2025 Compare Cities Rankings:
Lompoc, CA 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

I grew up as a child in Lompoc in the 1960's. It was small town of about 18k with crime and shootings virtually unheard of. Dad sold his home on Third Street in 1995  More

I lived in this town for 7 years. It's a horrible trap! Over 1/3 of the town is on probation, Close to half of the town addicted to Meth, Heroin of Crack Cocaine (yes  More

Moved here from Philly two years ago and have no regrets. You do not need air conditioning, the weather very rarely is warmer than 75 degrees. You can easily find a nice  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