About Santee
An Overview Of The City
Key Attributes
Sunny climate, good schools, hometown friendliness. Santee prides itself on having a lean government that responds to its citizens' concerns. Collectively, these are among the key attributes of the City of Santee, which has an estimated population of 60,037. Quality-of-life issues are important to local residents, who simultaneously value the abundance of open space as well as convenient shopping in the City’s retail core. Santee also boasts a low crime rate and a median annual household income of $102,000 - the highest in East County.
Location
Santee is ideally located between the Pacific Ocean and the mountains of the Cleveland National Forest. While Santee is considered part of the East County Region, the City is only 18 freeway miles from San Diego’s premier beaches. Santee is connected to the coastline by State Route 52, a six-lane freeway that connects Interstate 5 in La Jolla to State Route 67. State Route 125 also intersects with State Route 52, forming a transportation hub in the heart of Santee.
Santee has nurtured a vibrant local economy by providing for a balance of retail, commercial and residential uses. The 700-acre Town Center district forms a downtown core comprised of business parks, high-density residential and retail businesses that feed off the synergy of Santee Trolley Square shopping complex and the Metropolitan Transit System trolley station.
Santee's History
The City of Santee’s evolution from being a small, backcountry village in the late nineteenth century to becoming a diverse and multifaceted modern city is a fascinating and colorful story. From the community’s original founders, George and Jennie Cowles, Hosmer McKoon, and Milton Santee himself, to those who led the incorporation drive toward it becoming a city almost a century later, Santee’s history is filled with people who shared a vision of this community becoming something truly special.
Over time, the City of Santee developed its Mission, Vision and Values to reflect its goals of honoring public the trust and serving the community.
Learn more
Santee Historical Society
The Santee Historical Society is a group made of Santee community members that preserves information and relics from Santee's past and are an integral part of Santee's future.