned Television Stations (formerly NBC Local Media and NBC Television Stations Division (TVSD)) is the division of NBCUniversal Owned TV Stations (NBCUniversal), a subsidiary of Comcast that oversees the NBC owned-and-operated television s ...
group of KNSD and KUAN-LD), they are not considered duopolies under the FCC's legal definition as common ownership between full-power and low-power television stations in the same market is permitted regardless to the number of stations licensed to the area. The Mexico-licensed stations in the market are not subject to the duopoly rules as two or more full-power television stations are allowed to be owned by the same company under Mexican telecommunications law (American-based
TelevisaUnivision TelevisaUnivision (formerly known as Univision Communications) is a Mexican-American mass media, media company headquartered in New York and Mexico City, which owns the American Spanish language broadcast network Univision. 45% of the company is ...
owns three stations in Tijuana: XETV-TV, XHUAA-TV and XEWT-TV, while
Entravision Communications Entravision Communications Corporation is an American media company based in Santa Monica, California. Entravision primarily caters to the Spanish-speaking Hispanic community and owns television and radio stations and outdoor media, in several of ...
and
TV Azteca TV Azteca, S.A.B. de C.V. is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate owned by Grupo Salinas. It is the second-largest mass media company in Mexico after Televisa. It primarily competes with Televisa as well as some local operators. It owns two national ...
each own two stations:
XHAS-TV XHAS-TDT (channel 33) is a television station in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, affiliated with LATV. It is owned by a Mexican company in which the largest single investor is Entravision Communications, a U.S.-based operator of radio and tel ...
and XHDTV-TV, and XHJK-TV and XHTIT-TV, respectively). On radio, relaying programming across the border is even more common, with stations like
XHITZ-FM XHITZ-FM (Z90.3) is an English-language Contemporary Hit Radio, Top 40 (CHR) radio station in San Diego-Tijuana, broadcasting at 90.3 Hertz, MHz. The station is owned by Comunicación XERSA, S.A. de C.V., a Mexico, Mexican broadcast company. 49 p ...
90.3 and
XHMORE-FM XHMORE-FM (98.9 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station in Tijuana, Baja California. The station broadcasts with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 50,000 watts and serves the Tijuana-San Diego radio market. The station is currently silent afte ...
98.9 being programmed by U.S. broadcast groups, while being owned by Mexican companies (as required under Mexican law) and operating under Mexican
broadcast law Broadcast law is the field of law that pertains to broadcasting. These laws and regulations pertain to radio stations and TV stations, and are also considered to include closely related services like cable TV and cable radio, as well as satelli ...
. Other American stations relayed via Mexico through
local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it is a sort of lease or tim ...
s (LMAs) are XEPE AM 1700, XEPRS AM 1090 and
simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...
XHPRS-FM XHPRS-FM (105.7 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station transmitting from Tecate, Baja California, and serving the Tijuana-San Diego metropolitan area. The station's signal is owned and operated by Media Sports de México (itself owned by Mexic ...
105.7, XESPN AM 800,
XESURF XESURF-AM ( 540 kHz) is a Mexican radio station licensed to Tijuana, Baja California, serving the San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area. XESURF airs a Spanish-language Christian radio format. It is operated by Zion Multimedia Inc. located i ...
AM 540, XETRA FM 91.1, XHRM FM 92.5,
XEWW-AM XEWW-AM (690 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to the Tijuana/Rosarito area of Baja California, Mexico. Its studios and offices are located in Burbank, California, United States and it is leased by H&H USA. Transmitter XEWW is a h ...
690,
XHA-FM XHA-FM (94.5 MHz, La Invasora 94.5), is a commercial radio station licensed in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. It is owned and operated by Uniradio and plays Regional Mexican music. The station carries similar programming to sister station 99 ...
94.5,
XHFG-FM XHFG or Pulsar is a radio station in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, broadcasting in Spanish language. The station broadcasts and operates at 107.3 MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units ( ...
107.3,
XHGLX-FM XHGLX-FM ("Exa FM") is a commercial radio station broadcasting from Tijuana at 91.7 MHz. The station airs a Top 40 radio format. The programs and most of the music are presented in Spanish, while a number of English-language songs are also heard. ...
91.7,
XHLNC-FM XHLNC-FM is a noncommercial radio station in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico, on 104.9  MHz. It broadcasts to the San Diego-Tijuana metropolitan area from a its transmitter on Cerro Bola. XHLNC-FM airs a Regional Mexican format and is brand ...
104.9, and XHTY-FM 99.7. All of these stations are authorized to simulcast digitally in
HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...
, as are other stations within of the U.S. border. Because many stations in the
reserved band A non-commercial educational station (NCE station) is a radio station or television station that does not accept on-air advertisements ( TV ads or radio ads), as defined in the United States by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and was ...
(FM below 92 MHz) are used by Mexican stations, other specific allotments are reserved for
non-commercial educational A non-commercial educational station (NCE station) is a radio station or television station that does not accept on-air advertisements (TV ads or radio ads), as defined in the United States by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and was or ...
(NCE) radio stations in the San Diego area. However, the lack of such allotments still leaves the area with no
college radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...
stations available except via
Internet radio Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...
,
cable radio Cable radio or cable FM is a concept similar to that of cable television, bringing radio broadcasting into homes and businesses via coaxial cable. It is generally used for the same reason as cable TV was in its early days when it was "community ...
,
LPAM Low-power broadcasting is broadcasting by a broadcast station at a low transmitter power output to a smaller service area than "full power" stations within the same region. It is often distinguished from "micropower broadcasting" (more commonly " ...
, and TV SAP. These are KCR from
San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...
, and KSDT from
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...
. Under Mexican law, radio stations located in Mexico must broadcast the Mexican National Anthem twice daily and broadcast public affairs program
La Hora Nacional ''La Hora Nacional'' (The National Hour) is a radio program produced by the General Directorate of Radio, Television and Film (RTC) of the Mexican Secretariat of the Interior. The one-hour program airs at 10p.m. on Sundays on all Mexican radio s ...
on Sunday evenings.


Other infrastructure

The metropolitan region has developed many utilities which have primary focus on energy and environmental health. A focal point of cross-border environmental relations is the care of the Tijuana River Estuary. The
International Boundary Wastewater Treatment Plant The International Wastewater Treatment Plant (IWTP) is a plant developed by the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) in the South Bay, San Diego, South Bay area of San Diego, California. Construction began on a 75-acre site, west of S ...
(IWTP) was developed by the
International Boundary and Water Commission The International Boundary and Water Commission ( es, links=no, Comisión Internacional de Límites y Aguas) is an international body created by the United States and Mexico in 1889 to apply the rules for determining the location of their intern ...
(IBWC) as a joint project between the US and Mexico in the mid-1990s following substantial environmental studies regarding the polluting effects of the river system from run-off and untreated water on the Tijuana side of the border region. The facility now treats sewage flows exceeding the capacity of the present Tijuana sewage treatment system. The plant directly assists in the restoration of the Tijuana River Valley. Another collaborative effort between the two cities was the
environmentally friendly Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that clai ...
development of paved roads – created by placing concrete blocks on dirt roads – in the San Bernardo neighborhood of northwestern Tijuana. Whilst being a good example for overall development of Tijuana, it served to retain water in the earth and prevented possible negative impacts from floodwater.


Water

San Diego–Tijuana relies heavily on water from the
Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...
. Approximately half of San Diego–Tijuana's fresh water is used for non-drinking purposes, including
landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...
,
commercial enterprise Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." Having a business name does not separat ...
, and industrial processing. Methods such as
saltwater Saline water (more commonly known as salt water) is water that contains a high concentration of dissolved salts (mainly sodium chloride). On the United States Geological Survey (USGS) salinity scale, saline water is saltier than brackish water, ...
desalination Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in Soil salinity control, soil desalination, which is an issue f ...
provides options for obtaining
fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...
. Cities in the metropolitan region such as Carlsbad have begun desalination projects of their own, without a bi-national conference. The Carlsbad desalination plant is the largest desalination plant in the United States. It was opened in December 2015, and produces 50-million gallons a day; enough water to supply 10% of San Diego region residents with drinking water.


Energy

The policies shared between San Diego and Tijuana are addressed in a binational way as the effects of actions on one side of the border, with regard to infrastructure, are felt on the neighboring side. In the past decade San Diego–Tijuana has developed new cooperative strategies to make energy consumption more efficient and effectively supply energy. In 2000
Sempra Energy Sempra is a North American energy infrastructure company based in San Diego, California. The company is one of the largest utility holding companies in the United States with roughly 40 million consumers. Sempra's focus is on electric and natura ...
constructed a
natural gas pipeline Pipeline transport is the long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas through a system of pipes—a pipeline—typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countr ...
to provide energy to a
thermal power plant A thermal power station is a type of power station in which heat energy is converted to electrical energy. In a steam-generating cycle heat is used to boil water in a large pressure vessel to produce high-pressure steam, which drives a stea ...
in Rosarito; also the principle plant in Baja California. The region was able to reduce levels of
air pollution Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...
substantially when the conversion to a natural gas fired electrical generation facility was completed. In the Baja California subregions,
unleaded gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic com ...
has also replaced leaded fuel as means for transportation, helping regional air quality. The new strategies also included plans that worked with the nearby capital of Mexicali, where the pipeline shared between the two states was constructed to supply natural gas to its metropolitan area with energy supplied by Sempra and Proxima. Sempra Energy has been applauded for its initial development of this cross-border infrastructure. On April 19, 2011, it was reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune that
San Diego Gas and Electric San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) provides natural gas and electricity to San Diego County and southern Orange County in southwestern California, United States. It is owned by Sempra, a Fortune 500 energy services holding company based in San Di ...
signed a twenty-year deal with Sempra Generation to obtain power generated by the Energia Sierra Juarez Project, a wind farm of 450
wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...
s, taking up an area predominantly in the Tecate region of Baja California larger than
Anza Borrego Desert State Park Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (, '' AN-zə bə-RAY-goh'') is a California State Park located within the Colorado Desert of southern California, United States. The park takes its name from 18th century Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza and ...
. Energia Sierra Juarez is slated for construction in 2012, though the deal has yet to be approved by the
California Public Utilities Commission The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC or PUC) is a regulatory agency that regulates privately owned public utilities in the state of California, including electric power, telecommunications, natural gas and water companies. In addition ...
.


Culture

The sister cities of the metropolitan region have a complex and rich cultural exchange. The binational art communities are the most progressive yet least funded when compared to other international communities. The cultural activities present on both sides of the border provide artists a benefited cultural activity sector. Art organizations on both sides of the border have binational programs. Mainly Mozart (Festival Binacional de Mozart) performs, for both cities of California and Baja California, with internationally known musicians and orchestras. In San Diego, the Opera's Ensemble tours the metropolitan region every year performing over 150 performances in the regions educational institutions, cultural centers, and concert venues. Additionally, the
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (or MCASD), in San Diego, California, US, is an art museum focused on the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of works of art from 1950 to the present. Mission The stated mission of ...
actively promotes the binational arts culture in the area and has displayed exhibitions highlighting the border experience. The metropolitan region has become a magnet for artists from abroad.
Musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...
s and
visual artist The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...
s from
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, Mexico, and
Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...
are now found in organizations such as the
Orchestra of Baja California Orquesta de Baja California (in English Baja California Orchestra) is an orchestra based in the Mexican state of Baja California. The ensemble is a chamber orchestra of variable size, composed of about 17 to 40 musicians, and conducted by Maestro ...
. The cultural region is the home of many museums and landmarks. The regions cultural institutions and landmarks are in part comprised by the many institutions of Balboa Park, Tijuana Cultural Center, the
Maritime Museum of San Diego The Maritime Museum of San Diego, established in 1948, preserves one of the largest collections of historic sea vessels in the United States. Located on the San Diego Bay, the centerpiece of the museum's collection is the '' Star of India'', an 1 ...
– a collection of large historic American vessels,
Cabrillo National Monument Cabrillo National Monument ( es, Monumento nacional Cabrillo) is at the southern tip of the Point Loma Peninsula in San Diego, California, United States. It commemorates the landing of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay on September 28, ...
,
Christ of the Sacred Heart ''Christ of the Sacred Heart'' ( es, Cristo del Sagrado Corazón) is a statue of Jesus displaying his Sacred Heart located above the town of El Morro, six miles south of the city of Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico. The statue is situated dire ...
,
Mission San Diego de Alcalá Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá ( es, Misión San Diego de Alcalá) was the second Franciscan founded mission in The Californias (after San Fernando de Velicata), a province of New Spain. Located in present-day San Diego, California, it ...
,
Mission San Luis Rey de Francia Mission San Luis Rey de Francia ( es, Misión San Luis Rey de Francia) is a former Spanish mission in San Luis Rey, a neighborhood of Oceanside, California. This Mission lent its name to the Luiseño tribe of Mission Indians. At its prime, ...
,
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, located in the Old Town neighborhood of San Diego, California, is a state protected historical park in San Diego. It commemorates the early days of the City of San Diego and includes many historic buildings ...
, and museum at
San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park honors the soldiers who fought in the 1846 Battle of San Pasqual, the bloodiest battle in California during the Mexican–American War. The battle was fought between United States troops under the co ...
. Local beach culture is in part represented by the California Surf Museum.


Border influence

In a region where Mexican traditional culture and American contemporary culture clash, native artists benefit from the manifested diverse cultural influences. Tijuana's adjacent location to San Diego fuels its intrigue for artists and art curators. A growing number of artists and musicians have begun challenging the sometimes negative stereotype of Tijuana through exhibitions displaying the city as a place of contingency and creativity. San Diego–Tijuana has been considered "''one of the hottest interfaces between first and third worlds''." Artists attraction to San Diego–Tijuana's arts and culture scene was accredited by the
Tucson Weekly The ''Tucson Weekly'' is an alternative newsweekly that was founded in 1984 by Douglas Biggers and Mark Goehring, and serves the Tucson, Arizona, metropolitan area of about 1,000,000 residents. The paper is a member of the Association of Altern ...
to the environment created by one of the richest and most developed cities – San Diego – border proximity to a once
third world The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...
type city – Tijuana.


Cuisine

Food in the region has been greatly attributed from its position on the US-Mexican border. The region has also been influenced by immigrants who migrated to the area. Notable foods rooted in the region are: * Fish Tacos/ Tacos de Pescado * Regional San Diego burritos: ** California burrito ** Carne Asada burrito *
Carne Asada Fries Carne asada fries are a local specialty found on the menus of restaurants primarily in the American Southwest, including San Diego, where it originated. The dish is also served at Petco Park and Dodger Stadium. By 2015, fast food chain Del Taco ...
*
Caesar Salad A Caesar salad (also spelled Cesar and Cesare) is a green salad of romaine lettuce and croutons dressed with lemon juice (or lime juice), olive oil, egg, Worcestershire sauce, anchovies, garlic, Dijon mustard, Parmesan cheese, and black pepper ...
(invented in Tijuana)


Beverage

The region is also home to many wineries and craft breweries scattered throughout the region, with San Diego's craft brewery industry, Tijuana's proximity to the wineries in
Valle de Guadalupe The Valle de Guadalupe (Guadalupe Valley) is an area of Ensenada Municipality, Baja California, Mexico that is an increasingly popular tourist destination for wine and Baja Med cuisine. It is located north of the City of Ensenada and southeas ...
, and Tecate's Cerveza Tecate owned by
Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma (Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma / Heineken México) (English: Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery) is a major brewery based in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, founded in 1890. It is a subsidiary of Heineken Inter ...
. Tijuana and Tecate's growth could be attributed to the influx of American alcohol tourism in the 1920s to evade the US prohibition of alcohol.


International recognition

The culture of San Diego–Tijuana is international and
cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...
, reflecting the values of each city. Tijuana's emerging vibrant culture scene plays and undeniable role in the art enrichment of its neighborhoods. The metropolitan regions southern anchor city, Tijuana, was identified by
Newsweek International ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...
as one of the top eight creative cities in the world. It was recognized for its amalgamation of traditional Mexican Norteño music by cities as far away as
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
and
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
. Berlin's
Haus der Kulturen der Welt The Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), in English House of the World's Cultures, in Berlin is Germany's national center for the presentation and discussion of international contemporary arts, with a special focus on non-European cultures and so ...
attributed Tijuana as the "''cradle of
Mexican rock Mexican rock music, often referred to in Mexico as ''rock nacional'' ("national rock"), originated in the 1950s. Standards by The Beatles, Elvis Presley, The Everly Brothers, Nancy Sinatra, and Chuck Berry were soon covered by bands such as Los Ap ...
... where the music of the future is being born in Mexico.''" According to Britain's
Guardian Newspaper ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
, "''Tijuana is in the middle of an artistic flowering in which artists are re-examining the city's hybrid binational culture.''" Tijuana has been gaining recognition as a culinary center for the
Baja Med Baja Med is a term conceived by Chef Miguel Ángel Guerrero that refers to fusion cuisine of Mexican cuisine, such as chicharrón and cotija cheese, with those of Mediterranean, such as olive oil, and Asian cuisine, such as lemongrass. Baja Med dish ...
fusion cuisine. In the five years prior to 2004 Tijuana's visual arts were sought out by European exhibitions, and received notable focus from Germany. An international exhibition in Hamburg titled ''Unlikely Encounters in Urban Space'' portrayed the developed environment in Eastern Tijuana as well as in
New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
,
Mar de Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a s ...
,
Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, Berlin,
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
, and
Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...
.


Cultural Enclaves

Additionally, the metropolitan area is home to many cultural enclaves from around the world not including American and Mexican enclaves they have of each other.


Sports

San Diego–Tijuana is an avid sports community. Popular sports include
association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
,
American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
,
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
, and, to a lesser extent, bloodless
bullfighting Bullfighting is a physical contest that involves a bullfighter attempting to subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull, usually according to a set of rules, guidelines, or cultural expectations. There are several variations, including some forms wh ...
. The region has professional teams involved in
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
and the
Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...
. In a sign of binational friendship, San Diegans – Team USA – and Tijuanenses – Team Mexico – engaged in a friendly game of border
volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
at
Border Field State Park Border Field State Park is a state park of California, United States, containing beach and coastal habitat on the Mexico–United States border. The park is within the city limits of Imperial Beach in San Diego County, next to the suburb of Pla ...
in which volleyballs were passed over the international border fence splitting the beach. This was the first game of international border volleyball and garnered attention from tourists and the media.
Watersports Water sports or aquatic sports are sport activities conducted on waterbodies, and can be categorized according to the degree of immersion by the participants. On the water * Boat racing, the use of powerboats to participate in races * Boatin ...
and
boardsports Boardsports are active outdoor sports that are played with some sort of board as the primary equipment. These sports take place on a variety of terrain, from paved flat-ground and snow-covered hills to water and air. Most boardsports are considere ...
also form a large part of San Diego–Tijuana sports culture.
Sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...
is a popular hobby in the San Diego Bay and Mission Bay areas. The San Diego–Ensenada International Yacht Race is hosted by the Southwestern Yacht Club of San Diego and takes place annually as over 100 contestants from Southern and Baja California race from San Diego Bay to Bahia de Todos Santos. The region is known for its avid surf scene. Surfers take to the water in the beaches of North County and Rosarito; well-known destinations include
Swami's Swami's is an area in San Diego County that contains Swami's Beach and other local attractions. The beach, also known as "Swami’s Reef'" and "Swamis", is an internationally known surfing spot, a point break located in Encinitas, San Diego C ...
, Cardiff-by-the-Sea, and
Baja Malibu Baja Malibu is a beach and resort in Tijuana Municipality, Baja California named after the beach town Malibu of Los Angeles County. The beach is a popular tourist area in the San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan region and draws surfers from all over ...
. In the mid-2000s, the Binational Organizing Committee (BiNOC) of San Diego–Tijuana made it known that the sister-cities were interested in making a bid for the
2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...
. The proposed bid intentionally rivaled L.A.'s bid for the 2016 games. However, the
U.S. Olympic Committee The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...
(USOC) decided against the binational bid and made it clear San Diego would not receive the opportunity to host the Summer Games in 2016. Furthermore, USOC member
Bob Ctvrtlik Robert Jan "Bob" Ctvrtlik (; born July 8, 1963) is an American volleyball player, Olympic gold medalist, businessman and former member of the International Olympic Committee. He is a 1985 graduate of Pepperdine University. Early life Bob Ctvr ...
stated the
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
has never been inclined to consider a dual-city Games. ;
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
Division I College Sports *
San Diego Toreros The San Diego Toreros are the 17 teams representing the University of San Diego of San Diego, California in intercollegiate athletics. The Toreros compete in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of the National Collegiate At ...
( FCS) *
San Diego State Aztecs The San Diego State Aztecs are the athletic teams that represent San Diego State University (SDSU). San Diego State currently sponsors six men's and eleven women's sports at the varsity level. The Aztecs compete in NCAA Division I ( FBS for foo ...
( FBS)


Further reading

* *


See also

*
California megapolitan areas California's major urban areas normally are thought of as two large megalopolises: one in Northern California and one in Southern California, separated from each other by approximately 382 miles or 615 km (the distance from Los Angeles to San ...
* List of California urban areas *
List of metropolitan areas in the Americas This is a list of the fifty most populous metropolitan areas in the Americas as of 2015, the most recent year for which official census results, estimates or projections are available for every major metropolitan area in the Americas. Where availab ...


References


External links


International Call Assistance
;Organizations
San Diego Dialogue of UCSD

ULI San Diego/Tijuana District Council
{{DEFAULTSORT:San Diego-Tijuana Twin cities Metropolitan areas of California Metropolitan areas of Baja California Transborder agglomerations Mexico–United States border