Goleta vs Santa Maria

A side-by-side comparison of Goleta and Santa Maria: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Santa Maria has the higher population (109,880 vs 32,693 in Goleta). Goleta has the higher median household income ($118,039 vs $84,617 in Santa Maria). Goleta has the higher median home value ($1,002,500 vs $478,200 in Santa Maria).

Population, income & housing

	Goleta	Santa Maria
Population	32,693	109,880
Median age	35.5 yrs	29.3 yrs
Median household income	$118,039	$84,617
Median home value	$1,002,500	$478,200
Median gross rent	$2,385	$1,842
Housing units	12,727	30,212
Homeownership rate	51.2%	51.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	48.3%	15.1%
Unemployment rate	4.3%	7.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Goleta	Santa Maria
Population	30,975 → 32,693 (+5.5%)	106,224 → 109,880 (+3.4%)
Median household income	$98,005 → $118,039 (+20.4%)	$63,341 → $84,617 (+33.6%)
Median home value	$797,700 → $1,002,500 (+25.7%)	$344,100 → $478,200 (+39.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,999 → $2,385 (+19.3%)	$1,414 → $1,842 (+30.3%)

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

Santa Maria

Population

106,224109,880

Median household income

$63,341$84,617

Median home value

$344,100$478,200

Median gross rent

$1,414$1,842

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Goleta	Santa Maria
Under 5	6.1%	8.9%
5 to 17	13.7%	22.5%
18 to 24	13.9%	12.6%
25 to 34	15.8%	13.7%
35 to 44	11.8%	12.8%
45 to 54	10.4%	10.1%
55 to 64	13.4%	8.7%
65 to 74	8.7%	6.1%
75 and over	6.2%	4.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Goleta	Santa Maria
White (non-Hispanic)	45.0%	14.1%
Black or African American	2.0%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	11.2%	4.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.9%	1.7%
Hispanic or Latino	36.7%	78.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Goleta	Santa Maria
No high school diploma	10.3%	36.7%
High school graduate	13.3%	21.6%
Some college or associate's	28.2%	26.6%
Bachelor's degree	28.1%	11.2%
Graduate or professional degree	20.2%	4.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Goleta	Santa Maria
Drove alone	61.7%	71.8%
Carpooled	10.5%	18.9%
Public transit	2.4%	1.6%
Walked	2.6%	1.2%
Bicycle	3.6%	0.3%
Worked from home	17.9%	5.3%
Other means	1.3%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Goleta	Santa Maria
1-unit, detached	43.6%	60.1%
1-unit, attached	11.0%	5.9%
2 to 4 units	7.5%	8.2%
5 to 19 units	18.8%	12.4%
20 or more units	13.2%	8.6%
Mobile home & other	5.9%	4.7%

Poverty & households

	Goleta	Santa Maria
Poverty rate	10.6%	15.5%
Average household size	2.68	3.73
Mean commute (minutes)	19	22
Median year structure built	1974	1981