Overview of Findings
Apartment List has released El Cajon’s results from the third annual Apartment List Renter Satisfaction Survey. This survey, which drew on responses from over 45,000 renters, provides insight on what states and cities must do to meet the needs of 111 million American renters nationwide.
"El Cajon renters expressed general dissatisfaction with the city overall," according to Apartment List. "Some categories received average scores, and many received below average scores."
Key findings in El Cajon include the following:
- El Cajon renters gave their city an F overall.
- The highest-rated categories for El Cajon were public transit (B) and weather (B-).
- The areas of concern to El Cajon renters are jobs and career opportunities, safety and low crime rate, state and local taxes, quality of local schools and pet-friendliness, which all received F grades.
- El Cajon did relatively poorly compared to other cities in California, including Los Angeles (C+), San Francisco (B+) and Sacramento (C).
- El Cajon did relatively poorly compared to other cities nationwide, including Portland, OR (B+), Denver, CO (B+) and Atlanta, GA (B+).
- The top rated cities nationwide for renter satisfaction include Scottsdale, AZ, Irvine, CA, Boulder, CO and Ann Arbor, MI. The lowest rated cities include Tallahassee, FL, Stockton, CA, Dayton, OH, Detroit, MI and Newark, NJ.
Renters say:
- "I love how it’s a semi-small town, but I hate how expensive it is to rent apartments." – Jill A.
- "I love how close it is to hiking trails. But some apartments never seem to have enough parking, either on the property or on the street." – Anon.
- "I love that there are a lot of nice people here, but there are no job opportunities in the city." – Ahmed N.
- "I like that I’m surrounded by conveniences like shopping and public transportation. But the cost of renting is ridiculous for the quality of what you receive." – Jean W.
For more information on the survey methodology and findings or to speak to one of our researchers, please contact our team at rentonomics@apartmentlist.com.
