2025 Compare Cities Rankings:
Santa Barbara, CA vs Ladera Ranch, CA

#2 Most Comfortable Summer Cities

#2 Top 10 Cities to Beat the Heat

#43 Best Cities for Board Gamers

#47 Gloomiest Places in America

#50 America's Top Hygge Cities

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

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

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

I've lived in Ladera for 18 years and, after looking around the country to see if it's worth moving, I've concluded Ladera is the best place to live. Not perfect, but  More

I lived here for 7 years and it's one of my favorite places. Yes, it has some of the OC snobbiness, but I still rated it 5 stars because you can control who you hang  More