Commuting in Santa Barbara County, California: how long it takes, when people leave home and how they get to work. Ask Map AI about any address.
You9/24/26, 7:58 PM
What does a typical morning commute look like in Santa Barbara County?
Map AI9/24/26, 7:58 PM
Commute Time Burden in Santa Barbara County: Annual Hours and Cost
Commuters in Santa Barbara County spend about 34 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 142 hours, about 5.9 full days, spent commuting. That is 27% less time on the road than the California average of 23.5 minutes each way, a difference of 6.4 minutes.
Santa Barbara County holds about 1.1% of California's population but accounts for roughly 0.8% of its total commuting time.
Working from home just 2 days a week in Santa Barbara County would save about 57 hours of drive time a year, worth roughly $1,763 at the same national wage assumption used above.
Area
One-Way Commute
Daily Round-Trip
Yearly Time Spent
Estimated Yearly Cost
Local Road Traffic (VPD)
Santa Barbara County
17.1 min
34.1 min
142 hrs/yr
$4,408
1,893
California
23.5 min
47.0 min
196 hrs/yr
$6,065
2,449
United States
22.4 min
44.8 min
187 hrs/yr
$5,790
1,355
The estimated yearly cost applies a single national rule of thumb (U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics average hourly earnings), not a measurement of wages in this area - treat it
as a rough estimate, not a paycheck figure. Local road traffic counts, vehicles per day
on non-highway roads, come from proprietary
Ticon and
TrafficZoom data.
On average, it takes
17.1
minutes to get to work in
Santa Barbara County.
That's 24% shorter than the 22.4-minute U.S. average.
Faster than 79% of counties in California
The most common departure window is 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM, followed by 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM. Driving is the most common commute choice, followed by working from home. About 13.4% work from home.
How People Get to Work in Santa Barbara County
Car:
76.4%
Worked at Home:
13.4%
Walked:
3.9%
Bicycle:
2.4%unusually high
Public Transportation:
2.2%
Other:
1.1%
Motorcycle:
0.4%
Taxi:
0.2%
Biking is unusually common in Santa Barbara County: 3.4 times more than the California average (2.4% vs 0.7%).
Commute Mode Trends in Santa Barbara County, 2009-2024
This chart shows how workers in Santa Barbara County get to work, as a share of all workers aged 16 and over, across 16 U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) releases from 2009 to 2024. Each release is a 5-year estimate: the 2024 figures cover surveys taken from 2020 to 2024. Because neighboring releases share most of their survey years, the lines move gradually, and a sudden change such as the rise of remote work in 2020 spreads across several releases. Hover over or tap a line to highlight it, and use the legend to show or hide a mode. Driving starts hidden so the smaller modes stay readable.
Share of workers aged 16 and over, by ACS 5-year release year. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.Show commute mode data by year
Year
Car
Worked at Home
Walked
Bicycle
Public Transportation
Other
Motorcycle
Taxi
2009
81.6%
5.7%
4.2%
3.6%
3.8%
0.6%
0.5%
0.0%
2010
81.1%
5.8%
4.6%
3.6%
3.8%
0.6%
0.5%
0.0%
2011
80.9%
5.9%
4.6%
3.8%
3.6%
0.6%
0.5%
0.0%
2012
80.9%
5.6%
4.5%
4.1%
3.7%
0.6%
0.6%
0.0%
2013
81.0%
5.3%
4.6%
4.4%
3.7%
0.6%
0.5%
0.0%
2014
81.0%
5.4%
4.5%
4.4%
3.6%
0.6%
0.6%
0.0%
2015
81.5%
5.5%
4.4%
4.0%
3.3%
0.6%
0.7%
0.1%
2016
81.5%
5.4%
4.4%
3.9%
3.4%
0.6%
0.5%
0.1%
2017
81.6%
5.8%
4.6%
3.6%
3.2%
0.6%
0.4%
0.1%
2018
81.8%
6.3%
4.5%
3.3%
3.1%
0.6%
0.4%
0.1%
2019
82.1%
6.3%
4.4%
3.2%
3.0%
0.4%
0.4%
0.1%
2020
81.2%
8.0%
3.9%
3.1%
2.9%
0.4%
0.3%
0.1%
2021
79.8%
10.1%
4.0%
2.6%
2.3%
0.7%
0.4%
0.1%
2022
78.8%
11.2%
3.8%
2.6%
2.3%
0.7%
0.4%
0.2%
2023
77.3%
12.5%
3.9%
2.5%
2.3%
0.8%
0.5%
0.2%
2024
76.4%
13.4%
3.9%
2.4%
2.2%
1.1%
0.4%
0.2%
Driving was the most common way to get to work in every release from 2009 to 2024. Its share peaked in 2019 at 82.1%. Overall it fell from 81.6% in 2009 to 76.4% in 2024, down 5.2 percentage points. It has fallen in each of the last 5 releases.
Working from home gained the most ground in Santa Barbara County: its share of workers rose from 5.7% in 2009 to 13.4% in 2024, up 7.7 percentage points. Most of that increase, 7.1 points, came in the releases after 2019, which include the pandemic years.
Public transit lost the most ground, falling from 3.8% to 2.2% of workers (down 1.6 percentage points).
Commute Start Times in Santa Barbara County
What Time Do People Leave for Work in Santa Barbara County?
The bars show when commuters in Santa Barbara County leave home for work, as a share of everyone who commutes (people who work from home are not counted), from the 2024 ACS 5-year estimates. The thin violet marks show California for comparison. Hover over or tap a row for the exact numbers.
12:00-4:59 AM
12:00-4:59 AMSanta Barbara County3.8%California6.7%
3.8%
5:00-5:29 AM
5:00-5:29 AMSanta Barbara County4.2%California4.5%
4.2%
5:30-5:59 AM
5:30-5:59 AMSanta Barbara County5.6%California4.5%
5.6%
6:00-6:29 AM
6:00-6:29 AMSanta Barbara County8.7%California8.4%
8.7%
6:30-6:59 AM
6:30-6:59 AMSanta Barbara County8.4%California7.5%
8.4%
7:00-7:29 AM
7:00-7:29 AMSanta Barbara County12.5%California13.1%
12.5%
7:30-7:59 AM
7:30-7:59 AMSanta Barbara County13.1%California10.2%
13.1%
8:00-8:29 AM
8:00-8:29 AMSanta Barbara County11.6%California12.6%
11.6%
8:30-8:59 AM
8:30-8:59 AMSanta Barbara County6.5%California5.8%
6.5%
9:00-9:59 AM
9:00-9:59 AMSanta Barbara County7.9%California8.6%
7.9%
10:00-10:59 AM
10:00-10:59 AMSanta Barbara County4.1%California3.9%
4.1%
11:00-11:59 AM
11:00-11:59 AMSanta Barbara County2.2%California1.8%
2.2%
12:00-3:59 PM
12:00-3:59 PMSanta Barbara County6.4%California6.9%
6.4%
4:00-11:59 PM
4:00-11:59 PMSanta Barbara County5.2%California5.5%
5.2%
Santa Barbara CountyCaliforniaSource: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates
The busiest time to head out in Santa Barbara County is 7:30-7:59 AM, when 13.1% of commuters leave home, compared with 10.2% across California. Early starts are less common than in California: 13.5% of commuters leave before 6 AM, versus 15.8% there. The morning rush is more concentrated than in California: 45.6% of departures fall in the two hours from 6:30 to 8:29 AM, versus 43.3% there. About 1 in 4 commuters (25.7%) leave at 9 AM or later, which usually points to shift work, flexible hours or part-time jobs.
When people leave matters as much as how far they go. Rush-hour traffic shrinks how much ground a 20-minute trip covers, so a trade area drawn as a simple circle often takes in neighborhoods that customers or staff would never drive from and misses others that are an easy trip. A drive-time zone, also called an isochrone, outlines every place within a set number of minutes of an address, which makes it the more honest way to size a store's catchment, a hiring area or the commute from a new home.
See it for yourself on the interactive map: click any spot in Santa Barbara County, pick a 5, 10, 15 or 30-minute drive and see the local demographics of the people who live within that exact drive time.
Is Santa Barbara County Waking Up Earlier? Typical Departure Time, 2009-2024
Each line follows the typical (median) departure time: the moment by which half of commuters have already left home. Higher on the chart means a later start. Setting Santa Barbara County next to California and the U.S. shows whether local mornings are drifting earlier or later than everyone else's. The figures span 16 ACS 5-year releases, so changes build up gradually rather than jumping from one year to the next.
Median time commuters leave home, by ACS 5-year release year. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.Show typical departure times by year
Year
Santa Barbara County
California
United States
2009
7:47 AM
7:39 AM
7:37 AM
2010
7:47 AM
7:41 AM
7:38 AM
2011
7:47 AM
7:41 AM
7:38 AM
2012
7:47 AM
7:42 AM
7:38 AM
2013
7:46 AM
7:43 AM
7:39 AM
2014
7:47 AM
7:43 AM
7:39 AM
2015
7:47 AM
7:43 AM
7:38 AM
2016
7:47 AM
7:43 AM
7:38 AM
2017
7:48 AM
7:42 AM
7:38 AM
2018
7:48 AM
7:42 AM
7:37 AM
2019
7:47 AM
7:42 AM
7:37 AM
2020
7:48 AM
7:42 AM
7:37 AM
2021
7:48 AM
7:42 AM
7:37 AM
2022
7:47 AM
7:43 AM
7:37 AM
2023
7:47 AM
7:44 AM
7:38 AM
2024
7:46 AM
7:45 AM
7:38 AM
In 2024, half of commuters in Santa Barbara County were on the road by 7:46 AM, 1 minute earlier than in 2009 (7:47 AM). That goes against the trend across California, where the typical commuter now leaves 6 minutes later than in 2009. Commuters in Santa Barbara County now leave 8 minutes later than the typical American commuter (7:38 AM). Since the 2019 release, which covers the years just before the pandemic, the typical start in Santa Barbara County has moved 2 minutes earlier.
How does Santa Barbara County's commute time compare?
Metric
Santa Barbara County
California
US Average
Avg. Commute Time
17.1 min
23.5 min
22.4 min
Departure Window
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
Secondary Departure Window
07:00 AM – 07:29 AM
08:00 AM – 08:29 AM
07:30 AM – 07:59 AM
Work From Home
13.4%
17.2%
15.0%
Walked
3.9%
2.4%
2.4%
Public Transit
2.2%
2.9%
3.2%
The average commute time in Santa Barbara County is 17.1 minutes, shorter than the 23.5 minutes in California.
2.2% commute by public transit, lower than the 2.9% in California. 3.9% commute by walking, higher than the 2.4% in California.
Santa Barbara County, CA Commute Compared With Nearby Counties
Santa Barbara County, CA is the 4th largest of the 6 counties compared here, 443,693 residents against a local median of 836,943. The measure that sets Santa Barbara County, CA apart most is one-way commute: 17.1 min, 17% below the local median of 20.6 min. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.
The counties themselves spread 9.9 min on one-way commute, so Santa Barbara County, CA sits at one end of an already wide local range rather than apart from it. Santa Barbara County, CA has the lowest one-way commute of the 6 areas compared here.
Common questions about commuting in Santa Barbara County, California.
What is the financial impact of commuting in Santa Barbara County, California?
Commuters here spend an estimated 142 hours a year on the road, worth roughly $4,408 at a typical national wage. That's 27% less than the typical California commuter spends.
What are the busiest morning travel hours in Santa Barbara County, California?
Traffic peaks between 07:30 AM – 07:59 AM in Santa Barbara County, California. Leaving before or after this window is the single easiest way to avoid the heaviest local congestion, though 07:00 AM – 07:29 AM also sees a secondary bump.
Which counties in California have the fastest and slowest commutes?
Among counties in California, the shortest average commutes are in Inyo County (11.1 min), Mono County (12.0 min), Del Norte County (12.1 min). The longest are in Alpine County (31.3 min), San Benito County (31.2 min), Contra Costa County (31.0 min).