Solvang, California.
Typical home $1,407,704 (+8.0% in a year), asking rent $3,850 . Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$4,469 (+153%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $103,855 +8%
- $1,303,849$1,407,704 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $373,970 +36%
- $1,033,734$1,407,704 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Solvang$7,389
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 11 years.
Typical home values in Solvang, CA rose 8.0% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Solvang, Santa Barbara County, California
Solvang is a city of 6,126 people in Santa Barbara County. Half its households earn more than $109,091 a year and half less, against $98,161 across Santa Barbara County; 11% of its people live below the poverty line. 57% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 43% are rented. Unemployment in Santa Barbara County was 4.6% in August 2026, and the county had 0.6% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then shops.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Solvang is a small city in the Santa Ynez Valley, and its residents are older than in most American towns. Household incomes run above the county's, and homes here are expensive, with a majority lived in by their owners. A good share of adults hold a four-year degree, and a fair number work from home.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by shops, then restaurants, hotels and entertainment, with some in manufacturing. Among the town's largest workplaces are Alisal Properties, a resort hotel, Solvang Lutheran Home, a retirement home with nursing care, and Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital. Across Santa Barbara County, the job count slipped slightly last year, and unemployment is a little lower than a year ago.
Things to do. Within town, the Elverhøj Museum of History and Art and OstrichLand USA are close at hand. A short drive away are Nojoqui Falls, a waterfall, and Refugio State Beach. Gaviota State Park, a protected coastal area, is also a short drive. Winters are mild with little or no snow, summers turn hot in August, and rain is modest through the year.
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- 2,726households
- 38%of adults have a degree
- 11%below the poverty line
- 29 mintypical commute
- 16%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Santa Barbara County had 214,947 jobs in 2025, 0.6% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 67° and lows near 33°; warmest in August, with highs near 93° and lows near 48°. About 21 inches of rain a year, and little or no snow.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Cachuma Lake weather station, 9 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Solvang
- Alisal PropertiesResort hotels without casinos352
- Solvang Lutheran HomeRetirement homes with nursing care183
- New Frontiers HoldingsDelicatessens primarily retailing a range of grocery items and meats103
- Santa Ynez Valley Cottage HospitalCritical access hospital96FTE
- Solvang Elementary SchoolsSchool district53FTE
- Forest ServiceFederal government · Department of Agriculture33
- Wyndham Vacation OwnershipHotels and motels30
- VNA HealthHospice care services, in home24
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 7 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 839 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023), school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and federal offices from OPM's federal workforce data (2026); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Inland floodingVery high
- WildfireRelatively high
- DroughtRelatively high
- LandslidesRelatively high
- EarthquakesRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Solvang’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Santa Barbara County and the Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA metro.
Solvang home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Solvang$1,407,704
- California$761,538
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 5 Solvang listings — the market is cooling.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Solvang19.76%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Solvang71
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Solvang11
Zip codes with a Solvang address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Solvang — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.