Uprootmap
Santa Cruz, CA
$630after tax and rent
Photo: Michael / Wikimedia, CC BY 2.0
On a $83,730 household paycheck in Santa Cruz.
Modelled metro
So you know: homicide deaths in Santa Cruz are under the US rate in this release, 3.1 versus 6.5 per 100,000. CDC via County Health Rankings, CDC NVSS 2017–2023 (CHR 2025 release).
Move Score
52
Each row is 0–100. The Move Score is their weighted average, rounded, and it stops at 99. Rent is only in Housing. Jobs is off when the paycheck is the same in every city. Schools is off when there are no kids.
The 6 rows that are on. Their weighted average is 52.2, and that is the score, rounded, up to 99. Rows that are off stay out. The percent on each row is its weight. Tap a row to see what it measures. How the score is weighted
Example household
Example: $83,730, same pay in every city · One adult, renting a 1-bedroom
These figures are projections built from available public data. Conditions change, and the numbers may not reflect current prices, taxes, or immigration rules. Check official sources before you make decisions.
After tax and rent
$630
Home city
Not picked
Salary
$83,730
Same everywhere
Top things to do in Santa Cruz
More in Santa Cruz
Photo: Josta Photo / Wikimedia, CC BY 2.0 Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
Amusement park in Santa Cruz, California
Photo: jdlrobson / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 Hinds House
Historic building in Santa Cruz, California, US
Stats
- Rent
- $3,141
- 2 bd median
- Take-home
- $5,327
- Per month
- Tax
- 24%
- Of pay
- Prices
- 8% above
- US, besides rent
Next
$630 / mo
The month
One earner. 1 bd.
See full breakdown
- Taxes$1,651
- Rent$2,638
- Other$2,059
- Left$630
Pay and tax, per year
- Gross household pay
- $83,730
- Federal income tax
- −$9,591
- Social Security and Medicare
- −$6,405
- State income tax (CA)
- −$3,814
- Take-home pay
- $63,920
- Effective tax rate
- 23.7%
Living costs, per month
- Rent, 1br
- $2,638
- Groceries
- $433
- Getting around
- $489
- Healthcare
- $487
- Utilities and internet
- $271
- Everything else
- $379
- Total spending
- $4,697
After tax and rent
$630 left/mo
Working remotely
If the paycheck stays the same
One adult, one bedroom, $120,000 held flat in every city. That leaves $2,475 a month here after tax and rent. One-bedroom rent in that math is $2,638.
- Work from home
- 12.7% of workers
- ACS 2024 1-year
- Home internet
- 79.1% of households
- Cable, fiber optic, or DSL
- Paid to move, remote job
- No open remote grant on this metro
Worked-from-home share is from ACS 2024 1-year. Internet is households with cable, fiber optic, or DSL, from ACS 2023 5-year.
The place
27 min commute. One car.
- Weather
- Not shown for this metro.
- Getting around
- One car
- Average commute
- 27 minutes each way
- Size
- 266k people
- Buying instead
- Median home $1,015,200. About $6,990/mo with 20% down.
- Taxes
- California income tax tops out at 12.30%. Sales tax 8.8%, property tax 0.62%.
Schools
- Students
- 37,712
- Pupils per teacher
- 21.1
- Districts
- 18
- Pajaro Valley Unified16,588 students
- Santa Cruz City High4,467 students
- Ocean Grove Charter District3,378 students
- San Lorenzo Valley Unified2,238 students
- Scotts Valley Unified2,126 students
NCES 2024-2025. The district count is every public district in the metro. The names are the largest 5.
Compare Santa Cruz
Pick a home cityExplore more
Moving from Santa Cruz
Take-home by job in Santa Cruz
- Registered nurse
- Software developer
- Elementary school teacher
- High school teacher
- Accountant / auditor
- Truck driver (heavy)
- Electrician
- Civil engineer
- Lawyer
- Police officer
- Financial analyst
- Pharmacist
- Product / project manager
- Physical therapist
- Nurse practitioner
- Physician
- Construction manager
- Data scientist
- Firefighter
- Mechanical engineer
Other California metros
- Los Angeles, CA
PaycheckHousingCostsDaily lifeKidsMove costCost of livingTake-home
- Riverside, CA
PaycheckHousingCostsDaily lifeKidsMove costCost of livingTake-home
- San Francisco, CA
PaycheckHousingCostsDaily lifeKidsMove costCost of livingTake-home
- San Diego, CA
PaycheckHousingCostsDaily lifeKidsMove costCost of livingTake-home
- Napa, CA
PaycheckHousingCostsDaily lifeKidsMove costCost of livingTake-home
- Hanford, CA
PaycheckHousingCostsDaily lifeKidsMove costCost of livingTake-home
- El Centro, CA
PaycheckHousingCostsDaily lifeKidsMove costCost of livingTake-home
- Redding, CA
PaycheckHousingCostsDaily lifeKidsMove costCost of livingTake-home
Questions
How is take-home pay in Santa Cruz calculated?
Santa Cruz is in California, which taxes wage income. Take-home is a local salary minus federal tax, payroll tax, and that state tax. Leftover is what remains after rent and bills.
What does rent cost in Santa Cruz?
About $2,638 for a one-bedroom and $3,141 for a two-bedroom in Santa Cruz, CA. Santa Cruz averages 247 sunny days, a July high of 77°F, and a 27-minute commute.
How do I compare Santa Cruz with another city?
Put Santa Cruz next to another city on the same job and household. The gap is the tax bill and the rent.
Also look at
Estimate, not a quote. How we figure this.