2025 Compare Cities Economy:
Santa Barbara, CA vs South Lake Tahoe, CA

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Highlights
- Household income in South Lake Tahoe, is 35% less than it is in Santa Barbara and is 19% below the National Average.
- Santa Barbara unemployment rate is 4.1%.
- South Lake Tahoe unemployment rate is 6.3%.
 Santa Barbara, CASouth Lake Tahoe, CAUnited States
 Unemployment Rate  Unlock6.3%6.0%
 Recent Job Growth  Unlock1.7%1.6%
 Future Job Growth28.2%  Unlock33.5%
 Sales Taxes8.8%  Unlock6.2%
 Income Taxes  Unlock8.0%4.6%
 Income per Cap.$54,426  Unlock$37,638
 Household Income  Unlock$57,976$69,021
 Family Median Income$118,228  Unlock$85,028
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 Est. Households By Income
 Santa Barbara, CASouth Lake Tahoe, CAUnited States
 Income Less Than 15K  Unlock10.1%9.4%
 Income between 15K and 20K2.8%  Unlock3.8%
 Income between 20K and 30K  Unlock9.8%8.1%
 Income between 30K and 40K5.4%  Unlock8.0%
 Income between 40K and 50K  Unlock7.2%7.6%
 Income between 50K and 60K6.4%  Unlock7.2%
 Income between 60K and 75K  Unlock9.7%9.6%
 Income between 75K and 100K11.4%  Unlock12.8%
 Income between 100K and 150K  Unlock16.2%16.3%
 Income between 150K and 200K10.4%  Unlock7.8%
 Income greater than 200K  Unlock7.1%9.5%
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 Population By Occupation
 Santa Barbara, CASouth Lake Tahoe, CAUnited States
 Management, business, finance19.8%  Unlock16.4%
 Engineering, computers, science  Unlock3.9%6.5%
 Community, social services2.1%  Unlock1.8%
 Legal  Unlock0.2%1.2%
 Education, library5.8%  Unlock6.2%
 Arts, design, media, sports, entertainment  Unlock3.2%2.0%
 Healthcare practitioners and technology6.1%  Unlock6.2%
 Healthcare support  Unlock3.0%3.3%
 Firefighters, law enforcement0.9%  Unlock2.1%
 Food preparation, serving  Unlock13.2%5.4%
 Building maintenance5.9%  Unlock3.6%
 Personal care  Unlock6.1%2.6%
 Sales, office, administrative support19.0%  Unlock20.9%
 Farming, fishing, forestry  Unlock0.9%0.6%
 Construction, extraction, maintenance/repair5.5%  Unlock8.1%
 Production, transportation, material moving  Unlock10.9%13.1%
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

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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

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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

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Reviews for South Lake Tahoe    10 Reviews

Over 5 years ago

Pretty boring town. Very run down and seedy too. Lake is nothing special either. I much prefer the Pacific coast or even the Atlantic coast or great  More

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Seriously I don't get what the big deal about this dump is everything is grossly overpriced scenery is boring and not at all interesting very boring nothing to do very  More

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Over 5 years ago

Beautiful place to live. This site has most of the details wrong, has somehow lumped it together with Sacramento. Elevation is 6250 feet at the lake. Weather is cold in  More

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