2025 Compare Cities Economy:
Thornton, CO vs Santa Barbara, CA

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Highlights
- Household income in Santa Barbara, is 3% more than it is in Thornton and is 23% above the National Average.
- Thornton unemployment rate is 6.9%.
- Santa Barbara unemployment rate is 4.1%.
 Thornton, COSanta Barbara, CAUnited States
 Unemployment Rate  Unlock4.1%6.0%
 Recent Job Growth  Unlock0.8%1.6%
 Future Job Growth47.4%  Unlock33.5%
 Sales Taxes8.5%  Unlock6.2%
 Income Taxes  Unlock8.0%4.6%
 Income per Cap.$35,181  Unlock$37,638
 Household Income  Unlock$89,243$69,021
 Family Median Income$97,078  Unlock$85,028
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 Est. Households By Income
 Thornton, COSanta Barbara, CAUnited States
 Income Less Than 15K  Unlock8.4%9.4%
 Income between 15K and 20K2.5%  Unlock3.8%
 Income between 20K and 30K  Unlock4.4%8.1%
 Income between 30K and 40K6.1%  Unlock8.0%
 Income between 40K and 50K  Unlock7.3%7.6%
 Income between 50K and 60K6.6%  Unlock7.2%
 Income between 60K and 75K  Unlock7.9%9.6%
 Income between 75K and 100K16.7%  Unlock12.8%
 Income between 100K and 150K  Unlock16.1%16.3%
 Income between 150K and 200K10.5%  Unlock7.8%
 Income greater than 200K  Unlock19.6%9.5%
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 Population By Occupation
 Thornton, COSanta Barbara, CAUnited States
 Management, business, finance15.2%  Unlock16.4%
 Engineering, computers, science  Unlock8.7%6.5%
 Community, social services1.2%  Unlock1.8%
 Legal  Unlock1.3%1.2%
 Education, library4.7%  Unlock6.2%
 Arts, design, media, sports, entertainment  Unlock3.3%2.0%
 Healthcare practitioners and technology5.1%  Unlock6.2%
 Healthcare support  Unlock3.7%3.3%
 Firefighters, law enforcement2.4%  Unlock2.1%
 Food preparation, serving  Unlock8.3%5.4%
 Building maintenance3.5%  Unlock3.6%
 Personal care  Unlock2.2%2.6%
 Sales, office, administrative support22.4%  Unlock20.9%
 Farming, fishing, forestry  Unlock0.7%0.6%
 Construction, extraction, maintenance/repair11.4%  Unlock8.1%
 Production, transportation, material moving  Unlock6.7%13.1%
Reviews for Thornton    5 Reviews

Good place. Very suburbany (similar to the Springs). The houses are very small and old and yet still very expensive (albeit cheaper than southern Denver). Actually lots  More

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Over 5 years ago

I like Denver metro, but some cities aren’t too great. Thornton being one of them. Moved here because of highway access, and convenience to DIA for business travel. Am  More

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Over 10 years ago

The quality of life here in not good. The traffic is bad all the time. To try to get to the mountains takes forever! Also most lakes along the front range you can't even  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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