Living in Goleta, CA
College town in California
Goleta is a college town in California, home to about 33,000 people, with 220,000 living within 31 mi. Day to day, much of daily life is walkable. Life moves at a moderate pace, and homes are mostly apartments.
Is Goleta a good place to live? Pros and cons
👍 Pros
- Mild summers: highs around 73°F
- Great outdoors: coast or a lake close by
- Sunny: more sunshine and clearer skies than most places
- Safe: violent crime is 0.3× the US rate (FBI 2019)
👎 Cons
- Pricey housing: a typical 3-bedroom home is about $1.35M, and rent is $4,080 a month
- Fewer family amenities than most places
- Smaller job market: about 220,000 people live within 31 mi
Whether it's a good place for you depends on what you value. Take the quiz to see how Goleta ranks against your own priorities.
Key facts
Living in Goleta: common questions
What is the cost of living in Goleta?
A typical 3-bedroom home is worth about $1.35M, and a 3-bedroom rents for about $4,080 a month including utilities. Overall living costs are above the US average (index 109, where the US is 100).
What are taxes like in Goleta?
California collects about $3,279 in state income tax per resident, and homeowners here pay about 0.6% of their home's value in property tax each year.
Is Goleta safe?
Violent crime is well below the national rate (0.3× in FBI 2019 data).
How are the schools in Goleta?
Public schools in Goleta test above the US average in math and reading (2018–19 state tests, put on one national scale with NAEP), with about 22 students per teacher.
What is the weather like in Goleta?
Goleta has mild winters: winter days average around 64°F and summer days around 73°F.
Does Goleta get natural disasters?
Natural disaster risk is high, mainly from earthquakes and flooding: 13 federally declared disasters have hit the county since 2000, and FEMA expects about 1.1 deaths or injuries per 100,000 residents a year.
What is the nearest major airport to Goleta?
The nearest major airport is BUR, about 87 mi away.
How Goleta scores
Each bar compares Goleta with the other 1,990 places in Best Life Fit Me. A dot shows where it sits between two ends, such as major metro and small town; neither end is better. Coloured bars run from poor (red) to excellent (green).
Places like Goleta
These places have the most similar overall profile across all 24 aspects.
The circle is each place's all-round score out of 100: the average of its 15 quality scores, from red (poor) to green (excellent).
Nearby
See all the best places to live in California.
Is Goleta right for you?
Answer 27 quick questions and see how it ranks against your priorities.