2025 Compare Cities Job Market:
Fairfax, VA vs Santa Barbara, CA

Change Cities
Highlights
- Job Growth in Santa Barbara has been positive.
- Santa Barbara has 0.2% more unemployment than Fairfax.
- Santa Barbara job growth has increased by 2.7% in the past 10 years.
 Fairfax, VASanta Barbara, CAUnited States
 Current Unemployment  Unlock4.1%6.0%
 Future Job Growth39.1%  Unlock33.5%
 Recent Job Growth  Unlock-6.5%-6.2%
 3 Yr. Job Growth-2.8%  Unlock-3.6%
 5 Yr. Job Growth  Unlock-3.5%-0.7%
 10 Yr. Job Growth2.8%  Unlock6.3%
Reviews for Fairfax    28 Reviews

I lived in the area for 17 years through high school until I eventually became a truck driver. Having now seen most states extensively, I wanted to fairly review what  More

   |    Reply

Living in Fairfax, or any of the Northern Virginia suburbs of DC, means dealing with highways that are a Gordian knot of converging lanes and overpasses, making long  More

   |    Reply

Over 10 years ago

The Cost of living here is high. Though the standard of living is also high, unless you're making over 50,000/year, it's difficult to both live and build any sort of  More

   |    Reply

Start Your Review of Fairfax

Reviews for Santa Barbara    51 Reviews

I moved to Santa Barbara around 23 years ago to study at Brooks, which like most of the Santa Barbara that I knew—has been destroyed. Homelessness, drugs, gangs, high  More

   |    Reply

Over 4 years ago

I fell in love with Santa Barbara about thirty years ago and finally moved here a few years ago. Because of the price of homes, it is an expensive place to live. The  More

   |    Reply

If you like high crime, paying a $4,500 a month mortgage and crazy high taxes, this is the place for you. It’s too bad because it wasn’t always like this. When I moved  More

   |    Reply

Start Your Review of Santa Barbara


Premium Subscription
Includes Cost of Living compares for child care, utilities, transportation, health, taxes, housing for home owners vs renters, weather, insurance premiums and so much more.


The premier source for comprehensive city data for over 30 years.

© Best Places. All rights reserved.