2025 Compare Cities Cost of Living:
Santa Cruz, CA vs Alturas, CA

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Highlights
Is it cheaper to live in Alturas or is it cheaper to live in Santa Cruz?
- Alturas is 56.6% less expensive than Santa Cruz.

Which city has more affordable housing, Alturas or Santa Cruz?
- Alturas housing costs are 89.5% less expensive than Santa Cruz housing costs.

Is Health Care more affordable in Santa Cruz or is Health Care more affordable in Alturas.
- Health related expenses are 9.8% more in Alturas.
 Santa Cruz, CAAlturas, CAUnited States
 Overall  Unlock80.7100
 Food & Groceries111.5  Unlock100
 Health  Unlock119.9100
 Housing420.7  Unlock100
 Median Home Cost  Unlock$155,500$338,100
 Utilities94  Unlock100
 Transportation  Unlock76.4100
 Miscellaneous155.7  Unlock100
100 = National Average (Below 100 means cheaper than the US average. Above 100 means more expensive.)
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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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Reviews for Alturas    5 Reviews

Over 5 years ago

Crime seems unreasonably high for this area. Shame. Guess there is no place void of California’s problems. Even way up in the North out in the  More

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I visited there years ago and camped at Blue Lake in the Warner Mts. This is America as it was in the 1950's, minus all our modern  More

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Over 14 years ago

I am considering buying an acreage north of Alturas, could anyone tell me what the water table is for drilling? I would appreciate it. Also are there alot of timber 8  More

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