Santa Barbara County, California: New American county. In 2024, voted D+27%. Republican peak: R+55 in 1924.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+27MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- New AmericanAkashic typology
- Population
- 443,7012024 5-year
- Median household income
- $98,1612024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 48.0%2024 5-year
- Black
- 1.7%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 48.2%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+39 in 1912MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+55 in 1924MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Bernalillo County, NM · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Santa Barbara CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Santa Barbara County, with each precinct boundary colored by Democratic-vs-Republican margin.
—
Margin—
Turnout—
Harris +50Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
presidential history
Presidential margin, 1876–2024
Democratic minus Republican, by election
| Year | Margin (D minus R) |
|---|---|
| 1876 | −22.5% |
| 1880 | −9.9% |
| 1884 | −7.9% |
| 1888 | −3.5% |
| 1892 | −7.2% |
| 1896 | −2.2% |
| 1900 | −10.3% |
| 1904 | −35.8% |
| 1908 | −21.8% |
| 1912 | +38.8% |
| 1916 | +7.1% |
| 1920 | −42.4% |
| 1924 | −55.4% |
| 1928 | −40.0% |
| 1932 | +19.4% |
| 1936 | +23.8% |
| 1940 | +9.9% |
| 1944 | +7.0% |
| 1948 | −20.1% |
| 1952 | −33.8% |
| 1956 | −29.6% |
| 1960 | −13.7% |
| 1964 | +12.0% |
| 1968 | −13.4% |
| 1972 | −13.5% |
| 1976 | −4.9% |
| 1980 | −22.5% |
| 1984 | −26.8% |
| 1988 | −9.8% |
| 1992 | +7.3% |
| 1996 | +4.5% |
| 2000 | +1.2% |
| 2004 | +8.0% |
| 2008 | +22.8% |
| 2012 | +18.0% |
| 2016 | +28.4% |
| 2020 | +31.9% |
| 2024 | +26.5% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 114,149 | 64,870 | 185,689 | ||
| D | 129,963 | 65,736 | 201,432 | ||
| D | 107,142 | 56,365 | 178,878 | ||
| D | 94,129 | 64,606 | 163,885 | ||
| D | 105,614 | 65,585 | 175,407 | ||
| D | 90,314 | 76,806 | 169,861 | ||
| D | 73,411 | 71,493 | 154,974 | ||
| D | 70,650 | 63,915 | 150,745 | ||
| D | 69,215 | 57,375 | 162,756 | ||
| R | 63,586 | 77,524 | 142,940 | ||
| R | 51,243 | 89,314 | 142,320 | ||
| R | 40,650 | 69,629 | 128,995 | ||
| R | 55,018 | 60,922 | 119,844 | ||
| R | 50,609 | 67,075 | 121,541 | ||
| R | 37,565 | 50,068 | 93,420 | ||
| D | 48,381 | 38,020 | 86,486 | ||
| R | 29,409 | 38,805 | 68,402 | ||
| R | 16,925 | 31,294 | 48,484 | ||
| R | 14,793 | 29,984 | 44,943 | ||
| R | 13,085 | 19,998 | 34,400 | ||
| D | 15,721 | 13,647 | 29,457 | ||
| D | 17,237 | 14,107 | 31,678 | ||
| D | 15,923 | 9,728 | 26,045 | ||
| D | 13,373 | 8,864 | 23,291 | ||
| R | 4,954 | 11,666 | 16,799 | ||
| R | 1,242 | 8,615 | 13,318 | ||
| R | 2,586 | 6,970 | 10,329 | ||
| D | 5,198 | 4,453 | 10,469 | ||
| O | 2,819 | 0 | 7,258 | ||
| R | 1,640 | 2,713 | 4,916 | ||
| R | 1,152 | 2,676 | 4,258 | ||
| R | 1,599 | 1,988 | 3,781 | ||
| R | 1,916 | 2,004 | 4,050 | ||
| R | 1,228 | 1,483 | 3,521 | ||
| R | 1,565 | 1,684 | 3,423 | ||
| R | 1,050 | 1,243 | 2,441 | ||
| R | 717 | 907 | 1,918 | ||
| R | 743 | 1,174 | 1,919 |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
8.7%
English
8.3%
Irish
7.2%
Italian
3.9%
American
2.3%
Scottish
1.7%
French
1.5%
African American
1.4%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander combined.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity that overlaps the race categories, so these shares can total more than 100%. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
2024 ACS
Age distribution by sex
Median age: 34.6 in this county, 39.1 nationally
Male
Age
Female
85+
75–84
65–74
55–64
45–54
35–44
25–34
18–24
5–17
<5
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Median household income
Inflation-adjusted dollars
$98,161
Santa Barbara County ranks in the top 5% of US counties.
Santa Barbara County$98,161
California$99,122
United States$80,734
Santa Barbara County ranks in the top 5% of US counties by median household income.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
14.7%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1817.8%
Working age (18–64)14.2%
Seniors (65+)10.4%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
59.5%
speak English only
Spanish33.4%
Asian & Pacific Islander3.6%
Other Indo-European2.4%
Other languages1.2%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 53.6% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Santa Barbara's mix of UC Santa Barbara students, Latino agricultural workers in the Santa Maria Valley, and affluent coastal residents produces a Democratic lean that has held steady across recent election cycles, with the 2024 presidential margin landing near 27 points.
Santa Barbara County has leaned Democratic in recent presidential elections, reaching a Democratic margin of thirty-nine points in 1912. Between 2020 and 2024 it moved five points toward the Republican candidate — part of the sharpest rightward shift recorded among any group of places in the country.
Its demographics describe the shift: a 48% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $98,161, and a population of 443,701. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Bernalillo County and Washington County.
Most similar counties
Compare two places, side by side
Twelve curated comparisons line up election history, demographics, and the divergence story for two places at a glance. Browse all comparisons →
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Santa Barbara County, California. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/06083/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
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Frequently asked questions
How did Santa Barbara County, California vote in 2024?
In 2024, Santa Barbara County, California voted Democratic by 26.5 points (D+27), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 185,689 votes cast, 114,149 went Democratic and 64,870 went Republican.
What is Santa Barbara County, California's political typology?
Akashic places Santa Barbara County, California in the "New American" typology — Communities where a large share of households speak a language other than English — multilingual, Democratic-leaning overall, yet the hardest-swinging bloc toward the Republican Party in 2024. The typology is a data-driven cluster built from vote share, vote swing, race and ethnicity, income, language spoken at home, religion, and ancestry. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the county has voted Democratic 15 times, Republican 22 times, and other 1 times.
When did Santa Barbara County, California last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Santa Barbara County, California voted Republican was 1988.
How many people live in Santa Barbara County, California?
Santa Barbara County, California has a population of 443,701 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Santa Barbara County, California?
Median household income in Santa Barbara County, California is $98,161 — above the national median of $80,734. The California state median is $99,122.
What is the political history of Santa Barbara County, California?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Santa Barbara County, California from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 15 went Democratic and 22 went Republican. The county's typology — "New American" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.