NightshiftDirect

HVAC by metro

Local search for HVAC companies in the San Diego, California metro

The Census counted 1,072 plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad metro in 2023, or 3.3 for every 10,000 residents (County Business Patterns).

Owners live in 54.4% of its occupied homes, the 3rd lowest share of the 25 largest metros (American Community Survey).

By NightshiftDirect Research. Updated . Figures read .

The metro in numbers

San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad metro, by the numbers
MeasureHereMedianStandingSource
Homes lived in by their owners54.4%63.4%3rd lowest of 25ACS 2024
Median household income$109,132$92,3445th highest of 25ACS 2024
Change in plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors since 2018Up 14.5%Up 9.6%7th highest of 25CBP 2018 to 2023
Average pay, plumbing and HVAC contractor jobs$84,312$84,5806th lowest of 13QCEW 2024
Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors per 10,000 residents3.33.311th highest of 25CBP and ACS 2023
Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors1,072Not comparedNot comparedCBP 2023
Private plumbing and HVAC contractor jobs13,121Not comparedNot comparedQCEW 2024
Residents3,298,799Not comparedNot comparedACS 2024
Average pay, all private jobs$81,304Not comparedNot comparedQCEW 2024
Median and standing among the 25 most populous metro areas, or among those where BLS publishes the figure. CBP is the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns, ACS its American Community Survey, and QCEW the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages from BLS. Each source links the public query that returns the figure.

What stands out

Owners live in 645,184 of the metro's occupied homes, 54.4% of them, in the 2024 survey (American Community Survey).

That is the 3rd lowest share of the 25 largest metros, where the median is 63.4% (American Community Survey).

An owner-occupied home is a household that hires for its own heating and cooling.

Counted over its one county in both years, the metro had 936 plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors in 2018 and 1,072 in 2023 (County Business Patterns).

That is a rise of 14.5%, the 7th highest change of the 25 largest metros, where the median is a rise of 9.6% (County Business Patterns).

So there are more contractors to compete with than in 2018.

BLS counted 13,121 private plumbing and HVAC contractor jobs in the metro in 2024, paying $84,312 a year on average, against $81,304 for all private jobs there (Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages).

That is 4% above the metro's all-industry average, and the 6th lowest of the 13 metros where BLS publishes the figure (Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages).

Pay is one measure of what it costs an HVAC company here to hire.

1,072 plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors against 3,269,973 residents in 2023 works out to 3.3 for every 10,000 people, the 11th highest of the 25 largest metros (County Business Patterns, American Community Survey).

That is one plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractor for every 3,050 residents.

The median of the 25 is 3.3, the same number per resident as here (County Business Patterns).

What these figures leave out

County Business Patterns counts establishments with paid employees, so a contractor who works with no paid staff is not in these counts (County Business Patterns).

The Census counts HVAC and plumbing contractors together, as plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors (NAICS 238220), so every business figure here covers both (NAICS index).

BLS stopped publishing metro figures by industry with its third quarter 2025 data, so 2024 is the last full year of them (BLS notice).

None of these figures shows which businesses appear in Google's map results in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad metro, and we do not measure that.

None of our sources gives what a search ad click costs in this metro. LocaliQ's national averages for Home and Home Improvement are $8.33 a click and $90.92 a lead across its own customers' campaigns, not figures for this metro (LocaliQ).

Nearby metros

Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors per 10,000 residents in the nearest metros we publish a page for:

The same metro, other fields

Working with us in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad metro

We are new and have no clients yet, in this metro or any other.

One client per business category per metro area on the Local, Growth and Authority plans. A metro area is a U.S. Census core-based statistical area.

The work itself is on our local SEO page, what applies to every HVAC company is on our HVAC page, and every price is on the prices page.

Questions

How many plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors are there in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad metro?

1,072 in 2023 in the Census's table for the metro, counting establishments with paid employees, or 3.3 for every 10,000 residents (County Business Patterns).

Is the number of plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad metro growing?

Yes. It rose 14.5% from 2018 to 2023, from 936 to 1,072 on the same counties (County Business Patterns).

How these figures were made

How the figures are chosen and compared is on our method page. Each query below returns figures on this page.

Sources