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Grabbing a bite to eat with family or friends is not only a great way to socialize, it can be a good way to experience a community and support local restaurants.

But dining out can start to feel more like a luxury when the cost drains your budget. Inflation has forced restaurants to significantly raise prices in San Diego County and nationwide over the past few years. The increase has been particularly acute since the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this Price of San Diego story, we dig into what’s causing the spike in dining costs at restaurants, and how locals are adapting.

Sticker shock

San Diego ended 2025 with the second highest overall inflation in the US among major metros. Specifically the “prices of food away from home” index rose 2.9% from November 2024. The “prices of food away from home” data includes restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases.

While the 2025 increase may not sound like a lot, it adds to a trend over the past five years of significant cost increases at restaurants in the region. In 2024, the cost of going to a restaurant skyrocketed 11.7%. In 2023, it rose 4%. The last year the cost of dining out in San Diego decreased was 2022.

There was a spike of over over 10% in 2021. And in 2020, prices of food away from home went up over 4%.

The breakdown

All of those data points show that eating at restaurants in the county has gotten a lot more expensive in the past five years. If you tally those numbers it gets you to over a 30% price increase during that time for the San Diego region. For example, if a single cheeseburger cost you $10 in 2020, that same single cheeseburger now costs you about $13.00 — like this one now costs at Hodad’s.

So why is this happening? Food and labor costs for the average restaurant have gone up 35% in the last five years, according to the National Restaurant Association.

Locally, the rise in retail rent over that same time has added to tighter margins.

The National Restaurant Association says the only way most restaurant operators can cover their higher costs is to increase menu prices.

By the numbers

Money isn’t going as far as it used to, faster compared to the past couple decades.

Nationwide, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator shows $100,000 in November, 2025, has the same buying power as about $80,000 in 2020 — a nearly $20,000 loss in just five years. It took 13 years, going all the way back to 2007, to make that same $20,000 change in purchasing power before 2020.

How are locals adapting?

While it’s expensive to dine out and some San Diegans say they’re going to restaurants less overall, other locals have been discussing the best restaurant meals for the price on Reddit.

Restaurants and food items that got frequent mentions include: IKEA Restaurant, the fish tacos at El Pueblo Mexican Food (they’re no longer $1 — they’re now $1.39), Costco Food Court (this now requires Costco membership), In-N-Out, Chicago Fire Grill and Sprouts Farmers Market sandwiches.

What to watch

The USDA expects food away from home prices to increase roughly 3.3% in 2026 nationwide.

The National Restaurant Association says declining tourism spending is making business conditions more challenging for restaurants. They also say higher-income households are driving restaurant sales.

The Carlsbad Police Department has arrested 22-year-old Felix Blanco of Oceanside for allegedly striking women on their buttocks as he passed them at the Calavera Preserve in Carlsbad.

Authorities say they received several reports of a male suspect riding an electric bike approaching women hiking on the trail and then assaulting them.

Blanco was arrested Friday, Jan. 30, following reports of a similar incident, and a description provided by the victim.

It is unknown how many victims were targeted by Blanco, but he was arrested and charged with 7 counts of assault. He is booked at the Vista Detention Facility.

The suspect is expected to appear in court for the first time on Tuesday, Feb. 3.

Re “Plan to tax short-term rentals stalls” (Jan. 29): What I continue to see from this City Council and mayor is the refusal to do what is needed to solve the budget problem. They must force reform in the city’s pension plan and cut high-paying middle- and upper-management jobs. Our city must maintain services and road repairs wherever possible. The answer is not to continue to tax segments of our citizenry, foisting the burden onto them — specifically local owners of vacation rentals and the residents who use our beautiful Balboa Park.

This city has already hammered those of us who own homes into paying additional fees for trash, even though those expenses were already covered by our property taxes. What is next from these guys? Don’t they get it by now? Attention, City Hall: We are sick of you continuing to raise our taxes due to your inept management of our money! Wake up!

— Glen Volk, Point Loma