Ballard is a census-designated place in Santa Barbara County, California. The town of Ballard is one of the communities that make occurring the Santa Ynez Valley. The nearest city is Solvang. The population was 467 at the 2010 census. Ballard is the smallest and oldest community in the Santa Ynez Valley. The town records can be seen in two buildings from the 1880s: the 1883 Ballard School and the Santa Ynez Valley Presbyterian Church, which was erected in 1889. Ballard was founded in 1880.

Ballard was founded in 1880 at the location of a Wells Fargo stage heritage station, being named by George Lewis after William Ballard, the former proprietor, who ran the station from 1862 to 1870. In 1882 it was believed that Ballard would add into the central metropolis of Santa Barbara County. The first school, Ballard’s Little Red School House, was built in 1882 and is nevertheless in operation today, being the primary tourist similarity in what turned out to be a tiny village, bypassed as a city.

Today, Ballard is a concentration of sleepy village and upscale bedroom community. Noted for its excellent elementary school, it is a prized residential area. The surrounding area is noted for its successful and well-respected wine industry. The wine-producing region nearly Ballard was featured in the Academy Award-nominated film Sideways. A world-renowned equine hospital is located nearby. The lonely commercial initiation currently enthusiastic in the main village is The Ballard Inn, a four-star restaurant and bed and breakfast inn in the heart of the village. A recent addition, across the street form Ballard Inn, is now Bob’s Well Bread Bakery, offering breakfast and lunch, as capably as a multitude of artisan breads and pastries.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP covers an area of 1.2 square miles (3.1 km), 99.98% of it land, and 0.02% of it water.