Placer County vs Santa Barbara County

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

Placer 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 412,435 in Placer County). Placer County has the higher median household income ($114,678 vs $95,977 in Santa Barbara County). Santa Barbara County has the higher median home value ($735,700 vs $658,800 in Placer County).

Population, income & housing

	Placer County	Santa Barbara County
Population	412,435	443,975
Median age	42.4 yrs	34.5 yrs
Median household income	$114,678	$95,977
Median home value	$658,800	$735,700
Median gross rent	$1,991	$2,050
Housing units	176,233	159,766
Homeownership rate	74.3%	52.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	42.9%	35.9%
Unemployment rate	4.5%	6.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Placer County	Santa Barbara County
Population	385,512 → 412,435 (+7.0%)	444,829 → 443,975 (-0.2%)
Median household income	$89,691 → $114,678 (+27.9%)	$74,624 → $95,977 (+28.6%)
Median home value	$471,500 → $658,800 (+39.7%)	$577,400 → $735,700 (+27.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,542 → $1,991 (+29.1%)	$1,643 → $2,050 (+24.8%)

Placer County

Population

385,512412,435

Median household income

$89,691$114,678

Median home value

$471,500$658,800

Median gross rent

$1,542$1,991

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)

	Placer County	Santa Barbara County
Under 5	5.0%	6.1%
5 to 17	16.9%	16.4%
18 to 24	7.2%	14.8%
25 to 34	10.8%	13.3%
35 to 44	13.7%	11.7%
45 to 54	13.0%	10.4%
55 to 64	13.2%	11.1%
65 to 74	11.4%	9.1%
75 and over	8.7%	7.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Placer County	Santa Barbara County
White (non-Hispanic)	67.3%	41.5%
Black or African American	1.6%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	8.9%	5.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.1%
Some other race	0.6%	0.4%
Two or more races	6.0%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	15.4%	47.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Placer County	Santa Barbara County
No high school diploma	5.1%	17.9%
High school graduate	17.2%	16.9%
Some college or associate's	34.9%	29.4%
Bachelor's degree	27.7%	21.6%
Graduate or professional degree	15.2%	14.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Placer County	Santa Barbara County
Drove alone	69.9%	65.3%
Carpooled	6.4%	11.9%
Public transit	0.6%	2.3%
Walked	1.3%	3.9%
Bicycle	0.3%	2.5%
Worked from home	20.2%	12.5%
Other means	1.3%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Placer County	Santa Barbara County
1-unit, detached	78.4%	56.6%
1-unit, attached	3.2%	8.0%
2 to 4 units	4.6%	8.8%
5 to 19 units	6.0%	13.4%
20 or more units	5.2%	8.5%
Mobile home & other	2.8%	4.6%

Poverty & households

	Placer County	Santa Barbara County
Poverty rate	6.7%	13.8%
Average household size	2.62	2.83
Mean commute (minutes)	28	21
Median year structure built	1994	1974