Montecito vs Solvang

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

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

Montecito has the higher population (8,823 vs 6,034 in Solvang). Montecito has the higher median household income ($222,966 vs $118,208 in Solvang). Montecito has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $936,900 in Solvang).

Population, income & housing

	Montecito	Solvang
Population	8,823	6,034
Median age	51.8 yrs	53.6 yrs
Median household income	$222,966	$118,208
Median home value	$2,000,001	$936,900
Median gross rent	$3,501	$1,773
Housing units	4,143	2,619
Homeownership rate	73.6%	60.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	74.9%	38.5%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	2.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Montecito	Solvang
Population	8,245 → 8,823 (+7.0%)	5,804 → 6,034 (+4.0%)
Median household income	$159,706 → $222,966 (+39.6%)	$83,431 → $118,208 (+41.7%)
Median home value	$2,000,001 → $2,000,001 (+0.0%)	$729,200 → $936,900 (+28.5%)
Median gross rent	$2,404 → $3,501 (+45.6%)	$1,531 → $1,773 (+15.8%)

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

Solvang

Population

5,8046,034

Median household income

$83,431$118,208

Median home value

$729,200$936,900

Median gross rent

$1,531$1,773

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Montecito	Solvang
Under 5	2.5%	2.6%
5 to 17	11.9%	11.9%
18 to 24	16.5%	7.9%
25 to 34	4.8%	8.7%
35 to 44	8.0%	10.7%
45 to 54	8.9%	11.0%
55 to 64	13.8%	14.7%
65 to 74	14.0%	16.9%
75 and over	19.5%	15.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Montecito	Solvang
White (non-Hispanic)	81.1%	67.7%
Black or African American	0.1%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	2.8%	2.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.3%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.9%	6.4%
Hispanic or Latino	8.9%	22.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Montecito	Solvang
No high school diploma	1.7%	7.2%
High school graduate	5.3%	16.9%
Some college or associate's	18.2%	37.4%
Bachelor's degree	40.1%	26.1%
Graduate or professional degree	34.8%	12.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Montecito	Solvang
Drove alone	52.2%	62.0%
Carpooled	3.9%	9.1%
Public transit	0.7%	1.0%
Walked	10.5%	7.3%
Bicycle	0.4%	1.5%
Worked from home	29.9%	19.1%
Other means	2.4%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Montecito	Solvang
1-unit, detached	76.1%	57.0%
1-unit, attached	10.5%	4.2%
2 to 4 units	4.7%	4.9%
5 to 19 units	6.8%	17.4%
20 or more units	2.0%	8.1%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	8.3%

Poverty & households

	Montecito	Solvang
Poverty rate	7.8%	7.7%
Average household size	2.29	2.34
Mean commute (minutes)	18	31
Median year structure built	1969	1983