Santa Ynez, CA population, income and ZIP codes

Santa Ynez CDP is a small town in California, with 4,725 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #675 of 1,618 ranked by population — larger than 58% of them. The median age here is 41.7 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly older profile than the country as a whole. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in Santa Ynez CDP earn a median of $117,500 a year, 49.6% above the national figure of $78,538 and 29% above the $91,111 median for the 1,050 California cities we cover. The median is the midpoint household, not an average, so a handful of very high earners cannot drag it upward the way they distort a mean. Poverty reaches 11.3% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Santa Ynez CDP is valued at $1,121,000, 269.5% above the national figure and 90% above the $589,600 peer median, while median gross rent runs $2,740 a month, 94.9% above the national figure, or roughly $32,880 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 28% 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 9.5×, 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. 68.1% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

Home values sit at 9.5× 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.

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.