Outside options matter.
Rents and housing costs are not the only drivers of where people move. Incomes matter too. While Santa Barbara and Goleta are beautiful places to live, assuming people will take a pay cut to live here may not attract the young talent we hope to bring here. Housing costs already reflect many of the area's amenities. Employers should consider what prospective employees may have as outside options. To put those outside options in context, we compare Goleta earnings to similar occupations in Bay Area regions and Los Angeles County.
For example, workers in computer and mathematical occupations earn a median of about $124,000 in Goleta, compared with about $165,000 across the comparison areas. That is an outside-option gap of roughly $41,000 per year.
ACS earnings
Goleta earnings by occupation
| Occupation | Goleta earnings | Vs. comparison avg | Goleta rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Computer and mathematical occupations | $124,097 | -25% | 5 of 6 |
| Legal occupations | $121,830 | -27% | 5 of 6 |
| Management occupations | $113,343 | -21% | 5 of 6 |
| Architecture and engineering occupations | $111,719 | -21% | 5 of 6 |
| Health diagnosing and treating practitioners and other technical occupations | $104,947 | -21% | 5 of 6 |
| Business and financial operations occupations | $89,342 | -18% | 5 of 6 |
| Life, physical, and social science occupations | $85,007 | -25% | 5 of 6 |
| Community and social service occupations | $73,463 | +9% | 2 of 6 |
| Sales and related occupations | $67,032 | +10% | 3 of 6 |
| Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations | $61,101 | -29% | 6 of 6 |
| Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations | $58,657 | -6% | 5 of 6 |
| Office and administrative support occupations | $50,375 | -10% | 5 of 6 |
| Health technologists and technicians | $48,881 | -28% | 6 of 6 |
| Transportation occupations | $47,730 | -4% | 5 of 6 |
| Construction and extraction occupations | $46,437 | -7% | 4 of 6 |
| Educational instruction, and library occupations | $42,771 | -34% | 6 of 6 |
| Production occupations | $41,763 | -14% | 5 of 6 |
| Food preparation and serving related occupations | $37,761 | +13% | 1 of 6 |
| Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations | $33,808 | -5% | 5 of 6 |
| Material moving occupations | $33,516 | -11% | 5 of 6 |
| Healthcare support occupations | $29,831 | -18% | 6 of 6 |
| Personal care and service occupations | $27,930 | -8% | 4 of 6 |
ACS 2020-2024 5-year PUMS median earnings, sorted by Goleta earnings. Comparison areas are San Francisco, the Peninsula/San Mateo County, South Bay/Silicon Valley/Santa Clara County, East Bay/Alameda County, and Los Angeles County. The rank column compares Goleta with those five areas, so "1 of 6" means highest among all six geographies. Goleta is represented by the South Coast PUMA, which includes Santa Barbara, Goleta, Isla Vista, Montecito, and Carpinteria.