2025 Compare Cities Rankings:
Boone, NC vs Santa Cruz, CA

#18 Most Competitive Public Colleges

#27 Best Green Cities

#41 America's Best and Worst Cities for Crime (Mid-Size Metro Areas)

#124 2005 Best Places to Live

Not sure where they got the rents from. Maybe not updated as there is nowhere to rent in Boone. Unless a student and they are paying $1000+ for 1 bedroom/bath shared  More

Boone and the High Country's climate is unique to North Carolina and the Southeast. It's cool summers and snowy winters are much more comparable to places much farther  More

The area is beautiful - living in the Blue Ridge Mountains is gorgeous. But .. the views don't pay the bills. Housing is overpriced. You are better off living  More

I lived in the Santa Cruz area for 20 years. UCSC alum. Our kids were born there. There are wonderful things about Santa Cruz, but also many serious problems that we  More

I have been here for four generations! My kids are the fifth. I guess that should tell you how wonderful it is here, at least for us. It's so cool to have world class  More

I was born over the hill in San Jose area, and as a kid I loved coming over to the boardwalk. Santa Cruz has always been and always will be a town of diversity,  More