Santa Cruz, CA
Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Santa Cruz ranks 20th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 12th for income. A household earns $107,893 a year while median rent runs $2,293/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 10% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is household income (12th of 300), while home prices is the soft spot (297th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 296th and home prices 297th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Santa Cruz, your take-home is worth about $53,047 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it less than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 12th of 300↑20.9%$107,893
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 291st of 300110 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $98,177
- Per-capita income
- $57,078
- Full-time pay
- $46,496
Housing
- Median rent
- 296th of 300↑28.5%$2,293/mo
- Home value
- 297th of 300↑17.4%$985,800
- Property tax
- $6,496/yr · 0.7%
- Sales tax
- 8.80%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 240th of 3005.5%
- Bachelor's+
- 35th of 30044.1%
- Avg commute
- 234th of 30027.3 min
People
- Population
- 262,406
- Population change
- -4%
- Median age
- 40.5 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 16.9%
- Broadband
- 94.9%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 52nd of 30039
- Natural-hazard loss
- 283rd of 300$40/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 175th of 30019.3%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 9.2%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Education
- + Air quality
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Job market
- – Commute
- – Hazard safety
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — watsonville muni ap.
What jobs pay in Santa Cruz
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $291,880
- IT managers
- $198,770
- Registered nurses
- $170,960
- Financial managers
- $165,800
- Lawyers
- $164,790
- Pharmacists
- $161,940
- Software developers
- $156,910
- Police officers
- $122,970
- Civil engineers
- $118,050
- General & operations managers
- $105,360
- Elementary school teachers
- $99,260
- Secondary school teachers
- $98,810
- Accountants & auditors
- $84,920
- Web developers
- $81,350
- Carpenters
- $77,690
- Electricians
- $76,610
- Plumbers
- $68,130
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $59,500
- Construction laborers
- $58,500
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $50,000
- Customer service reps
- $48,110
- Janitors
- $40,780
- Retail salespersons
- $38,620
- Cashiers
- $37,390
- Waiters & waitresses
- $35,930
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Santa Cruz metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in California are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Indiana320
- Washington319
- Arizona300
- Georgia267
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Santa Cruz
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Santa Cruz metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Santa Cruz metro?
- Median gross rent across the Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Metro Area is $2,293 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Santa Cruz.
- What is the median household income in the Santa Cruz metro?
- A typical household in the Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Metro Area earns $107,893 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Santa Cruz expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Metro Area runs about 10% above the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are higher than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Santa Cruz metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $98,177 (versus its face value of $107,893). CityLedger rates the Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Santa Cruz metro?
- The median home value across the Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Metro Area is $985,800 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Santa Cruz metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Metro Area is 5.5% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).