Financial Outlook 2025-26

Our County budget remains focused on making San Diego a place where residents feel supported and the County workforce is empowered to serve with purpose, excellence and integrity while being responsive, adaptive and community centered. The budget reflects our shared commitment to ensuring this region continues to be a great place to live, work and thrive.

The County’s core values of belonging, equity, access, sustainability, integrity and excellence continue to shape our budget with community engagement at the heart of the County’s services. Additionally, the budget is built to address today's challenges, prepare for future economic uncertainties and build resiliency.

The $8.63 billion Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2025-26 represents an increase of 1.2% over last year’s plan and supports 20,280.25 staff years. This budget is part of a strategy to sustain core, mandated County services, prioritize meaningful investments in behavioral health and public safety, and increase efficiency during challenging fiscal conditions.

Current challenges include potential federal funding changes along with slowing revenues from the State of California. We will continue to monitor impacts on County programs and services as conditions unfold. While it may become necessary to make difficult decisions in the future related to discretionary programs, the County budget uses innovative, data-driven and inclusive solutions with community input to minimize impacts and emphasize sustainable transformation and equity-driven services.

For the foreseeable future, the County will continue to invest in housing, homeless solutions and behavioral health services that are essential for the region’s most vulnerable populations.

The County demonstrated this ongoing commitment by leveraging new funding opportunities to invest more than $100 million in the ongoing shift from a crisis-focused to a care-first system that supports long-term recovery through community-based treatment, prevention and alternatives to jail and emergency rooms. Programs such as CalWORKs, Medi-Cal and CalFresh will continue to support people and families who need access to safety net programs for food and support, and the ¡Mas Fresco! Program will be extended.

The County increased investments in public safety, adding funding to provide care for youth and adults in our custody, deploying more ambulances and supporting programs such as Alternatives to Incarceration, job training, and mental health and substance use disorder treatment. And we established a Community Engagement Unit in the Office of Emergency Services. 

The County continued to prioritize sustainability, environmental protection and infrastructure. These efforts ensured continuity of essential services while supporting long-term environmental and public health goals. Capital investments prioritized energy-efficient facility upgrades and infrastructure modernization. Finally, the County continued to focus on innovating and advancing service delivery to create a framework that provides fiscal stability for the future.

Total Adopted Budget: $8.63 Billion