Montecito, California
21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1944 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Santa Barbara census division. It lies in ZIP code area 93108. It lies near San Ysidro Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Santa Barbara quadrangle. 8,638 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 180 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1944 to 1995The same ground, surveyed 51 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


On record in Montecito
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 1 record
Steedman EstateNational Historic Landmark · listed 1987
Population over time
2 figuresMontecito fell from 8,965 to 8,638 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 8,965 | |
| 2020 | 8,638 | -327 (-4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 surveys from 21 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1944 USGS Santa Barbara quadrangle1:31680
- 1949 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1952 USGS Santa Barbara quadrangle1:24000, 6 printings
- 1955 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1966 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000
- 1975 USGS Los Angeles quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1976 USGS Santa Barbara quadrangle1:24000
- 1982 USGS Santa Barbara quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1995 USGS Santa Barbara quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
48 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 48 fires within 5 miles of Montecito between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,291 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 4 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 8 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 4 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Other causes | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 acres | Los Padres National Forest | CRAVENS |
| 22 September 2005 | Other causes | under an acre | Los Padres National Forest | FLORES |
| 10 September 2011 | Natural | 300 acres | Santa Barbara County Fire Department | not named |
| 6 August 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Santa Barbara County Fire Department | not named |
| 6 August 2013 | Smoking | under an acre | Santa Barbara County Fire Department | not named |
| 9 July 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Santa Barbara County Fire Department | not named |
| 4 July 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Santa Barbara County Fire Department | not named |
| 4 July 2020 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | Santa Barbara County Fire Department | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
6 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Montecito: 3 past producers, 2 producers, 1 occurrence. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Magnesite, Mercury, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carpinteria Deposit | Clay, Montmorillonite | Past Producer | ||
| Hogan Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Los Prietos | Mercury | Producer | ||
| Unnamed Location | Magnesite | Occurrence | ||
| Garey Pit and Mill | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
10 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Montecito in 10 storm reports between 2000 and 2026: 5 thunderstorm wind, 4 flash flood, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Montecito | $5,000 | A trained spotter near Montecito reported downed trees due to gusty thunderstorm winds. |
| March 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Montecito | $5,000 | A trained spotter near Montecito reported downed powerlines due to gusty thunderstorm winds. |
| March 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Montecito | $5,000 | A trained spotter near Summerland reported downed powerlines due to gusty thunderstorm winds. |
| February 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Montecito | - | Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down a large tree branch across the number 1 and 2 lanes of Highway 101. |
| March 2024 | Flash Flood | Montecito | - | California Highway Patrol reported flash flooding of Highway 101 at San Ysidro Road. Five cars were submerged in flood waters. |
| March 2024 | Flash Flood | Montecito | - | California Highway Patrol reported flash flooding on Highway 101 at Sheffield. Per officer reports, six inches of water was observed across the southbound lanes of Highway 101. |
| March 2024 | Flash Flood | Montecito | - | California Highway Patrol reported flash flooding on Highway 101 between San Ysidro Road and Olive Mill Road. |
| December 2023 | Flash Flood | Montecito | - | Significant flooding resulted in the closures of Mountain Drive and Cold Springs Road. |
| October 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Montecito | - | Gusty thunderstorm outflow winds impacted the South Coast of Santa Barbara county. The RAWS sensor at Montecito reported a gust of 78 MPH. |
| October 2000 | Flood | Montecito | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summerland | 2.2 miles | 25 | |
| Ortega | 2.8 miles | 25 | |
| Serena Park | 3.4 miles | 25 | |
| Toro Canyon | 3.6 miles | 25 | |
| Santa Barbara | 3.7 miles | 21 | |
| Serena | 4.4 miles | 25 | |
| Mission Canyon | 4.4 miles | 21 | |
| Sandyland | 5.0 miles | 25 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Montecito | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1008912 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1661052. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.









