Racial pay gaps cost the Central Coast $20 billion per year in lost economic output. In 2021, the combined GDP of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties was roughly $111 billion. If workers of color earned the same as white workers with comparable education and experience, GDP for 2021 would have been $131 billion, nearly 18 percent higher.

The losses are uneven by county: San Luis Obispo loses $2.3 billion annually, Santa Barbara loses $11.8 billion, and Ventura loses $17 billion. That is not just lost earnings for individual workers. It is lost consumer spending, lost tax revenue, lost business growth, and lost economic activity that would have circulated through entire communities.

The region is paying $20 billion per year to maintain racial inequity in wages. That cost comes from occupational segregation that keeps workers of color in lower-wage industries, discrimination in hiring and promotion, and pay gaps within the same occupations. Closing those gaps would require enforcing anti-discrimination protections, removing barriers to high-wage fields, and ensuring equal pay for equal work. The alternative costs $20 billion annually.

Insights & Analyses: San Luis Obispo County

• If racial income gaps are eliminated, San Luis Obispo County could see an estimated 2.3 billion dollar increase in the county’s GDP.

Insights & Analyses: Santa Barbara County

• In Santa Barbara County, the county could gain approximately 11.8 billion dollars more in GDP if racial income gaps in income were eliminated.

Insights & Analyses: Ventura County

• In Ventura County, closing the racial gaps in income could result in an estimated increase in GDP of 17 billion dollars.