Home ownership is out of reach for most Santa Barbara residents. Estimated median income for the Santa Barbara region is $107,300. Therefore, housing costs for this household should not exceed $2,682 per month. Depending upon size of down payment, a home around $500,000 would be an affordable price. According to County Recorder data, the median home sales price for 2022 was $1.5 million. As a result of the cost of entry into home ownership, many residents end up renting. Approximately 60% of the City of Santa Barbara’s residents are renters.

Rents are unaffordable for most working households. The median rents as of April 2022 for a 2-bedroom apartment in the City of Santa Barbara was $3,475. This means renters are cost-burdened or end up crowding together in housing to afford to live in the area. 

While Santa Barbara is a desirable place to live, the generally understood cause of this is an undersupply of housing to meet local housing needs. Most housing in the city was built prior to the 1970s. This is a result of anti-housing land use policies. For example, the City of Santa Barbara downzoned many areas, which means a reduction in the amount of housing that could be built on a given property. Despite the downzoning, the City’s population continued to grow. This increase in housing demand drove up housing costs.