Santa Cruz County, CA

Home values #

Typical home $1.1 m (Sep 2026), +4.8% over one year, +11.9% over five

• 99th pct · 15th of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 91st pct · 6th of 58 California counties · median $494,569
• counties in the Santa Cruz-Watsonville metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Santa Cruz-Watsonville metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), typical value of homes in the 35th to 65th percentile, smoothed and seasonally adjusted; a model estimate of value, not a sale price. Data through Zillow Research.

Rents #

Typical rent $3,469/mo (Sep 2026), +3.7% over one year; price-to-rent 27.3

• 99th pct · 12th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 91st pct · 5th of 48 California counties · median $2,448
• counties in the Santa Cruz-Watsonville metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Santa Cruz-Watsonville metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), smoothed, all homes and multifamily; price-to-rent = typical home / (typical rent × 12).

What the typical home costs to carry #

Principal and interest of $6,293 a month on $1,136,188 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $5,941 a month: 105.9% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $1.1 m × 80% = $908,950, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $6,293/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $1,371 × 52 / 12 = $5,941) = 106% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $1.1 m / ($1,371 × 52) = 15.9
• price-to-rent = $1.1 m / ($3,469 × 12) = 27.3

The wage is one covered job’s average, not a household’s income, so this is the share of a single paycheque and not a mortgage underwriting ratio.

Estimate. Principal and interest on the typical home with 20% down over 30 years at this week's Freddie Mac average rate; compared with the average weekly wage of all jobs covered by unemployment insurance in the area (BLS QCEW), which is pay per job, not household income.

Jobs & wages #

100,397 jobs at 10,804 employers (2026 Q1); +0.9% jobs and +1.3% average weekly wage over the year

• 90th pct · 297th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 56th pct · 26th of 58 California counties · median 74,865
• counties in the Santa Cruz-Watsonville metro: Rank context is unavailable: the manifest lists 1 counties in the Santa Cruz-Watsonville metro; fewer than 5 is too few to rank.

BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, all ownerships, total covered employment in the quarter's third month; over-the-year changes as published. Suppressed cells stay blank.

Drought #

No drought class at this point (USDM covers the United States only)

Sites found: 5, searched within 0 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 0 km away are not.

US Drought Monitor current week; the highest class of any polygon containing the point.

Reservoirs #

No reservoir gauges within 150 km (or the camera is above the gauge altitude)

Sites found: 0, searched within 150 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 150 km away are not.

Σ(capacity × percent full) / Σ capacity over TWDB reservoirs within 150 km. Texas only; elsewhere USGS reservoir elevation/storage is listed without a capacity to normalise by.

Stream gauges #

71 gauges · 0 flooding · 29 with quality panels averaging 84 % · 13 stale

Sites found: 71, searched within 75 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 75 km away are not.

USGS latest readings screened against EPA freshwater criteria (DO ≥ 5 mg/L, pH 6.5–9, conductance, turbidity, temperature); NWS flood categories where a NWPS gauge is co-located.

Groundwater #

5 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 5, searched within 75 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 75 km away are not.

USGS latest daily water levels. A single latest reading says where the table is, not which way it is moving; select a well for its 365-day trace.

Water stress #

low (0.06)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.00 + 0.2×0.16 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$8.0 bn in deposits at 39 offices of 10 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,724, moderately concentrated. $1.8 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $1.6 bn, grants $145.3 m), $18,069 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,724 across 10 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 10 banks with deposits in the county = 26.8² + 18.4² + 16.3² + … (7 more) = 1,724

FDIC Summary of Deposits: deposits at every insured office as of June 30, annual; HHI is the sum of squared county deposit shares (DOJ 1995 bank merger screen: 1000 / 1800). USAspending: obligations by place of performance for the latest complete federal fiscal year (Oct 1 to Sep 30), what agencies committed, not what they paid out; recipients are legal entities. Per-job divides obligations by BLS QCEW covered employment.

Federal obligations #

USAspending place-of-performance obligations for FY2026, by awarding agency.

That is $18,069 per covered job, against 100,397 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $1.8 bn / 100,397 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $18,069

USAspending obligations are recorded where the work is performed, so a prime award performed here is counted here even when the recipient is headquartered elsewhere. Recipients are legal entities, never people.

National context, not this county #

These are United States, single-gauge, single-state and port series. None of them is keyed to this county.

The indicator registry has no county-keyed series and no geographic selection: every entry is national, a named gauge, a single state or a port. They are here as the backdrop the county's own numbers move against, and they are never this county's readings.

What changed #

Santa Cruz County, CA: 18 findings, 5 at a watch level and 13 noted

1. watchSanta Cruz County, CA's years of wages of 15.9 ranks 14th of 3,063 US counties, a watch level here: years of wages in the top tenth of US counties (position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: yearsOfWages percentile = 99.5754408883083 >= 90
   • typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household

   position among the counties that published both a ZHVI value and a QCEW average weekly wage; not an official level

2. watchSanta Cruz County, CA's price-to-rent ratio of 27.3 ranks 45th of 1,358 US counties, a watch level here: price-to-rent in the top tenth of US counties (position among the counties that published both ZHVI and ZORI this month; not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: priceToRent percentile = 96.7575534266765 >= 90
   • typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month

   position among the counties that published both ZHVI and ZORI this month; not an official level

3. watchSanta Cruz County, CA's years of wages is 15.9, a watch level here: typical home value worth 10 or more years of one average covered wage (typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52), one average covered job rather than a household; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: yearsOfWages = 15.937099562262686 >= 10
   • typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household

   typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52), one average covered job rather than a household; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

4. watchSanta Cruz County, CA's price-to-rent ratio is 27.3, a watch level here: typical home value worth 25 or more years of typical rent (typical home value / (typical rent × 12), Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: priceToRent = 27.290757352383984 >= 25
   • typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month

   typical home value / (typical rent × 12), Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month; convention chosen for this dashboard, not an official level

5. watchSanta Cruz County, CA's covered employment of 100,397 scores 91 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 56 across California counties, a gap of 35 points.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 35 = |91 across US counties - 56 across California counties|

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

Read all 12 findings in the full brief

Every finding is produced by a fixed rule table and a fixed sentence for each rule. Nothing here is generated prose.