ZIP 93109 vs ZIP 93101

This side-by-side compares ZIP 93109 (Santa Barbara, CA) and ZIP 93101 (Santa Barbara, CA) using the same Census ACS 5-Year table fields for both, no averages swapped in, no national proxies. ZIP 93109 has a population of 10,858 at 1,239 people per square mile, while ZIP 93101 has 31,683 at 3,567 per square mile. That difference in population size and density alone reshapes how every other metric should be interpreted, a higher-income ZIP with 1,200 residents behaves very differently from one with 45,000.

On income and education, ZIP 93109 reports a median household income of $123,347 against $90,148 in ZIP 93101, with per-capita income of $77,272 vs $51,028. The share of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher is 58.7% in 93109 and 43.3% in 93101. Poverty rate reads 17.2% vs 17.0%, and unemployment 6.4% vs 6.6% - these four fields alone drive most of the difference in the scorecard grades you will see for each ZIP.

Housing separates these two ZIPs further: median home value sits at $1,882,500 in 93109 versus $1,184,000 in 93101, with median rent of $2,823 and $2,250 per month respectively. Homeownership rate is 55.5% vs 22.9%. When reading the comparison table below, focus on paired metrics rather than single winners, a ZIP with lower home values and lower income is not strictly "worse" if rent-to-income ratios and commute times land in the same zone. Every value is pulled from the exact same ACS table so the two columns are genuinely comparable.