ZIP code 93101

ZIP 93101 is a small city in Santa Barbara County, California, with 30,496 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #599 of 1,803 ranked by population — larger than 66% of them. The median age here is 32.9 years against 39.1 nationally, a distinctly younger profile, typical of places with students, military posts or a fast-growing family population. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in ZIP 93101 earn a median of $79,868 a year, 1.7% above the national figure of $78,538. 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 17.1% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 93101 is valued at $1,122,200, 269.9% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $2,109 a month, 50% above the national figure, or roughly $25,308 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 31.7% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is a stretch on median earnings. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 14.1×, 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. 21.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, a renter-majority market, so rent figures matter more here than the home-value line. 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 14.1× 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.

Every value on this page is published directly by the Census for this area — nothing is modelled or interpolated. 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.

ZIP 93101 is tabulated inside Santa Barbara County, California, one of 24 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 1,803 across California. This is a dense urban ZIP, where a single postal boundary can hold more residents than an entire rural county. County assignment on this page follows the largest share of the ZIP's land area, which matters where a delivery route crosses a county line: mail addressed to 93101 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 93101 reports a median household income of $79,868, 26% below the $107,472 county median, and 11% below the $89,916 typical CA ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $1,122,200, 4% above the county figure and 78% above the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $2,109 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

California charges 7.25% statewide, and local governments overlapping 93101 may add county, city or special-district levies on top. We publish the state floor for this ZIP rather than guessing a combined figure, because ZIP boundaries and taxing-district boundaries were drawn for different purposes and do not line up.

Everything above comes from the Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZIP Code Tabulation Area, with sales tax rates traced to the state revenue agency. Five-year estimates pool sixty months of responses, so they are stable enough to compare 93101 with its neighbours but always trail the current year, and any value the Census suppressed for sample size is shown as unpublished rather than filled in with a model.