Santa Cruz Demographics

Population

Santa Cruz County has a population of about 262,382 with the following population spread:

  • Santa Cruz City: 59,946
  • Watsonville: 51,199
  • Scotts Valley: 11,580
  • Capitola: 9,918

Approximately half (132,643) of the population lives in unincorporated Santa Cruz County.

Ethnicity

Ethnically, Santa Cruz is predominately White and Hispanic with the following break down:

  • White: 76.7%
  • Black or African American: 1.8%
  • Native American or Alaska Native: 2.1%
  • Asian: 6%
  • Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander: .5%
  • Other: 18.1%

Santa Cruz has a higher population of white citizens than the CA average with 56.6% compared to the state average of 42.5%. The percent of Hispanics in Santa Cruz is lower than the state, however, with Santa Cruz having 32% Hispanic residents, and the state having 34.8%. These statistics are current as of 2010.

Languages

Demographics are reflected in the language spoken statistics where 79.1% of households speak only English, while 20.9% speak a language other than English at home. These statistics are current as of 2011.

Ages

Santa Cruz has a total of 44,857 children between the ages of 0–14 with the 5–14 age group containing 30,011 of those children.
The complete Age group breakdown is as follows:

  • 15–24: 47,523
  • 25–44: 65,555
  • 45–64: 72,987
  • 65+: 29, 490

Source: 2007-11 American Community Survey

Gender

Gender-wise, Santa Cruz County has slightly more females than males, with 50.1% females (130,019) and 49.9% males (129,383)Education

Enrollment in schools and universities in Santa Cruz county are as follows:

  • K–12: 40,809
  • Cabrillo College: 14, 535
  • UC Santa Cruz: 17, 903 

Households

There are 93,834 households in Santa Cruz county. 47.5% of those households are married couples and 62.7% of all households are family households. The average family size in Santa Cruz is 3.22 people.

Households in Santa Cruz are broken down as follows:

  • 58,859 are Family Households
  • 27,533 have children under 18
  • 44,609 are married couples with 19,495 of those having children under 18 years of age
  • 10,099 householders are single women in Santa Cruz County and 5,911 have children under 18
  • 34,975 households are non-family households
  • 24,081 have one person living alone
  • 8,333 are households with both individuals who are 65 or older

These households are spread out in 104,278 housing units. Only 10,444 are currently vacant. Of the 93,834 in use, 55,702 are owner-occupied and 38,132 are renter-occupied.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2007-2011 American Community Survey

Veterans

There are 13,170 civilian veterans living in Santa Cruz.