Santa Barbara County, CA Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Santa Barbara County, California, shaded from sea level on the Pacific Ocean to 6,820 ft on Big Pine Mountain
Elevation
6,820 ft 2,080 m5,110 ft 1,560 m4,260 ft 1,300 m2,560 ft 780 m850 ft 260 m0 ft 0 m
Zoom in for contour lines
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.
County area
Fades everything outside the official county boundary (US Census).

Elevation Data

Santa Barbara County averages about 1,800 ft (550 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from sea level on the Pacific Ocean to 6,820 ft on Big Pine Mountain.

Average elevation
1,800 ft 550 m
all land inside the county
Highest
6,820 ft 2,080 m
on Big Pine Mountain
Lowest
0 ft 0 m
at sea level on the Pacific Ocean

Santa Barbara County spans about 6,820 ft of height, so no single spot tells the whole story. The ruler shows where most of its land lies, and where the other numbers you'll see come from.

FigureElevation
Average of all land1,800 ft550 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on Big Pine Mountain (3DEP terrain model; no NGS survey height)
6,820 ft2,080 m
Lowest point
Where the land meets the Pacific Ocean
0 ft0 m

Elevation profile, west to east

62 mi west to east through Santa Maria.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Santa Barbara County, California, shaded from sea level on the Pacific Ocean to 6,820 ft on Big Pine Mountain
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 500 ft (152 m).
Location
County in California, United States
Population
444,500 2024 est.
Land area
2,733.9 sq mi + 1,053.7 sq mi water
Density
163 per sq mi
Time zone
Pacific UTC−8 / −7
Landform region
Pacific Border 99%
Drains to
Pacific Ocean
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS

Nearby Places

Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average

  1. Ventura County2,650 ft
  2. Kern County2,390 ft
  3. Santa Barbara County1,800 ft
  4. San Luis Obispo County1,530 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Big Pine Mountain6,820 ft
  • San Rafael Mountain6,570 ft
  • Peak Mountain5,840 ft
  • Ranger Peak4,580 ft
  • Santa Ynez Peak4,290 ft
All 28 towns in Santa Barbara County by typical elevation
  1. Cuyama2,290 ft
  2. New Cuyama2,150 ft
  3. Los Olivos820 ft
  4. Ballard680 ft
  5. Santa Ynez620 ft
  6. Los Alamos590 ft
  7. Mission Canyon540 ft
  8. Solvang490 ft
  9. Vandenberg AFB470 ft
  10. Sisquoc440 ft
  11. Orcutt390 ft
  12. Garey380 ft
  13. Buellton370 ft
  14. Vandenberg Village360 ft
  15. Mission Hills320 ft
  16. Montecito300 ft
  17. Casmalia270 ft
  18. Santa Maria220 ft
  19. Toro Canyon210 ft
  20. Summerland180 ft
  21. Santa Barbara120 ft
  22. Eastern Goleta Valley110 ft
  23. Lompoc97 ft
  24. Guadalupe84 ft
  25. Goleta49 ft
  26. Isla Vista42 ft
  27. University of California-Santa Barbara30 ft
  28. Carpinteria27 ft
How we measure
  • Average: every USGS 3DEP bare-earth cell of land inside the Census county boundary (TIGER/Line, Jan 1 2026), weighted equally, on a 3 arc-second (≈300 ft, 93 m) grid, coarsened from 1 arc-second so the whole area fits one run. Land means the boundary minus Census area water (on this grid, water areas of at least half a cell).
  • Highest and lowest: the highest land cell, re-read at 1 arc-second around the 25 highest grid cells; it is a named summit, so its height is the peak method: the 3DEP top on a ~7 ft (2 m) window, or the NGS published height when a survey mark sits within 160 ft (50 m) of it. Lowest: the lowest land cell, re-read at 1 arc-second around the 25 lowest grid cells; coastal ground within 3 ft (1 m) of named tidal water counts as sea level.
  • 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, −9 ft at 33.4843° N, 119.0357° 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: neighboring counties and rankings use each one's average elevation, on its own grid, the same figure its page shows. Peaks and hills: the highest summits inside the county with at least 980 ft (300 m) of prominence, then the highest federal (GNIS) summits inside it 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).
  • Towns: each town's typical elevation (population-weighted median of its own 2020 blocks at 1 arc-second); a town is listed when any of its 2020 residents live in the county.
  • 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 (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 (TIGER boundaries and water, 2020 blocks, 2024 population estimates, county adjacency); NOAA NGS survey heights; BTS time zones. All public domain.