Best PlacesSanta Cruz County, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Santa Cruz County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Santa Cruz County ranks 424th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 6 minutes away. Its strengths are the weather and transit. The cost shows up in childcare costs, disaster risk, and taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Santa Cruz County
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Santa Cruz County
The parts of Santa Cruz County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Scotts Valley
Tree cover is thicker, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Santa Cruz
Streets are more walkable, though fewer households have young kids.
Boulder Creek, Felton & Ben Lomond
It is quieter and more adults hold degrees.
Aptos
Health care is easier to reach, though biking is worse.
Watsonville
Fewer residents vote and disaster risk is higher.
Santa Cruz County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 11% of the country and others in the top 4%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Santa Cruz County's strengths and weaknesses
Santa Cruz County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. The weather is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Transit and biking follow.
The one real hole is childcare costs, near the bottom of the country. Disaster risk and taxes also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Santa Cruz County ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 195 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of counties
- TransitBetter than 99% of counties
- BikingBetter than 99% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of counties
Where Santa Cruz County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,701 a month, better than only 1% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 6% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 15% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Santa Cruz County
A household needs to earn about $264,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Santa Cruz County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $116,178, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Santa Cruz County's effective rate of 0.61%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Santa Cruz County
Santa Cruz County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Santa Cruz County.
Who works in Santa Cruz County, and how
Work in Santa Cruz County centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Santa Cruz County
Santa Cruz County has more parkland per resident than 67% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 69% of counties. The coast is about 6 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Santa Cruz County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Santa Cruz County growing, and who is moving in?
Santa Cruz County has lost about 3% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from San Jose, CA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Santa Cruz County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Santa Cruz County, month by month
Santa Cruz County sees roughly 195 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 73 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 50° | 40° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 44° |
| July | 73° | 60° | 53° |
| October | 77° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Santa Cruz County
Norman Y Mineta San Jose International sits about 26 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.3 million passengers in 2025, with 67 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Santa Cruz County
Schools across Santa Cruz County average a B−, better than 69% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Brook Knoll ElementaryA− · 61% proficient
- Vine Hill ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Tierra Pacifica CharterB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Scotts Valley MiddleA · 62% proficient
- Shoreline MiddleD · 20% proficient
- E. A. Hall MiddleF · 6% proficient
Top high schools
- Los Gatos HighA · 78% proficient
- Santa Cruz HighA · 75% proficient
- Soquel HighA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Santa Cruz County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Santa Cruz County measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Santa Cruz County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Santa Cruz County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 19% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Santa Cruz County
Is Santa Cruz County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Santa Cruz County ranks 424th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on the weather, transit, and biking, and lowest on childcare costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Santa Cruz County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,036,848. The overall cost of living runs about 39% above the national average. Set against a $116,178 median income, cost of living beats 59% of counties.
Is Santa Cruz County safe?
Santa Cruz County is safer than 27% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $432 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Santa Cruz County?
July highs average about 73 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 40. That works out to about 195 pleasant days a year, more than 99% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Santa Cruz County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Scotts Valley, Santa Cruz, and Boulder Creek, Felton & Ben Lomond. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Santa Cruz County good for families?
Schools beat 69% of counties, crime safety beats 27%, and childcare runs $1,701 a month.
Is Santa Cruz County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 59% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 79% of counties. About 19% of workers already work from home.
Compare Santa Cruz County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Santa Cruz County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Santa Cruz County represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Santa Cruz County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Santa Cruz County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Santa Cruz County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Santa Cruz County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Santa Cruz County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Santa Cruz County detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.