On the island apartments are very expensive. Now living just off the island requires a definition of fairly close..remember this is San Diego, land of 8 lane super highways. I lived in North County and worked 24 miles from North Island when I was on the Stennis and really wasn't a bad commute for me. I went against traffic most of the time.
Lots of apartments in downtown for a sigle person, again, pricey but great location, no chance of a DUI when you can walk to your favorite watering hole. And there's lots of watering holes in the gaslamp.
Real close over the bridge is no man's land as in the barrio..don't go there and if you get lost and end up there...don't stop.
Best advice I can give you is to live in the Q for a while and get feel for the area and talk to people. Some real nice places (apartments) in mission valley that look out towards the stadium area. Some favoring singles, some for families. Most for singles.
One I can think of off hand that you can afford is La Mirage.
Hope this helps.
r/
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