Living in Isla Vista, CA
Isla Vista is a big small town of 13,920 people in Santa Barbara County, California. It's about 40 miles from Oxnard, CA and 87 miles from Los Angeles, CA, the nearest major city. Summer highs average 72°F and winter highs 64°F, with almost no snow. The typical home is valued around $1.0M and rent runs about $2k a month.
13,920people
$1.0MTypical home
$1,878/moRent
72° / 64°Summer / winter
0"Snow
330Sunny days
39Rain/snow days
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Size & setting
- Big small town of 13,920
- Part of a metro area
- About 25,263 people per sq mi
- 87 mi to Los Angeles, CA
- 40 mi to Oxnard, CA
- Has its own stores and services
Money
- Typical home $1.0M (≈$6,336/mo)
- Median rent $1,878/mo
- Median household income $26k
- Property tax about 0.6% of value
- 17.0% unemployment
Weather
- Summer highs around 72°F
- Winter highs around 64°F
- Comfortable summers (dew point 51°F)
- 330 sunny days a year (198 totally clear)
- 35 cloudy days a year
- 19 of 90 winter days are gray
- 39 days a year with rain or snow
- Basically no snow
- Snow days are rare
- Rarely hits 100°F
- Rarely drops below 10°F
- Breezy
Safety
- About average violent crime (417 per 100k), county-wide
- Low property crime (1,224 per 100k), county-wide
People
- Median age 21
- 4% of households have kids
- 3% are 65 or older
- 43% have a college degree
- Very diverse community
- 80% of residents are college students
Getting around & homes
- Average commute 18 min
- 22% walk or take transit to work
- 2 mi to SBA airport
- 87 mi to BUR (major hub)
- 2 mi to the nearest Amtrak station
- 13% single-family homes
- Typical home built around 1975
- 89% of homes have broadband
Outdoors
- Mountain country
- Elevation 52 ft
- Right on the coast
- 179 mi to a big lake
- 6 mi to the nearest trailhead
- 110 mi to the nearest ski area
- 9 mi to the nearest campground
- 15 golf courses within 25 mi
Things to do
- 266 sit-down restaurants within 25 mi
- 49 bars within 25 mi
- 88 coffee shops within 25 mi
- 3 music venues & clubs within 25 mi
- 31 museums within 25 mi
- 10 breweries & distilleries within 25 mi
- 9 mi to the nearest farmers market
Everyday
- Schools in the top 23% of California districts (reading)
- Grocery store in town
- 4 mi to the nearest ER hospital
- 4 mi to a 4–5★ hospital
- Vet in town
- Dog park in town
- 4 congregations per 10k people
- College in town
Politics
- Santa Barbara County: D+27 in 2024
- California: D+20 in 2024
Natural hazards
- Very low hurricane risk
- Very low tornado risk
- High wildfire risk
- High earthquake risk
- Very low flood risk
- High drought risk
- Low winter storm risk
- Moderate heat wave risk
- Very low volcano risk
Some of this place's Census numbers are blended with county figures because its survey sample is small.