Santa Barbara, CA Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Santa Barbara, California, shaded from sea level level on the Pacific Ocean to 1,250 ft on the north edge, below higher ground just outside
Elevation
1,250 ft 380 m940 ft 285 m780 ft 240 m470 ft 145 m160 ft 50 m0 ft 0 m
Contours every 200 ft, bold every 1,000 ft
USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau
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How to use this mapviews, tools and data
Elevation
Ground colored by height from green (lowest) to white (highest), with contour lines every 40–500 ft (USGS data).
Satellite
A 2016 satellite photo at 33 ft (10 m) detail; contours off.
3D
Tilt and turn the terrain; hills are raised 1.5×, or set ×1 for true height.
Click or tap anywhere
The exact elevation of that spot in ft and m.
Measure
Pick two points for the climb, descent and grade along a straight line.
City area
Fades everything outside the official city limits (US Census).

Elevation Data

Santa Barbara sits at about 120 ft (40 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
120 ft 40 m
most residents: 28–320 ft
Lowest
0 ft 0 m
at sea level on the Pacific Ocean
Highest
1,250 ft 380 m
on the north edge, below higher ground just outside
Average
250 ft 75 m
all land inside city limits

Santa Barbara spans about 1,250 ft of height, so no single spot tells the whole story. The ruler shows where its people live, and where the other numbers you'll see come from.

FigureElevation
Typical
Where people live: half of residents higher, half lower
120 ft40 m
Highest point
Inside city limits, on the north edge, below higher ground just outside
1,250 ft380 m
Lowest point
Where the land meets the Pacific Ocean
0 ft0 m
Town center
USGS map point for Santa Barbara
42 ft13 m
Airport (SBA)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways
14 ft4 m
Average of all land250 ft75 m

Elevation profile, south to north

7.2 mi south to north through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Santa Barbara, California, shaded from sea level level on the Pacific Ocean to 1,250 ft on the north edge, below higher ground just outside
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 200 ft (61 m).
Location
City in Santa Barbara County, California, United States
Population
87,291 2024 est.
Land area
19.5 sq mi + 18.0 sq mi water
Density
4,479 per sq mi
Coordinates
34.4208° N, 119.6982° W
Time zone
Pacific UTC−8 / −7
Landform region
Pacific Border
Drains to
Pacific Ocean
Airport
Santa Barbara Municipal (SBA) 14 ft
ZIP codes 7
93101 93103 93105 93108 93109 93110 93117
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WebP, 1200 × 900. Free to use: credit “ElevationOf.com” with a link to this page.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS, FAA

Nearby Places

Nearby towns by typical elevation

  1. Mission Canyon540 ft
  2. Oak View520 ft
  3. Montecito300 ft
  4. Toro Canyon210 ft
  5. Summerland180 ft
  6. Santa Barbara120 ft
  7. Eastern Goleta Valley110 ft
  8. Goleta49 ft
  9. Isla Vista42 ft
  10. University of California-Santa Barbara30 ft
  11. Carpinteria27 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Big Pine Mountain6,820 ft
  • San Rafael Mountain6,570 ft
  • Divide Peak4,840 ft
  • Santa Ynez Peak4,290 ft
  • Rincon Mountain2,162 ft
How we measure
  • Typical elevation: the population-weighted median: every 2020 Census block inside the city limits, at its USGS 3DEP height, weighted by the people who live there. Half of residents live higher, half lower.
  • Lowest, highest, average: USGS 3DEP bare-earth heights on a 1 arc-second (≈100 ft, 30 m) grid, land only, inside the Census city limits (TIGER, Jan 1 2026).
  • Pits: the lowest point is the lowest ground outside closed hollows (quarry floors, mine pits, terrain-model artifacts): any hollow under 0.4 sq mi (1 km²), and any hollow under 2 sq mi (5 km²) whose floor is more than 100 ft (30 m) below its rim; and outside patches below sea level of under 0.4 sq mi (1 km²). The single lowest 3DEP cell, −2 ft at 34.4179° N, 119.6893° W, is in such a hollow or patch and is not counted; this coastal land's lowest point is sea level on the coast.
  • Nearby Places: nearby towns and rankings use each town's typical elevation, so every town is compared like for like. Rankings count every city, town, township and census-designated place, including places inside a town. Peaks and hills: the nearest summits with at least 980 ft (300 m) of prominence within 62 mi (100 km), then federal (GNIS) summits within 16 mi (25 km) when there are fewer than 5; each is the 3DEP top on a ~7 ft (2 m) window, or the NGS published height when a usable survey mark sits within 160 ft (50 m) of it (shown as published).
  • Rounding: computed heights are rounded to 10 ft (5 m), or to 1 ft (1 m) under 100 ft; 3DEP is good to about a meter, not a foot. Published figures (FAA airport elevation, NGS survey heights) are shown as their publisher gives them.
  • Datum: North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88). NGS plans to replace NAVD 88 with a new datum (NAPGD2022); heights will then shift slightly.
  • Sources: USGS 3DEP, GNIS, Watershed Boundary Dataset and physiographic provinces; U.S. Census Bureau (boundaries, 2020 blocks, 2024 population estimates, Gazetteer areas, ZIP code areas); FAA airport data; BTS time zones; NOAA NGS survey heights. All public domain.