Santa Barbara County, California

• White (non-Hispanic) 180,184 40.6%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 213,992 48.2%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 6,693 1.5%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 22,876 5.2%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 16,457 3.7%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 978 0.2%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 294 0.1%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 2,227 0.5%

• Under 18 99,399 22.4%
• 18–24 65,938 14.9%
• 25–44 110,259 24.8%
• 45–64 94,395 21.3%
• 65 and over 73,710 16.6%

Median household income

$94,572

90% interval $91,031–$98,113

−$5,558 vs CA · 19th of 58

Below poverty line

15.7%

90% interval 14.4%–17.0%

+3.9 pp vs CA · 18th of 58

Unemployment (12-mo)

4.6%

−0.75 pp vs. state

County GDP

$41.4B

1.02% of state

Avg. annual pay

$73,064

Establishments

17,730

• Education & health services 53,094 24.7%
• Leisure & hospitality 31,627 14.7%
• Natural resources & mining 29,688 13.8%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 27,927 13.0%
• Professional & business services 23,881 11.1%
• Manufacturing 12,142 5.6%
• Construction 10,241 4.8%
• Public administration 8,821 4.1%
• Other services 7,163 3.3%
• Financial activities 6,562 3.1%
• Information 3,785 1.8%
• Unclassified 15 0.0%

Home ownership

52.4%

−3.5 pp vs CA · 55th of 58

Median gross rent

$2,131

+$95 vs CA · 14th of 58

Owner-occupied

78,344

Renter-occupied

71,264

• Diversified

  Top three sectors employ 53% of the workforce, a relatively diversified local economy. Expect mixed employer backgrounds on the panel rather than concentration in any one institution or industry.

• Wide wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Information, $172,491/yr) pays 4.5× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $38,347/yr). Stark intra-economy class divisions on the panel; calibrate damages and lost-wages framing to that range.

• Mixed business scale

  Average establishment employs 12 workers, a mix of institutional employers and small businesses. Both employed-by-large-institution and small-business-owner perspectives are likely on the panel.

• Democratic 114,149 61.8%
• Republican 64,870 35.1%
• Other / third-party 5,696 3.1%

• Spanish 139,195 33.4%
• Chinese 5,328 1.3%
• Tagalog 3,541 0.8%
• German or other West Germanic 1,961 0.5%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 1,791 0.4%
• Vietnamese 1,733 0.4%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 1,643 0.4%
• Korean 1,385 0.3%
• Arabic 1,069 0.3%

Households

149,608

Family households

96,935

64.8% of households

Married couples w/ children

27,098

28.0% of families

Single-mother families

9,124

9.4% of families

Veterans

15,770

4.6% of civilians 18+

• Catholic 146,869 32.8%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 27,470 6.1%
• Evangelical Protestant 21,050 4.7%
• Mainline Protestant 7,351 1.6%
• Black Protestant 3,792 0.8%
• Orthodox 1,312 0.3%

Health insured

91.3%

±0.5 pp

Uninsured

8.7%

±0.5 pp

6th of 58

With a disability

11.3%

±0.4 pp

48th of 58

Bachelor's or higher

36.8%

±0.8 pp

−0.3 pp vs CA · 18th of 58

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

8.7%

90% interval 8.0%–9.4% · Census SAHIE

The under-65 uninsured rate is not comparable to the ACS insurance figures, which cover all ages.

Trial court

Santa Barbara County Superior Court

Judges

28 (Superior Court judges + commissioners; vintage 2026 courts.ca.gov per-court rosters and Judicial Council Court Statistics Report. Counts for the smallest rural counties (Alpine, Sierra, Mono, Modoc, Trinity, Mariposa, Colusa) are at or near the statutory authorized-judgeship floor per Cal. Gov. Code § 69590 et seq.)

Court seats

Santa Barbara

Traffic fatalities

38

11.04 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

35