Santa Barbara (
Spanish for "Saint Barbara") is the
county seat of
Santa Barbara County, California. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply rising
Santa Ynez Mountains and the
Pacific Ocean. Santa Barbara's climate is often described as
Mediterranean, and the city has been promoted as the "American
Riviera". As of 2014, the city had an estimated population of 91,196, up from 88,410 in 2010, making it the second most populous city in the county after
Santa Maria while the contiguous urban area, which includes the cities of
Goleta and
Carpinteria, along with the unincorporated regions of
Isla Vista,
Montecito,
Mission Canyon,
Hope Ranch,
Summerland, and others, has an approximate population of 220,000. The population of the entire county in 2010 was 423,895.