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

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Highlights
- Household income in Santa Barbara, is 54% more than it is in South Lake Tahoe and is 23% above the National Average.
- South Lake Tahoe unemployment rate is 6.3%.
- Santa Barbara unemployment rate is 4.1%.
 South Lake Tahoe, CASanta Barbara, CAUnited States
 Unemployment Rate  Unlock4.1%6.0%
 Recent Job Growth  Unlock0.8%1.6%
 Future Job Growth34.3%  Unlock33.5%
 Sales Taxes7.8%  Unlock6.2%
 Income Taxes  Unlock8.0%4.6%
 Income per Cap.$39,807  Unlock$37,638
 Household Income  Unlock$89,243$69,021
 Family Median Income$79,047  Unlock$85,028
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 Est. Households By Income
 South Lake Tahoe, CASanta Barbara, CAUnited States
 Income Less Than 15K  Unlock8.4%9.4%
 Income between 15K and 20K6.1%  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 60K8.8%  Unlock7.2%
 Income between 60K and 75K  Unlock7.9%9.6%
 Income between 75K and 100K9.7%  Unlock12.8%
 Income between 100K and 150K  Unlock16.1%16.3%
 Income between 150K and 200K6.5%  Unlock7.8%
 Income greater than 200K  Unlock19.6%9.5%
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 Population By Occupation
 South Lake Tahoe, CASanta Barbara, CAUnited States
 Management, business, finance10.5%  Unlock16.4%
 Engineering, computers, science  Unlock8.7%6.5%
 Community, social services0.8%  Unlock1.8%
 Legal  Unlock1.3%1.2%
 Education, library3.0%  Unlock6.2%
 Arts, design, media, sports, entertainment  Unlock3.3%2.0%
 Healthcare practitioners and technology4.9%  Unlock6.2%
 Healthcare support  Unlock3.7%3.3%
 Firefighters, law enforcement1.8%  Unlock2.1%
 Food preparation, serving  Unlock8.3%5.4%
 Building maintenance6.5%  Unlock3.6%
 Personal care  Unlock2.2%2.6%
 Sales, office, administrative support23.0%  Unlock20.9%
 Farming, fishing, forestry  Unlock0.7%0.6%
 Construction, extraction, maintenance/repair8.2%  Unlock8.1%
 Production, transportation, material moving  Unlock6.7%13.1%
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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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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