Monterey County vs Santa Barbara County

A side-by-side comparison of Monterey County and Santa Barbara County: population, income, housing, and more.

Monterey County and Santa Barbara County are counties in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Santa Barbara County has the higher population (443,975 vs 435,834 in Monterey County). Santa Barbara County has the higher median household income ($95,977 vs $94,486 in Monterey County). Santa Barbara County has the higher median home value ($735,700 vs $723,100 in Monterey County).

Population, income & housing

	Monterey County	Santa Barbara County
Population	435,834	443,975
Median age	35.3 yrs	34.5 yrs
Median household income	$94,486	$95,977
Median home value	$723,100	$735,700
Median gross rent	$1,995	$2,050
Housing units	144,659	159,766
Homeownership rate	52.3%	52.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.9%	35.9%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	6.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Monterey County	Santa Barbara County
Population	433,410 → 435,834 (+0.6%)	444,829 → 443,975 (-0.2%)
Median household income	$71,015 → $94,486 (+33.1%)	$74,624 → $95,977 (+28.6%)
Median home value	$516,600 → $723,100 (+40.0%)	$577,400 → $735,700 (+27.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,495 → $1,995 (+33.4%)	$1,643 → $2,050 (+24.8%)

Monterey County

Population

433,410435,834

Median household income

$71,015$94,486

Median home value

$516,600$723,100

Median gross rent

$1,495$1,995

Santa Barbara County

Population

444,829443,975

Median household income

$74,624$95,977

Median home value

$577,400$735,700

Median gross rent

$1,643$2,050

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Monterey County	Santa Barbara County
Under 5	6.6%	6.1%
5 to 17	19.3%	16.4%
18 to 24	9.9%	14.8%
25 to 34	13.6%	13.3%
35 to 44	13.2%	11.7%
45 to 54	11.7%	10.4%
55 to 64	11.0%	11.1%
65 to 74	8.6%	9.1%
75 and over	5.9%	7.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Monterey County	Santa Barbara County
White (non-Hispanic)	27.6%	41.5%
Black or African American	2.0%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	5.5%	5.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.4%	0.1%
Some other race	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.9%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	61.0%	47.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Monterey County	Santa Barbara County
No high school diploma	26.7%	17.9%
High school graduate	20.6%	16.9%
Some college or associate's	24.8%	29.4%
Bachelor's degree	16.5%	21.6%
Graduate or professional degree	11.4%	14.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Monterey County	Santa Barbara County
Drove alone	70.0%	65.3%
Carpooled	10.1%	11.9%
Public transit	1.3%	2.3%
Walked	2.9%	3.9%
Bicycle	0.5%	2.5%
Worked from home	9.1%	12.5%
Other means	6.1%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Monterey County	Santa Barbara County
1-unit, detached	63.2%	56.6%
1-unit, attached	6.5%	8.0%
2 to 4 units	8.6%	8.8%
5 to 19 units	11.2%	13.4%
20 or more units	6.2%	8.5%
Mobile home & other	4.2%	4.6%

Poverty & households

	Monterey County	Santa Barbara County
Poverty rate	12.6%	13.8%
Average household size	3.16	2.83
Mean commute (minutes)	25	21
Median year structure built	1975	1974