By Kenneth Harwood
Economist, Solvang Chamber of Commerce
Santa Barbara County created $22.3 billion of goods and services in 2016, which is the dollar value of our county’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Here is how big our economy looks when we compare our yearly economic output with the outputs of two neighboring counties.
Ventura County produced almost twice as much economic output as Santa Barbara County, and our output was almost double that of San Luis Obispo County.
Output per resident showed a different pattern, however. Santa Barbara County created $50,100 of economic output per capita. Ventura County produced $50,000 and San Luis Obispo County created $44,000 per capita.
Each county was unique in its array of industries and their sizes, and in the skill sets of its residents. The whole state of California produced more economic output per capita ($59,100) than any of the three counties.
The modest scale of cities and industries attracted visitors and retirees to Santa Barbara County, as did benign climate and varied terrain.
Important sectors of the economy in north Santa Barbara County were tourism and agriculture. The economic output of tourism in Santa Barbara County was $1.7 billion. Economic value of crops at the farm gate in Santa Barbara County was $1.4 billion.
The amounts of county and state GDP are in inflation-adjusted dollars, using 2009 as the base year.
Please see details of GDP online at U. S. Department of Commerce, Survey of Current Business (April 2018), Regional Data. View online the economic output of tourism by county on the website of Visit California. See online the crop report of Commissioner of Agriculture, Santa Barbara County.
