Isla Vista vs Montecito

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

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

Isla Vista has the higher population (13,717 vs 8,823 in Montecito). Montecito has the higher median household income ($222,966 vs $24,428 in Isla Vista). Montecito has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $1,241,700 in Isla Vista).

Population, income & housing

	Isla Vista	Montecito
Population	13,717	8,823
Median age	21.2 yrs	51.8 yrs
Median household income	$24,428	$222,966
Median home value	$1,241,700	$2,000,001
Median gross rent	$1,856	$3,501
Housing units	5,166	4,143
Homeownership rate	1.0%	73.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	40.8%	74.9%
Unemployment rate	17.1%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Isla Vista	Montecito
Population	27,707 → 13,717 (-50.5%)	8,245 → 8,823 (+7.0%)
Median household income	$24,545 → $24,428 (-0.5%)	$159,706 → $222,966 (+39.6%)
Median home value	$466,700 → $1,241,700 (+166.1%)	$2,000,001 → $2,000,001 (+0.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,503 → $1,856 (+23.5%)	$2,404 → $3,501 (+45.6%)

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

Montecito

Population

8,2458,823

Median household income

$159,706$222,966

Median home value

$2,000,001$2,000,001

Median gross rent

$2,404$3,501

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Isla Vista	Montecito
Under 5	0.2%	2.5%
5 to 17	2.7%	11.9%
18 to 24	84.7%	16.5%
25 to 34	6.1%	4.8%
35 to 44	1.4%	8.0%
45 to 54	1.7%	8.9%
55 to 64	0.9%	13.8%
65 to 74	1.5%	14.0%
75 and over	0.9%	19.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Isla Vista	Montecito
White (non-Hispanic)	53.2%	81.1%
Black or African American	4.8%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	14.9%	2.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.3%	6.9%
Hispanic or Latino	23.3%	8.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Isla Vista	Montecito
No high school diploma	9.4%	1.7%
High school graduate	19.0%	5.3%
Some college or associate's	30.9%	18.2%
Bachelor's degree	20.8%	40.1%
Graduate or professional degree	20.0%	34.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Isla Vista	Montecito
Drove alone	50.6%	52.2%
Carpooled	4.6%	3.9%
Public transit	3.5%	0.7%
Walked	17.2%	10.5%
Bicycle	13.1%	0.4%
Worked from home	8.3%	29.9%
Other means	2.8%	2.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Isla Vista	Montecito
1-unit, detached	5.1%	76.1%
1-unit, attached	3.7%	10.5%
2 to 4 units	19.9%	4.7%
5 to 19 units	37.5%	6.8%
20 or more units	33.8%	2.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Isla Vista	Montecito
Poverty rate	69.3%	7.8%
Average household size	2.61	2.29
Mean commute (minutes)	16	18
Median year structure built	1975	1969