Well UCSD isnt going anywhere and is a public institution like the government and health care systems so you can throw those out of the mix because they will always be here. So that’s 2, certainly not alot for a metropolitan area like this which is exactly my point. Does the SD economy does hinge on major corporate employers?

BTW, large employers bring lots of jobs but not always high paying jobs. Small employers don’t bring lots of jobs on their own but often bring high paying jobs. Several years ago I worked at a start up company which peaked at 25 employees. More than half made 6 figures and several of us made over $200K before we sold the company and cashed out. One of the things SD has going for it is that there arent many large employers that could single handedly bring our economy to a halt.