Santa Barbara County occurs as county located on the Pacific coast of Southern California, in the state of California, just west of Ventura County. There is a movement afoot to divide a northern a share of a county from either the south. When of 2000 the county had the people of 399,347. A county seat is Santa Barbara.

History

For hundreds to thousands of years, a region was residence to the Chumash tribe of Native Americans.

A Santa Barbara Channel received its name from either Spanish explorer Sebastian Vizcaino when he sailed over a channel waters around 1602; he entered the channel in December 4, the day of the feast of Santa Barbara. He was non, all a same, a foremost European to enter the channel: that honor went to the Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo who arrived in 1542.

Mission Santa Barbara was founded on December Four, 1786 in what is now Santa Barbara. A county derives its title from either a mission.

Santa Barbara County was one of a original counties of California, formed around 1850 at the period of statehood. Area of the county's territory were given to Ventura County in 1872.

Witharound recent years, residents of a northern half of the county keep around agitated for the county to exist as split in half, claiming that the southern half of the county ignores their needs. The projected "Mission County" would exist as formed from either a northern half.

Politically a county has yearn been divided between competing interests, for the economies of the northerly & to the south counties come dramatically different. Northward of the Santa Ynez Mountains, agricultural activities & oil development use hanker predominated, though inside recent years oil leases keep close at h& been decommissioned, & supplementary white-collar workers stand been moving within when humans explore to sleep in northwards county and commute in the south county because of the comparatively favorable housing cost northward. Then agawithinside, the to the south county has experienced an economy according to touristry, however by having a important percentage of humans using white-collar jobs, at one time in aerospace however additional recently in software program & more high-hi-tech pursuits. In addition, the in the north county contains a big military base, Vandenberg Air Force Base, and a in a south county has the University of California, Santa Barbara. the vote record of northward & in the south counties has indeed shown the profound split between a "conservative" northward & "liberal" south.

Geography
Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 9,814 km² (3,789 mi²). 7,089 kilometre² (2,737 mi²) of these are l& and 2,725 kilometre² (1,052 mi²) of these are fluids. A amount front yard is Xxvii.77% h2o. 4 of the Channel Islands--San Miguel Island, Santa Barbara Island, Santa Cruz Island and Santa Rosa Island-- are inside Santa Barbara County.

Santthe Barbara County has a mountainous interior, & many crucial coastal vale which contain virtually all of the people. A big concentration of population is on a in the in the south coast--the section of the county south of the Santa Ynez Mountains--which includes the cities of Santa Barbara, Goleta, and Carpinteria, as well as a unincorporated areas of Hope Ranch, Mission Canyon, Montecito and Isla Vista. Northerly of a mountains come the towns of Santa Ynez, Solvang, Buellton and Lompoc in the Santa Ynez Valley, when well as Vandenberg Air Force Base, where a Santa Ynez Flow of any stream flows bent the sea. Northward of a Santa Ynez Valley come the cities of Santa Maria and Guadalupe, and the unincorporated towns of Orcutt, Los Olivos and Los Alamos. A chief chain of mountains of a county come a Santa Ynez Mountains south, & the San Rafael Mountains and Sierra Madre Mountains in the interior and northeast. Virtually all of a mountainous vicinity is inside the Los Padres National Forest, and includes ii woods areas: a San Rafael Wilderness and the Dick Smith Wilderness. A greatest elevation in the county is 6820 feet (2079 m) at Heavy Pine Mountain in the San Rafaels.

N of the mountains is the arid & sparsely populated Cuyama Valley, portions of which are within San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties. Drilling, ranching, & agriculture dominate a l& utilise in a privately owned area of the Cuyama Valley; the Los Padres National Woods is adjacent south, & regions in the north and northeast come owned per Bureau of Land Management and the Nature Conservancy.

Air quality in the county, unlike very much of southern California, is typically practiced because of the prevailing winds murder of the Pacific Ocean. A county is within attainment of federal standards for ozone and particulate matter, but exceeds state standards for these pollutants. Another time around late summertime & early fall there are times by owning higher ozone levels; commonly this occurs whilst there is a moo inversion layer under a stagnant air mass, which traps pollutants underneath. Around these lawsuits a traveller into the mountains encounters a curious paradox: the temperature rises when altitude increases. In these times a visibility from either a higher summits can be to a higher degree a hundred miles, when the people on the coastal plain lives haze & smog.

Demographics
When of the census² of 2000, there are 399,347 people, 136,622 households, and 89,487 families residing in the county. A population density is 56/km² (146/mi²). There are 142,901 housing units at an typical density of 20/km² (52/mi²). A racial makeup of the county is 72.72% White, 2.30% Black or African American, 1.20% Native American, 4.09% Asian, 0.18% Pacific Islander, 15.20% from other races, and 4.31% from two or more races. 34.22% of the people are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 136,622 home away from which 32.40% use tykes under a age of Eighteen swallow the children, 51.40% come married couples living together, 10.00% have a female homeowner by having there is no married man present, & 34.50% come non-families. Two dozen.30% of a lot family come mass produced higher of souls & Ix.40% use person residing alone world health organization is 65 years aged or even older. A typical menage size is Two.Fourscore & a typical personal size is Triplet.33.

In a county the people is spread retired using Two dozen.90% under a age of Xviii, Long dozen.30% from either 18 to 2 dozen, Xxix.00% from either 25 to 44, Twenty.10% from either 45 to 64, & Twelve.70% world health organization come 65 years aged or even older. A median age is 33 years. For each Century females there are Centred.Tenner males. For each C females age Xviii & all over, there are 98.X males.

the median income for a personal in the county is $46,677, & the median income for a family is $54,042. Males have a median income of $37,997 versus $29,593 for females. A per capita income for the county is $23,059. Xiv.30% of the people & Eighter from decatur.50% of families come beneath a poverty line. Away from a number people, Sixteen.30% of people under a age of 18 & 6.20% of people 65 & older come dwelling following a poverty level.

A people of a locality south of the Santa Ynez Mountain crest—the part referred to as "South County"—was 201,161 based on data from a 2000 nose count; so a people is nigh exactly split between n & south. Recent years keep around shown slow or blackball incubation for regions to the south county, when areas northerly county keep around continued to develop at the sooner rate.

Cities and towns
Ballard Buellton Carpinteria Casmalia Cuyama Goleta Guadalupe Hope Ranch Isla Vista Lompoc - center of the world's first commercial flower growing region Los Alamos Los Olivos Mission Canyon Mission Hills Montecito New Cuyama Orcutt Santa Barbara Santa Maria Santa Ynez Solvang Summerland Toro Canyon Vandenberg Air Force Base with spaceport Vandenberg Village