Goleta vs Isla Vista

A side-by-side comparison of Goleta and Isla Vista: population, income, housing, and more.

Goleta and Isla Vista are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Goleta has the higher population (32,693 vs 13,717 in Isla Vista). Goleta has the higher median household income ($118,039 vs $24,428 in Isla Vista). Isla Vista has the higher median home value ($1,241,700 vs $1,002,500 in Goleta).

Population, income & housing

	Goleta	Isla Vista
Population	32,693	13,717
Median age	35.5 yrs	21.2 yrs
Median household income	$118,039	$24,428
Median home value	$1,002,500	$1,241,700
Median gross rent	$2,385	$1,856
Housing units	12,727	5,166
Homeownership rate	51.2%	1.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	48.3%	40.8%
Unemployment rate	4.3%	17.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Goleta	Isla Vista
Population	30,975 → 32,693 (+5.5%)	27,707 → 13,717 (-50.5%)
Median household income	$98,005 → $118,039 (+20.4%)	$24,545 → $24,428 (-0.5%)
Median home value	$797,700 → $1,002,500 (+25.7%)	$466,700 → $1,241,700 (+166.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,999 → $2,385 (+19.3%)	$1,503 → $1,856 (+23.5%)

Goleta

Population

30,97532,693

Median household income

$98,005$118,039

Median home value

$797,700$1,002,500

Median gross rent

$1,999$2,385

Isla Vista

Population

27,70713,717

Median household income

$24,545$24,428

Median home value

$466,700$1,241,700

Median gross rent

$1,503$1,856

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Goleta	Isla Vista
Under 5	6.1%	0.2%
5 to 17	13.7%	2.7%
18 to 24	13.9%	84.7%
25 to 34	15.8%	6.1%
35 to 44	11.8%	1.4%
45 to 54	10.4%	1.7%
55 to 64	13.4%	0.9%
65 to 74	8.7%	1.5%
75 and over	6.2%	0.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Goleta	Isla Vista
White (non-Hispanic)	45.0%	53.2%
Black or African American	2.0%	4.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	11.2%	14.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.2%
Some other race	0.2%	0.3%
Two or more races	4.9%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	36.7%	23.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Goleta	Isla Vista
No high school diploma	10.3%	9.4%
High school graduate	13.3%	19.0%
Some college or associate's	28.2%	30.9%
Bachelor's degree	28.1%	20.8%
Graduate or professional degree	20.2%	20.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Goleta	Isla Vista
Drove alone	61.7%	50.6%
Carpooled	10.5%	4.6%
Public transit	2.4%	3.5%
Walked	2.6%	17.2%
Bicycle	3.6%	13.1%
Worked from home	17.9%	8.3%
Other means	1.3%	2.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Goleta	Isla Vista
1-unit, detached	43.6%	5.1%
1-unit, attached	11.0%	3.7%
2 to 4 units	7.5%	19.9%
5 to 19 units	18.8%	37.5%
20 or more units	13.2%	33.8%
Mobile home & other	5.9%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Goleta	Isla Vista
Poverty rate	10.6%	69.3%
Average household size	2.68	2.61
Mean commute (minutes)	19	16
Median year structure built	1974	1975