2.74/5
76 reviews
Photo by Matthew LeJune via Unsplash

Santa Barbara, CA

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hours

I lived in Santa Barbara for the last 15 years (originally from Russia, also lived in HN, NYC, CT, and Florida). Currently working remotely for a European startup. Sure, it's expensive (probably around 80-90% of Bay Area cost of living), but the weather is perfect (not too hot, not too cold, all year around), the scenery is beautiful (mountains on one side, ocean on the other), and the city itself is fairly old and cozy (home to the second oldest building in California). People are generally friendly and laid back, lots of tourists, plenty of hipsters. Lots of rich people and celebs own houses here. There's UCSB, a top-50 ranked university, which can provide both intellectual stimulation and fun (concerts, lectures, and partying in student town of Isla Vista). Los Angeles is ~2 hours away, San Jose ~5 hours away.

5 years ago

✅ Pretty safe

✅ Fast internet

✅ Lots of fun stuff to do

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Nomads.com members liked going here a lot

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ Very easy to do business

✅ High quality of education

✅ Great hospitals

✅ Roads are very safe

✅ Great freedom of speech

✅ Democratic

✅ Everyone speaks English

✅ Family friendly

✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+

✅ Not many people smoke tobacco

✅ (Medical) marijuana MAY be legal, unenforced or decriminalized (always double check this)

❌ Extremely expensive

❌ Cold now

❌ Gets cold in the winter

❌ Very damp now

❌ Not many Nomads.com members go here

❌ Difficult to make friends

❌ Not safe for women

❌ High alcohol consumption

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels

57 14°
cool

52 11°
cool

57 14°
cool

61 16°
cool

63 17°
cool

66 19°
mild

70 21°
mild

68 20°
mild

66 19°
mild

55 13°
cool

Real

57 14°
cool

52 11°
cool

57 14°
cool

60 16°
cool

62 17°
cool

66 19°
mild

70 21°
mild

68 20°
mild

65 19°
mild

55 13°
cool

Humidity

too dry
24%

nice
30%

nice
33%

nice
37%

nice
41%

nice
42%

nice
43%

nice
41%

nice
43%

nice
30%

nice
40%

Most common

Rain

rainy
95mm

rainy
58mm

rainy
69mm

dry
3mm

dry
7mm

dry
1mm

dry
0mm

dry
9mm

dry
32mm

Cloud

pockets
13%

clear
9%

clear
7%

clear
9%

pockets
11%

clear
9%

clear
10%

clear
5%

pockets
12%

pockets
19%

Air quality

clean
19 US AQI

clean
18 US AQI

clean
20 US AQI

clean
33 US AQI

clean
27 US AQI

clean
30 US AQI

clean
27 US AQI

clean
30 US AQI

clean
27 US AQI

clean
29 US AQI

clean
24 US AQI

clean
21 US AQI

Sun

seek shade
3 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
10 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

Remote workers

257 people

286 people

200 people

356 people

244 people

280 people

250 people

333 people

250 people

200 people

280 people

400 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Not all nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on Santa Barbara's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

	Detection & Response Engineer @ xAI
	Director of Sales @ Rarible
	System Administrator SRE @ Americor Funding
	BI Engineer @ Zeta
	Frontend Engineer Intern @ Peakflo
	Software Engineer Product @ Prelim
	Software Engineer Product @ Prelim
	Product Manager Facility Management... @ Storable
	Clinical Support Representative @ Radformation
	Senior Software Engineer Identity @ Alpaca
	Senior AI Engineer @ Awin

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🌥 Feels 13° 55° 13° 56°

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🌥 Feels 6° 43° 7° 45° AQI 82 😷

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📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast

👍 Liked mediocre

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🌥 Feels 5° 41° 7° 44° AQI 85 😷

✈️12h

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Paris

France

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📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety mediocre

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🌥 Feels 3° 37° 5° 42° AQI 99 😷

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👍 Liked bad

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🌥 Feels 13° 55° 13° 55° AQI 3

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Berlin

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⭐️ OverallAll

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📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

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Barcelona

Spain

⭐️ OverallAll

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📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

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☀️ Feels 11° 52° 11° 53° AQI 38

✈️13h

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Rome

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⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast

👍 Liked mediocre

👮 Safety good

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🌧 Feels 13° 55° 13° 55°

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Bangkok

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📡 InternetWiFi 🚀 Super fast

👍 Liked bad

👮 Safety good

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🌥 Feels 31° 88° 29° 85° AQI 103 😷

✈️18h

$1,513 / mo

🌇 Also went here29 people

Members here right now

No members are here right now. If you are, add it as a trip and you'll show up here!

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Not all nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	2.74/5 (Rank #288) 76 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍1 liked it 👎0 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Good
🎒 Community score	Okay
💵 Cost	😳 Extremely expensive: $5,861 / mo
📡 Internet	🚀 Super fast: 108Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Good
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥶 Too cold: 14°C57°F (feels 14°C57°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	💦 Damp: 85%
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Great: 27 US AQI
👌 Safety	Good
🤮 Food safety*	Great
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Good
🤝 Lack of racism*	Okay
🎓 Education level*	High
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Very high: $4,817 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Great
🚶 Walkability	Bad
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Good
🧳 Lost luggage*	Good
🏥 Hospitals	Great
😄 Happiness*	Bad
🍸 Nightlife	Good
📶 Free WiFi in city	Good
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Good
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Okay
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Good
👩 Female friendly	Bad
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Great
🎅 Startup Score	Okay

🌍 Continent	North America
🚩 Country	United States
🗓️ Average trip length	4 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	108 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌥 14°C 57°F + 💦 Damp (85%) = feels 14°C 57°F
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👍 27 US AQI
🔌 Power	115V 60Hz
🚕 Best taxi app*	Uber
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 Tipping	Yes, 15%
💳 Cashless	💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere
☕️ Best coffee place	Starbucks
☕️ Best alt. coffee place	Denny's
🏪 Best 24/7 coffee place	The SandBox
🚰 Tap water	👌 Yes, safe to drink
♻️ Return rate	👍10% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	91,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$57,808 / year
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 82% 👱‍♀️ 18%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
💻 Online electronics shop	Amazon
🏠 Apartment listings	Airbnb
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	American Airlines
🏥 Best hospital	Issels Medical Center

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$5,861 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$4,260 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$9,675 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$2,764 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$3,373 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$5,240 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$2,500 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$158 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$172 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$499 / month
🍛 Dinner	$19
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$2
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$6
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$5
👩‍🏫 International school	$43,750 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$17 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$11 / trip