Santa Barbara County, California

Santa Barbara County is a located on the  coast of the   portion of the  of, just west of. As of 2000 the county had a population of 399,347. The estimated total population of Santa Barbara County as of January 2006 is 421,625, according to The California Department of Finance. The is.

History
For thousands of years, the area was home to the tribe of.

The received its name from Spanish explorer  when he sailed over the channel waters in 1602; he entered the channel on, the day of the feast of Santa Barbara. He was not, however, the first European to enter the channel: that honor went to the  explorer  who arrived in 1542.

was founded on December 4, 1786 in what is now. The county derives its name from the mission.

Santa Barbara County was one of the original counties 26 of California, formed in 1850 at the time of statehood. Parts of the county's territory were given to in 1872.

Politics
Due to the dramatic differences in economic activity between the northern and southern areas of the county, Santa Barbara county has long been divided between competing political interests. North of the, agricultural activities and oil development have long been predominant. In recent years, oil leases have been decommissioned, and more white-collar workers have been moving in as people choose to live in the northern areas and commute to the southern areas because of the more prices in the north. On the other hand, the southern portion of Santa Barbara county has had an economy based on tourism, with a significant percentage of people with white-collar jobs, formerly in aerospace but more recently in software and other high-tech pursuits. Additionally, the northern portion contains a large military base,, and the southern portion has the. Voting patterns in Santa Barbara county indeed reflect a strong split between a "conservative" north and "liberal" south.

Coastal Santa Barbara is part of California's, which is held by Democrat ; the inland is part of the , which is held by Republican. In the, Santa Barbara is in the 33rd and 35th districts, which are held by Republican and Democrat , respectively. In the, Santa Barbara is part of the 15th and 19th districts, which are held by Republicans and , respectively.

Overall, Santa Barbara is a Democratic-leaning county in and  elections. The last Republican to win a majority in the county was in.

The County is governed by a five member Board of Supervisors that reflects this ideological split. The Board's three vote majority has shifted over the years between the north and south. The Board majority now includes three members from the northern portion of the County.

The Board of Supervisors appoints a County Executive Officer, who serves at the pleasure of the Board, to operate the County governmental organization. The County government includes 4296 employees and a budget of $757 million. The County provides various services ranging from health services to law enforcement.

Proposed county splits
In 1978, some residents of the northern area initiated an effort to create a "Los Padres County" out of the northern area of the county; that effort did not succeed. In 2006, northern county organizations initiated a similar secession proposal, to create a proposed. appointed a formation commission to research the viability of the proposed northern county, which reached the conclusion, stated in its final report that "the proposed County, upon formation in 2006, would not be economically viable at current levels of service." In June 2006, voters rejected the formation of the new county.

The proposed new Mission County would have included the cities of Santa Maria, Lompoc, Guadalupe, Buellton, and Solvang, as well as the Cuyama Valley and Santa Ynez Valley, including. Most of the south coast of Santa Barbara County would remain with that county, with the exception of the stretch from to. Most of the Los Padres National Forest would also remain with Santa Barbara County. 

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 9,814 (3,789 ). 7,089 km² (2,737 sq mi) of it is land and 2,725 km² (1,052 sq mi) of it (27.77%) is water. Four of the --,, and -- are in Santa Barbara County.

Santa Barbara County has a mountainous interior, and several important coastal valleys which contain most of the population. The largest concentration of people is on the south coast--the part of the county south of the --which includes the cities of, , and , as well as the unincorporated areas of , , and. North of the mountains are the towns of, , , ; the unincorporated towns of  and ; the unincorporated areas of  and  in the ; and , where the Santa Ynez River flows out to the sea. North of the Santa Ynez Valley are the cities of and, and the unincorporated towns of , , , , and. To the northeast the Santa Maria Valley are the cities of, , and. As of January 1, 2006, Santa Maria has become the largest city in Santa Barbara County.

The principal mountain ranges of the county are the in the south, and the  and  in the interior and northeast. Most of the mountainous area is within the, and includes two wilderness areas: the  and the. The highest elevation in the county is 6820 feet (2079 m) at Big Pine Mountain in the San Rafaels.

North of the mountains is the arid and sparsely populated, portions of which are in and  Counties. Oil production, ranching, and agriculture dominate the land use in the privately owned parts of the Cuyama Valley; the Los Padres National Forest is adjacent to the south, and regions to the north and northeast are owned by the and the.

Air quality in the county, unlike much of southern California, is generally good because of the prevailing winds off of the Pacific Ocean. The county is in attainment of federal standards for and, but exceeds state standards for these pollutants. Sometimes in late summer and early autumn there are days with higher ozone levels; usually this occurs when there is a low under a stagnant air mass, which traps pollutants underneath. In these cases a traveler into the mountains encounters a curious paradox: the temperature rises as altitude increases. On these days the visibility from the higher summits may be more than a hundred miles, while the population on the coastal plain experiences haze and.

Cities and towns



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Adjacent Counties

 * - north
 * - northeast
 * - east

Major Highways

 * [[Image:US 101 (CA).svg|23px]]
 * [[Image:California 1.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 33.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 135.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 144.svg|20px]]


 * [[Image:California 166.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 154.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 246.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 217.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 192.svg|20px]]

Public Transportation
Santa Barbara County is served by  trains and  buses. The southern portion of the county is served by the. In the North County, the cities of Lompoc, Santa Maria, and Buellton/Solvang have their own bus services.

Airports
Commercial flights are available at and.
 * , is located near Goleta, west of.
 * is located just southwest of Downtown.
 * is located on the north side of.
 * is just southeast of.

Demographics
Santa Barbara County grew by only 0.2% from 2000-2005, while California on the whole grew over 7%. The percentage of Latinos grew to 37.3%, indicating that other racial groups experienced a decline in actual numbers. 54.1% of the population is Non-Hispanic White. The African American percentage remained steady and the percentage of Native Americans rose to 1.6%. 4.6% of the population was Asian. Only 2.2% of the population reported two or more races, but since this category also often encompassed many Latinos its decline is hard to understand. My best guess is that Native American, Asian and some other races had all absorbed some of the decline in two or more races being reported.

As of the of 2000, there were 399,347 people, 136,622 households, and 89,487 families residing in the county. The was 56/km² (146/sq mi). There were 142,901 housing units at an average density of 20/km² (52/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 72.72%, 2.30% or , 1.20% , 4.09% , 0.18% , 15.20% from , and 4.31% from two or more races. 34.22% of the population were or  of any race. 26.58% of the population reported speaking at home.

There were 136,622 households out of which 32.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.4% were living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.5% were non-families. 24.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.8 and the average family size was 3.33.

In the county the population was spread out with 24.9% under the age of 18, 13.3% from 18 to 24, 29.0% from 25 to 44, 20.1% from 45 to 64, and 12.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 100.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.1 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $46,677, and the median income for a family was $54,042. Males had a median income of $37,997 versus $29,593 for females. The for the county was $23,059. About 8.5% of families and 14.3% of the population were below the, including 16.3% of those under age 18 and 6.2% of those age 65 or over.

The population of the area south of the Santa Ynez Mountain crest&mdash;the portion known as "South County"&mdash;was 201,161 according to the 2000 census; thus the population is almost exactly split between north and south. Recent years have shown slow or even negative growth for regions in the south county, while areas in the north county have continued to grow at a faster rate.

Education
There are 23 independent school districts in Santa Barbara County, and the Santa Barbara County Education Office serves as an intermediate agency between those districts and the California Department of Education. During the 2006-2007 school year, 67,523 students were enrolled in Santa Barbara County schools, kindergarten through grade 12.

Santa Barbara County Wine Country
Viticulture in Santa Barbara County is traceable to missionary plantings in the Milpas Valley late in the 18th century. Since commercial viticulture rebounded in the 1960s, Santa Barbara County has been on the fast track to viticultural stardom. The 2004 Alexander Payne film,  was the darling of movie critics leading up to the Oscars and has brought worldwide attention to the wine region north of Santa Barbara featured in the film.

Famous for ripe, yet elegant, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the County is also gaining a reputation for Rhone varietals including Syrah and Viognier. Santa Barbara wine grapes now command among the highest prices anywhere in the state.

Located on California's South Central Coast, Santa Barbara County is an oasis of rolling hills, ancient oak trees and cattle ranches. The County now claims more than 60 wineries and 21,000 acres (85 km²) of vine, with the vast majority of the vineyards in the County’s three s (AVA's):, and , each with its own distinct terroir. Santa Barbara's fame hasn’t come without hurdles, as environmental issues and the social impact of big business are major issues for a region striving to maintain its identity.