2025 Compare Cities Economy:
Sarasota, FL vs Santa Barbara, CA

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Highlights
- Household income in Santa Barbara, is 43% more than it is in Sarasota and is 23% above the National Average.
- Sarasota unemployment rate is 4.6%.
- Santa Barbara unemployment rate is 4.1%.
 Sarasota, FLSanta Barbara, CAUnited States
 Unemployment Rate  Unlock4.1%6.0%
 Recent Job Growth  Unlock0.8%1.6%
 Future Job Growth44.6%  Unlock33.5%
 Sales Taxes7.0%  Unlock6.2%
 Income Taxes  Unlock8.0%4.6%
 Income per Cap.$48,380  Unlock$37,638
 Household Income  Unlock$89,243$69,021
 Family Median Income$78,851  Unlock$85,028
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 Est. Households By Income
 Sarasota, FLSanta Barbara, CAUnited States
 Income Less Than 15K  Unlock8.4%9.4%
 Income between 15K and 20K4.6%  Unlock3.8%
 Income between 20K and 30K  Unlock4.4%8.1%
 Income between 30K and 40K8.8%  Unlock8.0%
 Income between 40K and 50K  Unlock7.3%7.6%
 Income between 50K and 60K5.8%  Unlock7.2%
 Income between 60K and 75K  Unlock7.9%9.6%
 Income between 75K and 100K11.7%  Unlock12.8%
 Income between 100K and 150K  Unlock16.1%16.3%
 Income between 150K and 200K5.8%  Unlock7.8%
 Income greater than 200K  Unlock19.6%9.5%
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 Population By Occupation
 Sarasota, FLSanta Barbara, CAUnited States
 Management, business, finance13.8%  Unlock16.4%
 Engineering, computers, science  Unlock8.7%6.5%
 Community, social services2.0%  Unlock1.8%
 Legal  Unlock1.3%1.2%
 Education, library5.7%  Unlock6.2%
 Arts, design, media, sports, entertainment  Unlock3.3%2.0%
 Healthcare practitioners and technology5.5%  Unlock6.2%
 Healthcare support  Unlock3.7%3.3%
 Firefighters, law enforcement1.6%  Unlock2.1%
 Food preparation, serving  Unlock8.3%5.4%
 Building maintenance5.6%  Unlock3.6%
 Personal care  Unlock2.2%2.6%
 Sales, office, administrative support20.8%  Unlock20.9%
 Farming, fishing, forestry  Unlock0.7%0.6%
 Construction, extraction, maintenance/repair8.8%  Unlock8.1%
 Production, transportation, material moving  Unlock6.7%13.1%
Reviews for Sarasota    105 Reviews

Sarasota is my home from birth but those of us who have lived here long enough to have seen the devolution of what was once an easy to navigate, clean, low crime beach  More

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Starting to love Sarasota: Wife and I moved to Osprey- a small suburb between Sarasota and Venice. We're about 13 miles to downtown Sarasota, so not "city dwellers".   More

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As always, anyone considering moving to anyplace new, including Sarasota, needs to come down and spend a month or two before actually moving here. The city is overrun  More

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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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