2025 Compare Cities Job Market:
Merced, CA vs Santa Cruz, CA

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Highlights
- Job Growth in Santa Cruz has been positive.
- Santa Cruz has 4.8% more unemployment than Merced.
- Santa Cruz job growth has increased by 1.4% in the past 10 years.
 Merced, CASanta Cruz, CAUnited States
 Current Unemployment  Unlock4.5%6.0%
 Future Job Growth33.3%  Unlock33.5%
 Recent Job Growth  Unlock-9.8%-6.2%
 3 Yr. Job Growth-4.6%  Unlock-3.6%
 5 Yr. Job Growth  Unlock-7.8%-0.7%
 10 Yr. Job Growth6.0%  Unlock6.3%
Reviews for Merced    44 Reviews

Merced is totally slept on - you want a little bit of everything CA has to offer, at a fraction of the price of other CA cities? Merced is the place to go. The town  More

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Over 5 years ago

Good place to live. More affordable than most of california. The city is growing and there is alot of business and growth here. Moved from the Bay area years ago and  More

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Great place to live. Lots of progress and changes coming to the city. Great place to raise a family. UC Merced is expanding and businesses are investing. Downtown is  More

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Reviews for Santa Cruz    44 Reviews

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

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Over 5 years ago

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

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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

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