# San Diego (Somali community)

> San Diego's Somali community in City Heights: Census counts, 1990s refugee resettlement, Somali Bantu farmers, businesses, groups and 2026 pressures.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/diaspora/san-diego/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

The US Census Bureau's 2020–2024 survey counted about 3,300 Somali people in San Diego County, most of them in the city of San Diego ([US Census Bureau, ACS 2020–2024, B02025, via Census Reporter](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B02025&geo_ids=05000US06073)). Local estimates run from 10,000 to 20,000, centred on City Heights ([Voice of San Diego, 2013](https://voiceofsandiego.org/2013/02/22/san-diegos-somali-population-explained/); [KPBS, 2010](https://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/sep/28/somali-refugees-adjust-life-us-assimilation-and-un)).

## How many Somalis live in San Diego?

The American Community Survey (ACS) for 2020–2024 counted 3,304 people in San Diego County who named Somali as a race group, alone or with another (margin of error 935) ([US Census Bureau, B02025, via Census Reporter](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B02025&geo_ids=05000US06073)). It counted 3,222 by Somali ancestry and 1,338 people born in Somalia ([ACS 2020–2024, B04006](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B04006&geo_ids=05000US06073); [ACS 2020–2024, B05006](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B05006&geo_ids=05000US06073)).

Inside the city of San Diego, the same survey counted 2,840 by race and 2,585 by ancestry ([ACS 2020–2024, B02025, city of San Diego](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B02025&geo_ids=16000US0666000); [B04006](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B04006&geo_ids=16000US0666000)). California as a whole had 5,916 by race ([ACS 2020–2024, B02025, California](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B02025&geo_ids=04000US06)).

Local figures are much higher. KPBS reported "nearly 20,000" Somalis in 2010 ([KPBS, September 2010](https://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/sep/28/somali-refugees-adjust-life-us-assimilation-and-un)). Voice of San Diego put the community above 10,000 in 2013, without naming a source ([Voice of San Diego, February 2013](https://voiceofsandiego.org/2013/02/22/san-diegos-somali-population-explained/)). KPBS still describes San Diego as having the second-largest Somali refugee population in the country, after Minnesota ([KPBS, January 2026](https://www.kpbs.org/news/politics/2026/01/14/anxiety-rises-in-san-diegos-somali-community-over-tps-revocation)). The survey does not support that ranking today: Ohio, Washington and several other states count more ([ACS 2020–2024, B02025, by state](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B02025&geo_ids=040|01000US)).

## How did Somalis come to San Diego?

San Diego's resettlement network began in 1975, when the International Rescue Committee (IRC) helped Vietnamese refugees housed at Camp Pendleton ([Voice of San Diego, 2013](https://voiceofsandiego.org/2013/02/22/san-diegos-somali-population-explained/)). In the early 1980s the city received refugees from Ethiopia, many of them ethnic Somalis from the Ogaden ([Voice of San Diego](https://voiceofsandiego.org/2013/02/22/san-diegos-somali-population-explained/)).

A small group of Somali military personnel trained with US forces at Camp Pendleton and stayed after the war began in 1991 ([Voice of San Diego](https://voiceofsandiego.org/2013/02/22/san-diegos-somali-population-explained/)). A large wave of Somali refugees followed in the 1990s ([KPBS, 2010](https://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/sep/28/somali-refugees-adjust-life-us-assimilation-and-un)). The IRC's local director said family ties counted for more than the cost of living in placement decisions ([Voice of San Diego](https://voiceofsandiego.org/2013/02/22/san-diegos-somali-population-explained/)).

About 400 Somali Bantu refugees came to San Diego from 2004 onwards, as part of a large US resettlement ([Voice of San Diego, June 2009](https://voiceofsandiego.org/2009/06/04/building-a-farm-and-saving-a-culture/)). With the IRC, their community organisation secured land in 2007 for New Roots Community Farm, a two-acre plot on 54th Street ([Voice of San Diego, 2009](https://voiceofsandiego.org/2009/06/04/building-a-farm-and-saving-a-culture/)).

New arrivals are now few. In the 2025 fiscal year, 16 refugees from Somalia were placed in all of California ([Refugee Processing Center, FY2025 arrivals by state](https://www.rpc.state.gov/documents/FY%202025%20Arrivals%20by%20State%20and%20Nationality%20as%20of%2030%20Sep%202025.pdf)). San Diego County as a whole received more than 9,600 refugees of all origins from 2020 to 2023 ([Voice of San Diego, August 2025](https://voiceofsandiego.org/2025/08/21/can-san-diego-remain-a-hub-for-refugees/)).

## Work and business

In 2010, a community director estimated Somali unemployment in San Diego at 40 to 50% ([KPBS, 2010](https://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/sep/28/somali-refugees-adjust-life-us-assimilation-and-un)). Common jobs then included hotel work, housekeeping, cleaning and security, often part-time ([KPBS](https://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/sep/28/somali-refugees-adjust-life-us-assimilation-and-un)). Many families had also bought homes and businesses, many in City Heights ([KPBS](https://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/sep/28/somali-refugees-adjust-life-us-assimilation-and-un)).

The community's shops and mosques cluster in City Heights, in an area locals call "Little Mogadishu" ([Voice of San Diego, 2025](https://voiceofsandiego.org/2025/08/21/can-san-diego-remain-a-hub-for-refugees/)). Somali women also run home child care centres in the city ([KPBS, January 2026](https://www.kpbs.org/news/racial-justice-social-equity/2026/01/08/somali-child-care-providers-in-san-diego-said-strangers-are-surveilling-their-centers)).

Money sent home matters to families in Somalia. The Somali diaspora as a whole sent US$1.73 billion in 2023, a World Bank-based figure ([Minnesota Reformer, March 2026](https://minnesotareformer.com/2026/03/10/feds-making-it-harder-for-immigrants-to-send-money-to-family/)). From 1 January 2026, a 1% US tax applies to transfers paid in cash or money orders ([Minnesota Reformer](https://minnesotareformer.com/2026/03/10/feds-making-it-harder-for-immigrants-to-send-money-to-family/)).

## Who speaks for the community?

Somali Family Service of San Diego began in 2000 with a youth programme set up as gang violence rose ([KPBS, November 2025](https://www.kpbs.org/news/arts-culture/2025/11/19/san-diego-nonprofit-combats-hate-crimes-with-education-and-community-programs)). It now serves at least 10,000 people a year, in more than 15 languages ([KPBS, 2025](https://www.kpbs.org/news/arts-culture/2025/11/19/san-diego-nonprofit-combats-hate-crimes-with-education-and-community-programs)).

The Horn of Africa community centre has served East African refugees since at least 2010 ([KPBS, February 2013](https://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/feb/18/somalis-raised-city-heights-consider-returning-the)). The Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (PANA), based in City Heights, and CAIR San Diego spoke for families when TPS was ended ([KPBS, January 2026](https://www.kpbs.org/news/politics/2026/01/14/anxiety-rises-in-san-diegos-somali-community-over-tps-revocation)).

Among elected officials, City Council member Sean Elo-Rivera said in January 2026 that treating every Somali as a fraud suspect "is racist" ([KPBS, January 2026](https://www.kpbs.org/news/racial-justice-social-equity/2026/01/08/somali-child-care-providers-in-san-diego-said-strangers-are-surveilling-their-centers)). He pledged to work with police on reports of harassment ([KPBS](https://www.kpbs.org/news/racial-justice-social-equity/2026/01/08/somali-child-care-providers-in-san-diego-said-strangers-are-surveilling-their-centers)).

## What does the community face now?

**Harassment of child care providers.** In January 2026, a care workers' union counted at least seven incidents of strangers filming or following Somali providers within a week ([KPBS, January 2026](https://www.kpbs.org/news/racial-justice-social-equity/2026/01/08/somali-child-care-providers-in-san-diego-said-strangers-are-surveilling-their-centers)). The union urged providers to report them to police as hate incidents ([KPBS](https://www.kpbs.org/news/racial-justice-social-equity/2026/01/08/somali-child-care-providers-in-san-diego-said-strangers-are-surveilling-their-centers)).

**The end of Temporary Protected Status.** Somalia was designated for TPS on 16 September 1991, and the termination took effect on 14 August 2026 ([USCIS](https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status/temporary-protected-status-designated-country-somalia)). About 700 Somalis held TPS nationally, and an appeal has been filed ([MPR News, August 2026](https://mprnews.org/story/2026/08/17/judges-order-allows-end-tps-protections-people-somalia)). KPBS reported that only a small number live in San Diego ([KPBS, January 2026](https://www.kpbs.org/news/politics/2026/01/14/anxiety-rises-in-san-diegos-somali-community-over-tps-revocation)).

**A court case remembered.** In 2013 a federal jury in San Diego convicted four local men of sending, or conspiring to send, $10,900 to al-Shabaab ([US Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, United States v. Moalin, 2020](https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca9/13-50572/13-50572-2020-09-02.html)). In 2020 the appeals court upheld the convictions but held that the NSA's bulk phone-records programme had violated federal law ([Ninth Circuit](https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca9/13-50572/13-50572-2020-09-02.html)). The case shocked many in the community, and many there had themselves fled al-Shabaab ([KPBS, November 2013](https://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/11/18/three-local-somalis-get-prison-terms-sending-money)).

## How is San Diego tied to home?

After the US recognised Somalia's government in January 2013, some young people raised in City Heights planned to work there ([KPBS, February 2013](https://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/feb/18/somalis-raised-city-heights-consider-returning-the)). A student group from San Diego State University surveyed rural schools in Somalia that winter ([KPBS](https://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/feb/18/somalis-raised-city-heights-consider-returning-the)).

Across the United States, UNHCR counted 1,355 refugees and 3,945 asylum seekers from Somalia at the end of 2024 ([UNHCR Refugee Data Finder API](https://api.unhcr.org/population/v1/population/?limit=200&yearFrom=2024&yearTo=2024&coo=SOM&coa_all=true)). For the national picture, see [United States (Somali diaspora)](/en/diaspora/united-states/).

## What else has been reported?

- **Local estimate, 2025:** local Somali leaders estimated about 15,000 people of Somali descent in San Diego, the Union-Tribune reported ([San Diego Union-Tribune, 2025, via ArcaMax](https://www.arcamax.com/currentnews/newsheadlines/s-3959094)). East County Magazine has given 15,000 to 20,000 ([East County Magazine](https://eastcountymagazine.org/?p=10540)). The census counts about 3,300.

## Related pages

- [United States (Somali diaspora)](/en/diaspora/united-states/)
- [Other US Somali communities](/en/diaspora/us-other/)
- [Minneapolis–St Paul](/en/diaspora/minneapolis-st-paul/)
- [Columbus, Ohio](/en/diaspora/columbus/)
- [Why and how Somalis left](/en/diaspora/why-and-how-somalis-left/)
- [Refugee camps](/en/diaspora/refugee-camps/)
- [Refugee papers and status](/en/diaspora/refugee-papers-and-status/)
- [Life after leaving](/en/diaspora/life-after-leaving/)
- [Somali refugees by the numbers](/en/diaspora/somali-refugees-by-the-numbers/)

## Sources

1. US Census Bureau. American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, Tables B02025, B04006 and B05006 (Somali), San Diego County, city of San Diego, California and states. Via Census Reporter API. [censusreporter.org](https://api.censusreporter.org/1.0/data/show/acs2024_5yr?table_ids=B02025&geo_ids=05000US06073). Checked 2026-11-12.
2. Megan Burks, Voice of San Diego. "San Diego's Somali population, explained." 22 February 2013. [voiceofsandiego.org](https://voiceofsandiego.org/2013/02/22/san-diegos-somali-population-explained/). Checked 2026-11-12.
3. Amita Sharma, KPBS. "Somalis adjust to US life, but integration and jobs still problems." 28 September 2010. [kpbs.org](https://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/sep/28/somali-refugees-adjust-life-us-assimilation-and-un). Checked 2026-11-12.
4. John Carroll, KPBS. "Anxiety rises in San Diego's Somali community over TPS revocation." 14 January 2026. [kpbs.org](https://www.kpbs.org/news/politics/2026/01/14/anxiety-rises-in-san-diegos-somali-community-over-tps-revocation). Checked 2026-11-12.
5. Voice of San Diego. "Building a farm and saving a culture." 4 June 2009. [voiceofsandiego.org](https://voiceofsandiego.org/2009/06/04/building-a-farm-and-saving-a-culture/). Checked 2026-11-12.
6. US Department of State, Refugee Processing Center. "FY 2025 Arrivals by State and Nationality as of 30 Sep 2025." [rpc.state.gov](https://www.rpc.state.gov/documents/FY%202025%20Arrivals%20by%20State%20and%20Nationality%20as%20of%2030%20Sep%202025.pdf). Checked 2026-11-12.
7. Voice of San Diego. "Can San Diego remain a hub for refugees?" 21 August 2025. [voiceofsandiego.org](https://voiceofsandiego.org/2025/08/21/can-san-diego-remain-a-hub-for-refugees/). Checked 2026-11-12.
8. Katie Hyson, KPBS. "Somali child care providers in San Diego say strangers are surveilling their centers." 8 January 2026. [kpbs.org](https://www.kpbs.org/news/racial-justice-social-equity/2026/01/08/somali-child-care-providers-in-san-diego-said-strangers-are-surveilling-their-centers). Checked 2026-11-12.
9. Minnesota Reformer. "Feds making it harder for immigrants to send money to family." 10 March 2026. [minnesotareformer.com](https://minnesotareformer.com/2026/03/10/feds-making-it-harder-for-immigrants-to-send-money-to-family/). Checked 2026-11-12.
10. Audy McAfee, KPBS. "San Diego nonprofit combats hate crimes with education and community programs." 19 November 2025. [kpbs.org](https://www.kpbs.org/news/arts-culture/2025/11/19/san-diego-nonprofit-combats-hate-crimes-with-education-and-community-programs). Checked 2026-11-12.
11. Megan Burks, KPBS. "Somalis raised in City Heights consider returning to their homeland." 18 February 2013. [kpbs.org](https://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/feb/18/somalis-raised-city-heights-consider-returning-the). Checked 2026-11-12.
12. US Citizenship and Immigration Services. "Temporary Protected Status Designated Country: Somalia." [uscis.gov](https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status/temporary-protected-status-designated-country-somalia). Checked 2026-11-12.
13. MPR News. "Judge's order allows end to TPS protections for people from Somalia." 17 August 2026. [mprnews.org](https://mprnews.org/story/2026/08/17/judges-order-allows-end-tps-protections-people-somalia). Checked 2026-11-12.
14. US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. United States v. Moalin, No. 13-50572, opinion of 2 September 2020. [law.justia.com](https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca9/13-50572/13-50572-2020-09-02.html). Checked 2026-11-12.
15. Amita Sharma, KPBS. "Three local Somalis get prison terms for sending money to terrorists." 18 November 2013. [kpbs.org](https://www.kpbs.org/news/2013/11/18/three-local-somalis-get-prison-terms-sending-money). Checked 2026-11-12.
16. UNHCR. Refugee Data Finder API, Somalia as country of origin, 2024. [unhcr.org](https://api.unhcr.org/population/v1/population/?limit=200&yearFrom=2024&yearTo=2024&coo=SOM&coa_all=true). Checked 2026-11-12.
17. San Diego Union-Tribune, 2025, syndicated via ArcaMax. https://www.arcamax.com/currentnews/newsheadlines/s-3959094. Checked 2026-11-12.
18. East County Magazine. Article on San Diego's East African community. https://eastcountymagazine.org/?p=10540. Checked 2026-11-12.

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