Hiring Household Staff in Santa Barbara

A market built on privacy, large estates, and homes that must be cared for whether or not the family is there.

Santa Barbara, and Montecito above all, occupies a particular place in the landscape of American wealth: it is where people of great means go to be private. It draws established families, entertainment figures, and technology wealth, and what they share is a preference for discretion over display. That preference defines what households here look for in their staff.

It is, by any measure, one of the country's premier luxury markets. The Wall Street Journal's luxury housing report ranked the Santa Barbara area among the top ten of sixty U.S. markets in late 2025, with the top tier of homes beginning near $9 million. Many of these are estates, and many of their owners are part-time residents who divide their time among several homes.

That combination, large properties and part-time presence, drives the staffing here. The most sought-after professionals are estate and house managers who can run a property in full, including through long stretches when the principals are elsewhere, keeping a home ready, secure, and immaculate for a return that may come with little notice. Alongside them, families hire career nannies and governesses, private chefs, and household staff who are comfortable in a high-profile but intensely private home, where the first rule is that nothing leaves the property.

We maintain a presence serving Santa Barbara and the California coast, and because we recruit to a specific brief and place professionals anywhere, we are well suited to a market that prizes privacy and the careful keeping of estates. This is how we work at Nannies + more…®, on every placement.

Source: Wall Street Journal and Realtor.com Luxury Housing Market Report, Fall 2025.