Santa Barbara, CA population, income and ZIP codes

Santa Barbara city is a small city in California, with 88,024 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #94 of 1,618 ranked by population — larger than 94% of them. The median age here is 39.4 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly older profile than the country as a whole. At this size the Census also publishes one-year estimates; the five-year values used here are steadier and let you compare against smaller neighbours on the same basis.

Households in Santa Barbara city earn a median of $101,672 a year, 29.5% above the national figure of $78,538 and 12% above the $91,111 median for the 1,050 California cities we cover. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 13.1% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Santa Barbara city is valued at $1,466,400, 383.3% above the national figure and 149% above the $589,600 peer median, while median gross rent runs $2,302 a month, 63.7% above the national figure, or roughly $27,624 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 27.2% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 14.4×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is out of reach on local earnings alone and the ownership market leans on outside income, equity or dual high earners. 39.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, a renter-majority market, so rent figures matter more here than the home-value line. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

Home values sit at 14.4× median household income, far past the 3.9× national mark, so ownership costs here are set by something other than local wages — second homes, retirees with equity, or commuters earning elsewhere. Median income runs above the national figure while poverty also runs above it — a split distribution, not a uniformly comfortable place. Averages hide that; the two numbers together do not.

No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.