Tijuana - Post Report Question and Answers
What is the relative size of the expatriate community? How would you describe overall morale among expatriates?
Huge expat community although many are retired, beach buns, or San Diego commuters. TJ has become a suburb of San Diego so we get every type of expat. Morale? It is not a post with a tight-knit post culture because nearly everyone here brings their families and we are spread out across TJ. People don’t socialize with each other outside of work very much, but it is because they are busy with their kids’ soccer games and family activities. - Oct 2024
There is no real expat life in Tijuana, which is the biggest drawback of this post in my opinion. There is an “Expats Tijuana” Facebook page, but this is more a page of retired US citizens in Baja California, and not really “expats” in the traditional (more refined) sense. There are only a couple of other consulates here and the other big one is the People’s Republic of China, and we do not interact with them. There are a couple other smaller diplomatic posts (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras?), but otherwise this is a very “binational” city, and not/not an international city. - Apr 2023
There are many dual nationals and in TJ proper not that many expats. The retirees live in Rosarito and further south in Baja. People love it here - it's the best of both worlds. - Nov 2017
Expat community is huge and dispersed. Morale varies. - May 2015
Large but dispersed. Morale at post is generally good, most people love living in Tijuana. - Mar 2015
It's hard to define and make a generalization. There are so so many dual citizens and American expats here. Some love it, some tolerate it. I think morale at the U.S. Consulate is low. - Apr 2014
Big and good, half the city was born on Medicaid in the U.S. - Feb 2014
Hard to judge. Tons of Americans (including Mexican Americans, who blend in more) live in Tijuana and work in the US. Rosarito has a large retirement community. - Apr 2011
Large, but a lot of them have strong ties to Mexico or were born in the U.S. but grew up in Mexico. The consulate staff are pretty tight-knit. - Mar 2011
Very large. - Dec 2010
40,000? There is no diplomatic community, and some expats are completely part of the local community. - Aug 2010
Fairly large. - Mar 2008
