Work & commute · Santa Barbara

Work & commute in Santa Barbara, CA

43% of Santa Barbara’s working residents work right in town. The top destinations are Goleta (12%), Eastern Goleta Valley (5%) and Los Angeles (4%). Half commute less than 5 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

43%

15,012 of 34,667 working residents

Typical commute

5 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

17 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

19%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 19,655 Santa Barbara residents head out of town to work, 15,012 work right here, and 34,605 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Santa Barbara.

19,655live here, work elsewhere

15,012live and work here

34,605work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Santa Barbara goes to work

Santa Barbara (in town)right here

43%15,012

Goleta8.6 mi away

12%4,037

Eastern Goleta Valley5 mi away

5%1,586

Los Angeles79 mi away

4%1,352

Montecito4.7 mi away

3%891

San Buenaventura (Ventura)27.8 mi away

2%698

Carpinteria11.8 mi away

2%647

University of California-Santa Barbara7.6 mi away

2%589

Oxnard32.2 mi away

1%513

Santa Maria55.3 mi away

1%446

Everywhere elseother towns and states

26%8,896

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Santa Barbara commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

64%

24%

64%Under 10 mi

4%10–24 mi

7%25–50 mi

24%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Santa Barbara is balanced between jobs and homes

1.43jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.43 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Santa Barbara are

49,617 jobs are based in Santa Barbara. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Santa Barbara’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Santa Barbara

49,617 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)10%

Trade, transport & utilities12%

Services (health, schools, offices…)78%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month23%

Over $3,333 a month65%

Jobs Santa Barbara residents hold

34,667 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)13%

Trade, transport & utilities14%

Services (health, schools, offices…)73%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month24%

Over $3,333 a month65%

+9%

Jobs based in Santa Barbara, 2013 → 2023: 45,400 → 49,617. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.