Santa Barbara

Orange Roofs Buildings Coastline Pacific Oecan Santa Barbara California

Santa Barbara (Spanish for “Saint Barbara”) is situated on a south-facing section of coastline. The city lies between the steeply rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Santa Barbara’s climate is often described as Mediterranean, and the city has been promoted as the “American Riviera“. As of 2014, the city had an estimated population of 91,196, however the greater Santa Barbara area from Carpinteria to Goleta has an approximate population of 220,000. In addition to being a popular tourist and resort destination, the city economy includes a large service sector, education, technology, health care, finance, agriculture, manufacturing, and local government. Education in particular is well represented, with five institutions of higher learning (the University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara City College, Westmont College, Antioch University, and the Brooks Institute of Photography). The newly built Santa Barbara Airport serves the city, as does Amtrak. U.S. Highway 101 connects the Santa Barbara area with Los Angeles to the southeast and San Francisco to the northwest. Los Angeles is approximately 95 miles to the south and San Francisco is approximately 325 miles to the north. Santa Barbara experiences a warm-summer Mediterranean climate characteristic of coastal California. Because the city lies along the ocean, onshore breezes keep temperatures moderate resulting in warmer winters and cooler summers compared with places farther inland.