City safety & data profile

Santa BarbaraCA

Santa Barbara, CA is a 92K-resident city in Santa Barbara County with a median household income of $106,182.

Santa Barbara County, California. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Santa Barbara, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Santa Barbara has a population larger than 91% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $1,570,800, and 3 hospitals serving the surrounding area.

Data updated 2026-09-04

92K
Population (place)
Top 9%
By size
$106,182
Median income (place)
$1,570,800
Median home (place)
14%
Poverty rate (place)
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The read on Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara posts a median household income higher than 74% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 3 hospitals serve the Santa Barbara area.

Top 26%
by median income, US cities
3
hospitals in & near Santa Barbara

Where Santa Barbara income ranks nationally

Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)

$106,182 Top 26% higher than 74% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles

Santa Barbara $0 $260,000 every profiled place, bucketed by value

Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year

Largest cities in CA

Population among 482 CA places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.

residents

What this shows Los Angeles is the largest CA city on this list; Alamo leads median income.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

Highest median incomes in CA

Median household income among the same 482-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.

median

What this shows Alamo posts the highest place-level median income in CA; Los Angeles is largest by headcount.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

The quick read

Reading Santa Barbara, CA beyond the headline numbers

Santa Barbara sits inside Santa Barbara County, California, at roughly 34.42°N, -119.70°W. Population 91,842, $106,182 median household income. Median home value $1,570,800, median rent $2,413. Poverty rate 14%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.

3 hospitals in/around Santa Barbara, 4.5/5 avg rating, 2 with an ER.

Poverty in Santa Barbara, CA stands at 14%, above the midpoint of reporting cities. A median income can look comfortable while a share this size sits well beneath it, which is why the two figures belong together.

The median home in Santa Barbara costs around 14.8 times what a median household earns in a year -- the most expensive quarter of reporting cities, and far enough ahead of local pay that ownership is largely closed to median earners.

18.9% of Santa Barbara workers are remote, above the midpoint of reporting cities.

Among the CDC measures on this page, obesity departs furthest from its peer median: 25.7% in Santa Barbara, the lowest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.

Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Santa Barbara from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.

Population (place)
91,842
Santa Barbara · Census Place
Median Income (place)
$106,182
+19% vs avg
Median Home Value (place)
$1,570,800
+280% vs avg
Median Age (place)
39.7
years · ACS place

10-Year Trends 2013–2024

County-level trend (Santa Barbara County): Santa Barbara's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.

20132024
Population
444K+4%
Median Income
$98,161+56%
Median Home Value
$790,700+75%
Poverty Rate
14.7%-8%
Unemployment
6.3%-32%

Economics

Economics indicators for Santa Barbara, CA
IndicatorValue
Median Rent
$2,413/mo
Poverty Rate
14% +13% vs avg
Unemployment 5.7%
Bachelor's Degree+ 51.9%
Work From Home 18.9%
Public Transit 2%

Population

White 58.6%
African American 1.6%
Asian 3.6%

Health Profile 15 measures

Health Indicators

Short Sleep Duration
31.1%
High Blood Pressure
30.8%
Obesity
25.7%
Physical Inactivity
21.2%
Binge Drinking
17%
Frequent Mental Distress
16.1%
Frequent Physical Distress
12.9%
Diabetes
10.1%
Lack of Health Insurance
9.9%
Current Smoking
9.8%

Preventive Care

Dental Visit 65.8%
Annual Checkup 72.2%

Other Measures

Current Asthma
9.7%
Coronary Heart Disease
5.8%
Stroke
3%

Hospitals 3 total

Rating Distribution
★★★★★
1
★★★★
1
★★★
0
★★
0
★
0
Average Rating
4.5/5
Total Hospitals
3
With ER
2
GOLETA VALLEY COTTAGE HOSPITAL
SANTA BARBARA · Acute Care Hospitals · ER
★★★★★
SANTA BARBARA COTTAGE HOSPITAL
SANTA BARBARA · Acute Care Hospitals · ER
★★★★☆

What alerts and safety updates affect Santa Barbara?

No area-tagged alerts are on record for Santa Barbara right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.

City alert dispatch desk

Sheet CA-SANTA-BARBARA · Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara: 4 tagged alerts; lead category NWS weather alert.

  • VOL-LIGHT 4 on record
  • WX-LED 100% weather
  • DESK-MIX NOAA
  • PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Las Vegas

Tagged alert mix: Santa Barbara

Published notices carrying this city slug or location tag

Value

What this shows 4 tagged notices on record for Santa Barbara.

Source Areazine publication corpus As of Live tagged feed

Nearest tagged-volume peer: Las Vegas, NV (4 tagged · Δ0)

Counts reflect published articles tagged to Santa Barbara; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse California state hubs · Methodology

Cities with a similar tagged alert volume 4

Nearest published-notice counts on Areazine (4 tagged here), a feed-density peer set, not an ACS demographic match.

Las Vegas, NV 4 alerts Kansas City, MO 4 alerts Salisbury, NC 4 alerts Woodstock, GA 4 alerts

Read with this city profile

Understanding Weather Alerts

Watch vs warning vs advisory, how NOAA labels map to action
All safety guides →

Frequently Asked Questions 6

What is the population of Santa Barbara, CA? ▼
Santa Barbara, CA has a population of 91,842 people, located in Santa Barbara County, California.
What is the median household income in Santa Barbara? ▼
The median household income in Santa Barbara, CA is $106,182 per year, per the U.S. Census ACS. The poverty rate is 14%.
What is the median home value in Santa Barbara? ▼
The median home value in Santa Barbara, CA is $1,570,800. Median rent is $2,413/month.
What are the top health concerns in Santa Barbara? ▼
The top health indicators in Santa Barbara include Short Sleep Duration (31.1%), High Blood Pressure (30.8%), Obesity (25.7%). Data from CDC PLACES.
How many hospitals are in Santa Barbara? ▼
Santa Barbara has 3 hospitals with an average rating of 4.5/5 stars. 2 have emergency departments.
What is the median age in Santa Barbara? ▼
The median age in Santa Barbara, CA is 39.7 years. 51.9% of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher.

Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8

Two ACS-derived peer sets for Santa Barbara, both outside California so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.

Similar poverty rate

Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside CA (14% here).

Las Vegas, NV 14% Greenville, SC 14% Olympia, WA 14% North Lauderdale, FL 14%

Similar median income

Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside CA ($106,182 here).

Five Corners, WA $106,192 Portsmouth, NH $106,219 Perry Hall, MD $106,244 Boca Raton, FL $106,273

Compare Santa Barbara with another city

Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.

Quick picks:

Nearby Cities 8

Goleta, CA 31K Isla Vista, CA 23K Carpinteria, CA 14K Ventura, CA 97K Oxnard, CA 207K Port Hueneme, CA 22K Santa Paula, CA 31K Camarillo, CA 68K
All cities in California → Compare Santa Barbara vs Goleta → All comparisons → Browse all cities

Using Santa Barbara's profile

Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.

  • Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the Santa Barbara area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
  • Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
  • Compare Santa Barbara against California peers on any ranking lens. Explore California

Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.

Data Sources

All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (Santa Barbara County) where that is the smallest published unit.

Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.