Top Payroll Services in San Diego

Researched by:Goodfirms Research TeamUpdated:September 20, 2026

Goodfirms has reviewed 14 Payroll Services in San Diego as of September 2026. The top-ranked firm is Nefter (5.0 stars, 8 verified reviews, $25 - $49/hr, founded 2025, San Diego). Across the category, the median hourly rate is $25, median client rating is 5, and 17% of firms employ 50+ members. Explore the vetted Payroll Services in San Diego companies below, compare their strengths, and connect with the provider best suited to your requirements.

To be able to focus your concentration on core business functions entirely, you need to find payroll services in San Diego that offer comprehensive and risk-free payroll functions outsourcing. Goodfirms understands that it is difficult for any business to relay their tasks to a third party and be worry-free. However, a reliable team of professionals will not only take care of your payroll functions expertly but will completely take the burden off your shoulder with innovative and sophisticated solutions tailored for your business. To ensure that you identify such reliable service providers, Goodfirms has drafted the below list of payroll processing companies in San Diego using its market intelligence. Browse through this list of top payroll service providers in San Diego and use the dependable data and rankings to find the best match for your business today.

Goodfirms has verified 14 Payroll Services in San Diego - part of 2,904+ Payroll Services Companies, each passing Goodfirms' 4-step verification process (background check, client interviews, portfolio audit, ongoing quality review). Listings marked "Sponsored" are agencies that pay for premium placement - sponsorship does not affect star ratings or review content.

Top 10 at Glance

Compare the highest-ranked firms first side by side.

Rank
Company
Rating
Reviews
Hourly Rate
Team Size
Founded
Location
Action

List of Top Payroll Service providers in San Diego

Find a Payroll Services Company Near you
Find a Payroll Services Company Near you
Service
Hourly Rate
Employees
ReviewsAll Companies
Industry
Client Type
  • Nefter helps U.S. companies scale their engineering teams with top-tier LATAM developers. Our staffing model delivers fully integrated, long-term engineers who work in real time with U.S. teams. Key results: • 40%–50% hiring cost reduction • First vetted candidates delivered in 72 hours • 85% ... read Nefter reviews & insights

    $25 - $49/hr
    10 - 49
    2025
    San Diego, United States
    Outstanding team! - Carlos Salvador
  • Our payroll and online payroll services are trusted by hundreds of companies. We also handle your group medical benefits, workers compensation and human resource needs. When you are looking for a trusted business partner, choose Pink Payroll.

    < $25/hr
    2 - 9
    San Diego, United States
  • Providing professional Tax & Financial services to the individual client.As a tax professional, it truly breaks my heart, knowing that just a few thousand, or even a few hundred bucks for us “regular guys” out of that vast pool of overcharging could make a world of difference–and they are just sitting there, unclaimed! And with ... read Top Hat Tax & Financial Services reviews & insights

    < $25/hr
    2 - 9
    San Diego, United States
  • Profitwise Accounting is a San Diego based full-service tax and accounting firm, offering traditional accounting, bookkeeping and tax services, with a significant difference: Profitwise specializes in small to mid-size businesses and works one-on-one with individual owners and staff. We are small business accountants.

    < $25/hr
    2 - 9
    San Diego, United States
  • Wastvedt and Company, Inc., is an award winning and locally recognized CPA and Accounting firm based in San Diego, CA. With offices in Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe and Denver, we provide a full range of tax preparation, accounting and bookkeeping services, along with business consulting services for individuals or businesses. Our team takes on ... read Wastvedt & Company reviews & insights

    $25 - $49/hr
    10 - 49
    1998
    San Diego, United States
  • The firm was established in 1991 with a single principle in mind: to provide the highest level of personalized client service possible. We care about each of our clients, and will go the extra mile to handle your projects with integrity, responsiveness, and accuracy. Our continuing mission is to serve you with the highest level ... read Best & Company CPA's reviews & insights

    NA
    2 - 9
    1991
    San Diego, United States
  • Our Vision: Be the most respected provider of workforce management solutions in California Coastal Payroll is a San Diego-based human capital management service bureau providing fully outsourced payroll, time & attendance, HR management, benefits management, and talent acquisition solutions. Our firm is headquartered in the Southern California area, yet has the capability to service clients ... read Coastal Payroll reviews & insights

    NA
    50 - 249
    2007
    San Diego, United States
  • We often tell people that we make the “business” part of owning a business a little easier. Actually, we make it a lot easier. Avitus Group is an outsourced team of experts that feels like an insourced team. We’re invested in more than one specific area of your business, and our goal is to help ... read Avitus Group reviews & insights

    < $25/hr
    2 - 9
    1996
    San Diego, United States
  • United Payroll and HR Services, Inc is located in San Diego California and was established in 2005 to provide simple easy-to-use Payroll solutions to business needing to comply with state and federal labor laws. Our mission is to provide personal and professional service fully responsive to the needs of our customers with utmost integrity, honesty ... read United Payroll and HR Services reviews & insights

    < $25/hr
    2 - 9
    2005
    San Diego, United States
  • ​​Integrity Staffing, Inc. places Human Resources Professionals exclusively. We are leaders in the San Diego, CA staffing market, and have been established in the area for over 18 years. We are knowledgeable of all the functional areas of HR, as well as current salaries and market changes. We are adept at meeting the needs of ... read Integrity Staffing Company reviews & insights

    < $25/hr
    2 - 9
    San Diego, United States
  • Transforming Workplaces with Modern HR We’re a forward-thinking HR consulting firm helping businesses scale with people-first strategies, technology, and compliance support. Our team blends senior HR leaders, tech experts, and dedicated administrators to deliver solutions that grow with you. Why choose us: Scalable HR model designed for startups to enterprises Direct employee engagement — we ... read The HR Innovator Group reviews & insights

    $50 - $99/hr
    2 - 9
    2024
    San Diego, United States
  • We are a full-service accounting firm licensed in San Diego, California. We offer a broad range of services, such as tax preparation and planning, accounting, financial analysis and payroll processing, for individuals, business owners, executives and nonprofit organizations in San Diego and surrounding areas. We are affordable, experienced and friendly. We understand your need for ... read Regal Group reviews & insights

    $25 - $49/hr
    2 - 9
    2010
    San Diego, United States
  • QualStaff Resources is a professional recruitment company offering San Diego employers a quality, cost effective option for acquiring high-value technical, financial and administrative talent. With over 20 years recruiting in the local San Diego marketplace, and a combined 70 years of recruiting experience among its staff, QualStaff Resources can offer both candidates looking for work ... read QualStaff Resources Company reviews & insights

    < $25/hr
    10 - 49
    1998
    San Diego, United States
  • Matranga & Company is a San Diego CPA firm which provides a wide range of accounting services to enterprising businesses and individuals principally located in Southern California. Matranga & Company is pro active and provides solutions. Since the formation of Matranga & Company as a professional corporation, successful businesses and their perceptive clients have turned ... read Matranga & Company reviews & insights

    $25 - $49/hr
    2 - 9
    2004
    San Diego, United States

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1 cities with the best Value Score for hiring.

Ranked by a composite blending firm count (supply), average rating (quality), and average hourly rate (cost). Affordability is weighted highest (50%), so this surfaces genuinely affordable destinations - not just the biggest markets.

Where the firms are.

Bubble size shows how many firms each country has; colour shows its average hourly rate. Tap any country for its firm count, average rate, rating, and Value Score.

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All cities ranked by Value Score.

Every city in scope, ranked by Value Score.

CityFirmsAvg RateAvg RatingValue ScoreAction
USSan Diego88$39/hr583View firms
USSan Diego
88 firms$39/hr5
Value Score83 / 100

Match by work-hour overlap with your team.

Cost matters - but so does being able to actually talk to your developer during your workday. Here are the best destinations for each major hub.

If you're in US (PT/ET)Recommended

Look for nearshore LATAM partners - same-day collaboration, similar time zones, and 50-60% cost savings vs domestic.

MXMexico~7h overlap
ARArgentina~6h overlap
BRBrazil~5h overlap
CACanada~8h overlap
If you're in Europe (CET/GMT)Recommended

Eastern Europe is your sweet spot - 1-2h time zone shift, EU GDPR alignment, and 40-50% lower rates than Western Europe.

PLPoland~8h overlap
UAUkraine~7h overlap
RORomania~7h overlap
ZASouth Africa~8h overlap

How firms are placed on the matrix

Every position on this chart is the output of the Goodfirms ranking algorithm - a weighted composite of signals across two axes. The algorithm is recomputed regularly and is fully documented.

Sponsorship does not affect placement. PRO members receive visible badges and ad placements, but their algorithmic scores are calculated identically to free listings.

Read the full methodology
Algorithm at a glance
1
X-axis (Core Competencies): Service Focus Ratio + Portfolio Depth + Quality + Experience
2
Y-axis (360-Performance): Client Reviews + Market Presence + Goodfirms Score
3
Missing signals are excluded from a firm's score, not substituted with defaults - weights redistribute across remaining inputs
4
Recency decay over the last 18 months keeps stale reviews from dominating
5
Eligibility floor: ≥ 1 published review in this category scope

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Cities with the best Value Score for business services hiring.

Ranked by a composite score blending firm count (supply), average rating (quality), and median hourly rate (cost). Affordability is weighted highest (50%), so this list surfaces actually affordable destinations rather than just-big markets.

Budget leader
San Diego · $0-24/hr

41 firms in this tier - more than any other city, averaging 5.0 ★. Top picks: CallZent, Anthony W. Imbimbo, LAUNCH CPA.

Mid-tier leader
San Diego · $50-99/hr

2 firms in this tier - more than any other city. Top picks: Executive suites sandiego, The HR Innovator Group.

Top tier leader
San Diego · $150+/hr

2 firms in this tier - more than any other city. Top picks: Pello Agency, LevitZacks.

Loading heatmap…
Cell intensity (firm density):
Low
High
Best Value marks the densest, highest-rated, most-affordable cell per row

How the heatmap is built

Every cell in the grid above is the count of firms in (place × hourly-rate tier). Firms are placed by their published hourly rate; those without a disclosed rate are not plotted.

Top company names per cell are surfaced by Value Score - a weighted blend of affordability (50%) + rating (35%) + review volume (15%).

The "Best" ribbon marks the cell in each row where firm density, ratings, and affordability line up best - the densest, highest-quality combination.

Read the full methodology
Value Score · per firm
ValueScore = 0.50 × Affordability
+ 0.35 × Rating
+ 0.15 × Review Volume
// All sub-scores normalized 0-100
// Affordability = (1 - rate/$200) × 100
// Rating = (rating - 3) / 2 × 100
// Volume = log10(reviews+1)/log10(200) × 100

Found your target region?

Browse all business services firms in your chosen country - or let our AI hand-pick 3 matches based on your project, budget, and time-zone preference.

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