Migration to and from Santa Barbara County, California
Where Santa Barbara County residents came from and where they went over the 5-year window 2016-2020. Census ACS County-to-County Migration Flows, 2020 5-yr (frozen vintage).
Total inflow
31,844
people moved in (5-yr)
Total outflow
23,844
people moved out (5-yr)
Net migration
+8,000
inflow minus outflow
Top 10 counties people moved IN from
| Origin | State / Region | People (5-yr) |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles County | California | 4,880 |
| Santa Clara County | California | 1,843 |
| Ventura County | California | 1,670 |
| San Luis Obispo County | California | 1,448 |
| Asia | 1,382 | |
| San Diego County | California | 1,356 |
| San Mateo County | California | 1,224 |
| Europe | 1,059 | |
| Orange County | California | 958 |
| Central America | 947 |
Top 10 counties people moved OUT to
| Destination | State / Region | People (5-yr) |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles County | California | 1,961 |
| Santa Clara County | California | 1,792 |
| San Luis Obispo County | California | 1,739 |
| Ventura County | California | 1,081 |
| Orange County | California | 1,062 |
| San Diego County | California | 856 |
| Maricopa County | Arizona | 802 |
| Kern County | California | 530 |
| Riverside County | California | 424 |
| Alameda County | California | 381 |
Explore Santa Barbara County
- Business data for Santa Barbara CountyConstruction sector establishments, employment, payroll
- Cities in CaliforniaACS demographic profiles for places statewide
- ZIP code lookupSearch demographic data by ZIP code
- Opportunity IndexRank counties by business growth potential
- Federal contracts in CAGovBids: RFPs, awards, NAICS matching
- New business filings in CaliforniaNewFilings: fresh SOS registrations
Methodology
- Counts represent the number of people aged 1+ who reported a different residence at the survey reference date than they did one year earlier, aggregated across the 5-year sample window 2016-2020.
- Outbound (OUT) flows are reported less frequently than inbound (IN) because the survey captures the destination side of each move. Many county pairs have null OUT counts, which is normal.
- "Total inflow" sums the published MOVEDIN counts across all origin counties, including foreign-region inflows (Africa, Asia, Central America, etc.). It is not the same as net population change.
- Frozen vintage. The Census Bureau has not released a newer county-to-county migration flows file. The 2020 5-yr vintage (covering 2016-2020) is the latest available as of build date.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, County-to-County Migration Flows: 2016-2020. Vintage: 2020 5-yr. Generated: 2026-05-28. FIPS: 06083.