Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.8ml
Earthquake near Santa Barbara, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Santa Barbara in the 24 hours to 8:23 am PST (16:23 UTC). The last one was M 2.1, 15 km (9 mi) S, at 9:33 pm PST on 4 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Santa Barbara
This page: a magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded 21 km (13 mi) south of Santa Barbara, CA, at 2:28 pm PDT on 27 March 2025 (21:28 UTC), less than 1 km deep.
USGS: 21 km S of Santa Barbara, CA
19 km (12 mi) SSE of Santa Barbara, CA · 118 km (74 mi) WNW of Los Angeles, CA
- When
- 2:28 pm PDT on 27 March 2025 ()
- Where
- 21 km (13 mi) south of Santa Barbara, CA · earthquakes near Santa Barbara
- Magnitude
- M 1.8 (ml)
- Depth
- -0.1 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Santa Barbara County, 47 km NW
- Nearest mapped fault
- Oak Ridge fault (offshore), 2 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 595 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Santa Barbara, CA
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Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 14 km (9 mi) from the epicentre. In Santa Barbara, 21 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Summerland, Toro Canyon, Montecito, Carpinteria, Mission Canyon, Isla Vista.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 15 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 710,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 63× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.8 about 15 lb of TNT
Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.
For this area
The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 5.3 on 2018-04-05 — about 170,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 9 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.8 The 1925 Santa Barbara, California Earthquake · 14 km WNW of this epicentre
- 5.5 30 km SW of Channel Islands Beach, California · 31 km SSE of this epicentre
- 5.5 10 km NE of Toro Canyon, California · 33 km NNE of this epicentre
- 5.5 The 1941 Santa Barbara, California Earthquake · 14 km NE of this epicentre
- 5.2 9 km SW of Channel Islands Beach, California · 37 km ESE of this epicentre
Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.
Where
Epicentre 34.2375, -119.6698. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Barbara County, CA | 47 km (29 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Santa Barbara County |
| Ventura County, CA | 51 km (32 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Ventura County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
52 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.6 12 km E of Carpinteria, CA
- 1.7 5 km SSE of Santa Barbara, CA
- 1.8 19 km SSE of Solvang, CA
- 1.6 7 km SSW of Ojai, CA
- 1.6 8 km S of Ojai, CA
- 1.8 15 km N of Santa Cruz Is. (NW end), CA
- 1.9 13 km NE of Carpinteria, CA
- 1.8 11 km S of Carpinteria, CA
- 1.8 6 km NW of Port Hueneme, CA
- 1.5 13 km SSW of Isla Vista, CA
- 2.3 7 km S of Carpinteria, CA
- 1.8 11 km S of Carpinteria, CA
- 2.9 9 km S of Carpinteria, CA
- 1.7 7 km S of Ojai, CA
- 1.8 6 km SSW of Ojai, CA
Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.
On USGS
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.