[16] It is known for its mild year-round Mediterranean climate, extensive beaches and parks, long association with the United States Navy, and recent emergence as a healthcare and biotechnology development center.

Historically home to the Kumeyaay people, San Diego has been referred to as the Birthplace of California, as it was the first site visited and settled by Europeans on what is now the West Coast of the United States.

[17] Upon landing in San Diego Bay in 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the area for Spain, forming the basis for the settlement of Alta California 200 years later.

The largest sectors of the economy of San Diego include military and defense-related activities, tourism, international trade, research, and manufacturing.

[21][27] The village of Kosa'aay was made up of thirty to forty families living in pyramid-shaped housing structures and was supported by a freshwater spring from the hillsides.

[28] In November 1602, Sebastián Vizcaíno surveyed the harbor and what are now Mission Bay and Point Loma and named the area for the Catholic Saint Didacus, a Spaniard more commonly known as San Diego de Alcalá.

However, San Diego had been losing population throughout the 1830s, due to increasing tension between the settlers and the indigenous Kumeyaay and in 1838 the town lost its pueblo status because its size dropped to an estimated 100 to 150 residents.

[37] Americans gained an increased awareness of California, and its commercial possibilities, from the writings of two countrymen involved in the often officially forbidden, to foreigners, but economically significant hide and tallow trade, where San Diego was a major port and the only one with an adequate harbor: William Shaler's "Journal of a Voyage Between China and the North-Western Coast of America, Made in 1804" and Richard Henry Dana's more substantial and convincing account, of his 1834–36 voyage, Two Years Before the Mast.

At first, they had an easy time of it, capturing the major ports including San Diego, but the Californios in southern Alta California struck back.

As a result of the Mexican–American War of 1846–48, the territory of Alta California, including San Diego, was ceded to the United States by Mexico, under the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848.

Horton promoted the area heavily, and people and businesses began to relocate to New Town because its location on San Diego Bay was convenient to shipping.

[47] In 1916, the neighborhood of Stingaree, the original home of San Diego's first Chinatown and "Soapbox Row", was demolished by anti-vice campaigners to make way for the Gaslamp Quarter.

[74] San Diego's climate is characterized by warm, dry summers and mild winters, with most of the annual precipitation falling between December and March.

The city of El Cajon, just 12 miles (19 km) inland from downtown San Diego, averages January lows of 42 °F (6 °C) and August highs of 88 °F (31 °C).

[82] Like much of Southern California, the majority of San Diego's current area was originally occupied on the west by coastal sage scrub and on the east by chaparral, plant communities made up mostly of drought-resistant shrubs.

The communities north of the valley and freeway, and south of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, include Clairemont, Kearny Mesa, Tierrasanta, and Navajo.

[102] San Diego was originally centered on the Old Town district, but by the late 1860s the focus had shifted to the bayfront, in the belief that this new location would increase trade.

According to data from the Downtown San Diego Partnership, the number of individuals living outside or in vehicles has reached a two-year low, standing at approximately 1,200 as of last month.

[121] The San Diego County regional planning agency, SANDAG, provides tables and graphs breaking down the city population into five-year age groups.

[136][137] San Diego hosts the largest naval fleet in the world:[138] In 2008 it was home to 53 ships, over 120 tenant commands, and more than 35,000 sailors, marines, Department of Defense civilian employees and contractors.

[174] The San Diego Housing Market experienced a decline in the median sold price of existing single-family homes between December 2022 and January 2023, with a 2.9% decrease from $850,000 to $824,950.

In the California State Senate, San Diego County encompasses the 38th, 39th and 40th districts,[187] represented by Catherine Blakespear (D), Akilah Weber (D), and Brian Jones (R), respectively.

In the California State Assembly, lying partially within the city of San Diego are the 77th, 78th, 79th, and 80th districts,[188] represented by Tasha Boerner (D), Chris Ward (D), LaShae Sharp-Collins (D), and David Alvarez (D), respectively.

In 1916, rainmaker Charles Hatfield was blamed for $4 million in damages and accused of causing San Diego's worst flood, during which about 20 Japanese American farmers died.

Filner agreed to resign effective August 30, 2013, subsequently pleading guilty to one felony count of false imprisonment and two misdemeanor battery charges.

Of these, the violent crimes consisted of forcible rapes, 73 robberies and 170 aggravated assaults, while 6,387 burglaries, 17,977 larceny-thefts, 6,389 motor vehicle thefts and 155 acts of arson defined the property offenses.

According to education rankings released by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2017, 44.4% of San Diegans (city, not county) ages 25 and older hold bachelor's degrees, compared to 30.9% in the United States as a whole.

Both the Old Globe Theatre and La Jolla Playhouse have produced the world premieres of plays and musicals that have gone on to win Tony Awards[224] or nominations[225] on Broadway.

[230] Since the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) licensed seven television stations in Los Angeles, two VHF channels were available for San Diego because of its relative proximity to the larger city.

[244] Recent regional transportation projects have sought to mitigate congestion, including improvements to local freeways, expansion of San Diego Airport, and doubling the capacity of the cruise ship terminal.