Santa Barbara and Isla Vista have higher average rents compared to both the national and California state averages. So, how much more expensive is it to live in Isla Vista? To help answer this question, rental listings were collected from units that were available at the time. By examining 789 unique units for rent during January 2026, a clearer picture of housing costs in Isla Vista emerges. Comparisons to other locations using rental data from major rental websites further illustrate the cost of renting in Isla Vista.
This data was collected from a variety of websites including Sierra Property Management, Apartments.com, RentCafe, KAMAP Property Management, Zillow, Embarcadero Company, Beach Town Rentals, the UC Santa Barbara Office of Financial Aid, UCSB Housing, Isla Vista Rent List, Meridian Group and the The Santa Barbara Student Housing Cooperative.
Companies in the “Other” category include smaller leasing companies such as Embarcadero Company as well as smaller landlords, who may operate and rent their houses rather than single units.
Around 42% of all UC Santa Barbara students, graduate and undergraduate, live in I.V., while 39% live in University-owned housing. However, in the percentage of those that live in University-owned housing, only 20% are continuing students.
Second-year sociology major Sara Rodriguez shared her experience in trying to apply for university housing.
“I didn’t get a housing contract for this upcoming year, which I’m pretty upset about,” Rodriguez said. “And then also when it comes to finding housing in I.V., it’s pretty hectic. And also, super expensive. It’s insane, so I’m still looking.”
Undergraduate apartments are limited to juniors and seniors. Students who rented in I.V. in their second year may apply for UCSB undergraduate apartment housing rather than a private rental company. However, students who do not end up being offered a housing contract through UCSB often have to wrestle for the limited options available in I.V.
These average per-tenant prices do not account for how different leasing companies handle utilities and security deposits. Undergraduate apartments provided by UCSB don’t require students to co-sign, pay utilities or pay for Wi-Fi, further highlighting how much cheaper UCSB housing is compared to private leasing companies.
The city of Santa Barbara has been fighting for affordable housing for a long time, with multiple measures and policies in place in order to build more affordable housing. As an unincorporated community, Isla Vista doesn’t have as much power to create policy to address affordability, a fact that many students understand on a personal level.
Amanda Schoen, a third-year communication major, gave her thoughts on pricing in I.V.
“I think part of [the reason for current housing costs] is that we do live in Santa Barbara on the water, but also the landlords and leasing companies do take advantage of the fact that they know people really want to live in these houses,” Schoen said.
Sierra Property Management and Wolfe & Associates Property Services are two major leasing companies who published their maximum occupancy for each unit. With these leasing companies holding a large portion of properties in Isla Vista, their pricing influences the market.
Legislation such as California Civil Code (§1947.12) has been passed statewide to limit increases. Rent cannot increase more than 5% plus the percentage change in the cost of living, or 10%, whichever is lower, of the lowest rent charged for that apartment during the 12 months prior to the effective date of the increase.
Even with this legislation students still feel pressure when rent increases. Fourth-year biology major Evan Itow highlighted this tension between leasing companies and tenants.
“The reason [my housemates and I] didn’t re-lease [our] house was because they bumped it up in price by so much.” Itow said. “They increased the total rent of the place by $1,200. It was a $200 increase per person, which I just thought was outrageous.”
Embarcadero Company was the cheapest leasing company to rent from when examining the average rent of all companies in the data set. Their properties include free parking and other amenities that other leasing companies in the data set did not offer.
Knowledge about which houses are cheaper than others is not always readily available. Annabell Guinan, a first-year global studies major, talked about her own hunt for housing.
“I was looking [for leases] so early, I had alerts set up on my computer with emails of housing availability,” Guinan said. “I just kind of signed the lease to make sure I had somewhere to live next year … [We had] 30 minutes or like a day to sign it and [it was] just stressful like put the down payment and get everyone to sign their names or else we would lose the lease.”
This pressure to secure housing can be felt from year to year. Itow explained some of the complications he faced in his third year when trying to look for housing.
“I had like a group of seven and we tried to start really early to look for I.V. housing,” Itow said. “There were not a lot of choices in I.V. that kind of catered to that amount of people. We had to look pretty hard and we eventually almost settled on a place at the end. The price was not that great.”
Balancing the right amount of bedrooms for the preferred number of people, as well as working with a price budget, is difficult for many. This balance is only exacerbated by the price differences between each leasing company.
Each leasing company is different, some specialize in managing apartment complexes and other houses. For instance, Beach Town Rentals and Playa Life IV only lease houses. These specializations influence each company’s respective average rent and can inflate its average rent in comparison to others.
Other factors that many students need to consider are distance from campus, as well as how close they want to be to the beach and other social activities in I.V.
“I felt grateful for that property because it’s on [Del Playa Drive] and I know a lot of other doubles charge a lot more. Obviously it is a lot, but for beachfront property, I feel like it’s a pretty good value,” Schoen said.
The cost of housing is a large portion of the living costs associated with attending UCSB. Thus, options that a student has to live in I.V. are limited to what they can afford. The majority of students at UCSB receive some form of financial aid, which is based on the financial aid office’s determination of what it costs to attend UCSB.
For undergraduate students in 2025-26, UCSB budgets $1,936 for monthly living expenses which include housing, utilities, food and more. Students who go over this limit are able to negotiate for a higher cost of living.
“I would just say you almost have to kind of look at [looking for housing] like a job. You almost have the network. I feel like just trying to find people that like leaving,” Itow said. “Get started as early as possible.”
