About Santa Cruz County

Santa Cruz County - Incorporated in 1850; Population 251,747 (2007)

Santa Cruz County, located 60 miles south of San Francisco and 150 miles west of Fresno. This community housed one of the Monterey Bay's most important ports and had quickly become an epicenter of export oriented industries such as tanning and lumber. With this strong economic base, as well as the striking natural beauty of the region, it is no surprise that Santa Cruz has consistently had a progressive, modern economy.

Santa Cruz County has been at the forefront of major economic trends of this century. The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (founded in 1907) pioneered the tradition of beach recreation, which gave Duke Kahanamoku the venue to first exhibit and popularize surfing as a recreational sport in the continental United States . Local Santa Cruz electronics company Plantronics represented the strength of the city’s technological industries when they produced headsets for Mercury and Apollo space programs. These firms, and many others, form the economic base of Santa Cruz County .

 Location Map of Santa Cruz                      Map of Santa Cruz City & County 

About Cities in Santa Cruz County

Capitola- Incorporated 1949; Population 10,500 (2009)

Santa Cruz - Township 1866; Incorporated 1876; Population 54,778 (2007)

Scotts Valley - Incorporated 1966; 11,680 (2009)

Watsonville - Township 1868; Incorporated 1889; 48,709 (2006)  

Incorpation information courtesy of the Santa Cruz Public Library; Population numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, City of Capitola, City of Scotts Valley