Living in Santa Barbara, CA
Small city in California
Santa Barbara is a small city in California, home to about 88,000 people, with 355,000 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 Santa Barbara a good place to live? Pros and cons
👍 Pros
- Great outdoors: coast or a lake close by
- Mild summers: highs around 76°F
- Sunny: more sunshine and clearer skies than most places
- Strong healthcare: 3 top-rated (4–5★) hospitals within 31 mi
👎 Cons
- Pricey housing: a typical 3-bedroom home is about $1.90M, and rent is $4,080 a month
- Fewer family amenities than most places
- Smaller job market: about 355,000 people live within 31 mi
- Disaster-prone: 13 federally declared disasters since 2000, mainly earthquakes and flooding
Whether it's a good place for you depends on what you value. Take the quiz to see how Santa Barbara ranks against your own priorities.
Key facts
Living in Santa Barbara: common questions
What is the cost of living in Santa Barbara?
A typical 3-bedroom home is worth about $1.90M, 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 Santa Barbara?
California collects about $3,279 in state income tax per resident, and homeowners here pay about 0.48% of their home's value in property tax each year.
Is Santa Barbara safe?
Violent crime is close to the national rate (1.1× in FBI 2019 data).
What is the weather like in Santa Barbara?
Santa Barbara is warm all year: winter days average around 67°F and summer days around 76°F.
Does Santa Barbara 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 2.27 deaths or injuries per 100,000 residents a year.
What is the nearest major airport to Santa Barbara?
The nearest major airport is BUR, about 79 mi away.
How Santa Barbara scores
Each bar compares Santa Barbara with the other 1143 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).
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Is Santa Barbara right for you?
Answer 27 quick questions and see how it ranks against your priorities.