Santa Barbara, CA
Santa Barbara County in California has 15 FEMA disaster declarations on record covering 1969–2023, most recently Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides on Mar 10, 2023 (DR-3592). Its flood risk grade is A (Low risk), ranking #2080 of 3,277 U.S. counties, with 63 NFIP flood insurance claims totaling $2,948,611 in payouts. Flood risk is relatively low compared to the national average.
FEMA Disaster Declarations in Santa Barbara County
The 15 most recent federally declared disasters affecting Santa Barbara County, CA (1969–2023). Total declarations on record: 15.
| Declared | Incident Type | Title | FEMA Disaster # |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 10, 2023 | Flood | Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides | DR-3592 |
| Jan 14, 2023 | Flood | Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides | DR-4683 |
| Jan 9, 2023 | Flood | Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, and Mudslides | DR-3591 |
| Apr 1, 2017 | Flood | Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, and Mudslides | DR-4308 |
| Mar 16, 2017 | Flood | Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, and Mudslides | DR-4305 |
| Jan 26, 2011 | Flood | Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, and Debris and MUD Flows | DR-1952 |
| Sep 13, 2005 | Hurricane | Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | DR-3248 |
| Feb 3, 1993 | Flood | Severe Winter Storm, MUD & Land Slides, & Flooding | DR-979 |
| Feb 5, 1988 | Flood | Severe Storms, High Tides & Flooding | DR-812 |
| Feb 9, 1983 | Coastal Storm | Coastal Storms, Floods, Slides & Tornadoes | DR-677 |
| Feb 21, 1980 | Flood | Severe Storms, Mudslides & Flooding | DR-615 |
| Feb 15, 1978 | Flood | Coastal Storms, Mudslides & Flooding | DR-547 |
| Feb 8, 1973 | Flood | Severe Storms, High Tides & Flooding | DR-364 |
| Jan 11, 1972 | Flood | Winds, Flooding, Mudslides | DR-316 |
| Jan 26, 1969 | Flood | Severe Storms & Flooding | DR-253 |
Score Breakdown
The composite score of 10 is calculated from four weighted factors. See our methodology for details.
Other Counties in California
| County | Grade | Score | Claims | Disasters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orange | A | 10 | 38 | 13 |
| San Francisco | A | 10 | 4 | 4 |
| Alpine | A | 11 | 0 | 7 |
| Amador | A | 11 | 3 | 7 |
| Calaveras | A | 11 | 4 | 6 |
| Lassen | A | 11 | 4 | 6 |
More Counties in California
Frequently Asked Questions
How many FEMA disaster declarations does Santa Barbara County, CA have?
Santa Barbara County, CA has 15 federal disaster declarations on FEMA record (1969–2023). The 5 most recent are: Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides (declared Mar 10, 2023, DR-3592); Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides (declared Jan 14, 2023, DR-4683); Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, and Mudslides (declared Jan 9, 2023, DR-3591); Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, and Mudslides (declared Apr 1, 2017, DR-4308); Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, and Mudslides (declared Mar 16, 2017, DR-4305). Counts include flood, severe storm, hurricane, and coastal storm declarations from the OpenFEMA DisasterDeclarationsSummaries dataset.
What is the flood risk grade for Santa Barbara County, CA?
Santa Barbara County is graded A (composite score 10/100, low risk). It ranks #2080 of 3,277 U.S. counties for flood risk in our scoring model. The grade combines NFIP claims density (40%), disaster frequency (25%), claim severity (20%), and year-over-year trend (15%).
How many NFIP flood insurance claims have been filed in Santa Barbara County?
63 NFIP flood insurance claims have been filed in Santa Barbara County, CA, totaling $2,948,611 in payouts. The average claim is $46,803. Source: FEMA FimaNfipClaims v2 dataset.
Has Santa Barbara County, CA had any recent flood disasters?
Yes. The most recent FEMA declaration affecting Santa Barbara County was Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides on Mar 10, 2023 (DR-3592). The county has 15 declared disasters in the OpenFEMA record covering 1969–2023.
The this entity record above pulls directly from FEMA OpenFEMA datasets including the National Flood Hazard Layer and NFIP claims. What follows is the per-entity context — how this entity sits in the broader U.S. flood risk, NFIP claims, and disaster declarations distribution and which underlying factors drive the headline numbers.
The methodology behind every numeric value on this page is publicly documented on the FEMA OpenFEMA datasets including the National Flood Hazard Layer and NFIP claims portal and described in detail on this site’s methodology page. Refresh cadence varies by underlying series; the page surfaces the as-of date for each number so readers can trace any figure back to the source release.
Practical use of this page is in combination with the comparison and ranking pages elsewhere on the site, which surface the same data for this entity’s peers within U.S. ZIPs, counties, and states. A single-entity reading without peer context can be misleading when an entity is an outlier on one axis but typical on another.
Source: FEMA OpenFEMA datasets, 2026.