If you take away the substantial purchase price of a San Diego home, a new study claims that the rest of the cost associated with owning a home here is less than many cities.

An index from the University of San Diego, which launched in April, says the overall cost of owning a home in the county is lower than many areas in terms of energy bills, property taxes and even insurance.

Yet the median home price in San Diego County for the second quarter was $940,093, said Zillow numbers used in the index, and there’s no getting around a huge mortgage. Even with cost savings in other areas, San Diego County was the sixth-most expensive place to own a home in the U.S. The metro area that covered Los Angeles and Orange counties was the most expensive, followed by San Jose, New York, San Francisco and Providence, Rhode Island.

The index from USD’s Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate has a unique way of tracking homeownership affordability: It exclusively uses renter income.

Norm Miller, co-developer of the index and professor emeritus at the university, said the idea was to peg the index to renters’ income because homeowners benefit from “embedded benefits,” such as lower mortgage rates, property taxes and (usually) a lower purchase price. By using rental income, it ties data to the cost for a new homeowner — who is probably renting right now — and figures out what monthly costs would be for everything from taxes to electric bills.

Moving out of San Diego is often a smart financial decision for many families but an unintended consequence of the index, which is primarily focused on housing affordability, shows some mild financial benefits of owning a home in San Diego.

The gist is you can buy a house in Birmingham, Alabama, for $260,000 but expect an electric bill nearly double what you would find in America’s Finest City.

One area where San Diego County doesn’t have an advantage is water bills. It was the second highest in the nation, at an annual median of $881. The top was San Jose with a $1,156 median.

Here are the surprising ways San Diego homeownership beats out other cities:

Electricity

San Diego County has one of the highest per-kilowatt-hour rates in the nation. The only thing is locals don’t need to run air conditioning for more than a couple of months.

The median cost for electricity is $1,918 a year in San Diego County, which is No. 34 out of the 50 largest metro areas. Compare that to Birmingham — known for its muggy, hot summers — where residents can expect to spend $2,684 a year.

Other cities with electric high costs include Milwaukee, with an annual median of $2,673, Cincinnati, with $2,607, and New York, with $2,505.

Home insurance

One might be tempted to think because of Southern California’s fire risk that San Diego would be in the top 10. It’s No. 18, with an annual median cost of $1,692.

It turns out flood risk is more costly. The index combined hazard, fire and flood insurance into one category so different climates could be compared. Miami had the highest median in the nation at $3,366, followed by the metro areas of Dallas at $2,558, Oklahoma City at $2,471, and Houston at $2,342.

Property taxes

California homeowners benefit in the long run from Proposition 13, which limits annual property tax increases to 2%. However, new buyers, the focus of the index, would have a much higher bill than most of the nation.

The index looks at the standard base rate of 1% of property value that usually determines property taxes. In that case, a new San Diego County homeowner with a median-priced home of $940,093 would be looking at a roughly $9,401 annual tax bill.

San Diego was not the most expensive in this category, coming behind San Jose ($16,051), New York ($11,427), San Francisco ($11,340) and Los Angeles ($9,666).

The bottom line

Even if a San Diego County homeowner pays less per year for electricity, insurance and other things, the monthly cost burden is still outside the nationwide norm because of high purchase prices.

The index said San Diego County renters, with a median household income of $81,521, would spend 86% of annual income on a mortgage, taxes and expenses if they purchased a median-priced property now. It could be worse: Los Angeles renters would be spending 100% of income to own a home there, 95.9% in San Jose, and 89.5% in San Francisco.

The lowest was Memphis at 44.5%, followed by Pittsburgh at 46.4% and Oklahoma City at 47%.

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