Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 1.4ml
Earthquake near Santa Barbara, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Santa Barbara in the 24 hours to 5:37 am PST (13:37 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 1.4 earthquake was recorded 13 km (8 mi) south-southeast of Santa Barbara, CA, at 6:35 pm PDT on 2 October 2026 (01:35 UTC), 3.0 km deep. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.
USGS: 13 km SSE of Santa Barbara, CA
12 km (7 mi) SSE of Santa Barbara, CA · 119 km (74 mi) WNW of Los Angeles, CA
- When
- 6:35 pm PDT on 2 October 2026 ()
- Where
- 13 km (8 mi) south-southeast of Santa Barbara, CA · earthquakes near Santa Barbara
- Magnitude
- M 1.4 (ml)
- Depth
- 3.0 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Santa Barbara County, 43 km NW
- Nearest mapped fault
- Pitas Point fault, under 1 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 41 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 it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. 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, Montecito, Toro Canyon, Carpinteria, Mission Canyon, Goleta.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 3.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.4 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 4,400,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 3,100,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 280× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.4 about 3.4 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 5.1 on 2023-08-20 — about 370,000 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 · 13 km W of this epicentre
- 5.5 30 km SW of Channel Islands Beach, California · 37 km SSE of this epicentre
- 5.5 10 km NE of Toro Canyon, California · 25 km NE of this epicentre
- 5.5 The 1941 Santa Barbara, California Earthquake · 8 km ENE of this epicentre
- 5.2 9 km SW of Channel Islands Beach, California · 40 km SE 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 34.3107, -119.6538. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Barbara County, CA | 43 km (27 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Santa Barbara County |
| Ventura County, CA | 48 km (30 mi) | E | earthquakes near Ventura County |
| San Luis Obispo County, CA | 140 km (87 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County |
| Kern County, CA | 143 km (89 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Kern County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
22 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.8 14 km WSW of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA
- 1.5 7 km S of Ojai, CA
- 1.5 20 km NW of Ojai, CA
- 1.6 15 km S of Santa Barbara, CA
- 1.8 16 km S of Santa Barbara, CA
- 2.1 15 km S of Santa Barbara, CA
- 1.3 25 km NNE of Montecito, CA
- 1.8 25 km NNE of Montecito, CA
- 1.9 25 km NNE of Montecito, CA
- 2.2 25 km NNE of Montecito, CA
- 1.0 26 km NNE of Montecito, CA
- 0.8 5 km SW of Ojai, CA
- 1.9 9 km NW of Santa Paula, CA
- 1.3 11 km E of Carpinteria, CA
- 1.9 11 km E of Carpinteria, 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.
Revisions
USGS refines a solution as more stations report. Every change we have seen is listed here.
| What changed | From | To | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| location | 10 km SSE of Santa Barbara, CA | 13 km SSE of Santa Barbara, CA | |
| longitude | -119.66 | -119.65 | |
| latitude | 34.34 | 34.31 | |
| depth | 7.21 | 3 | |
| magnitude | 1.52 | 1.37 |
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.