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

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Highlights
Is it cheaper to live in Chico or is it cheaper to live in Santa Cruz?
- Chico is 40.7% less expensive than Santa Cruz.

Which city has more affordable housing, Chico or Santa Cruz?
- Chico housing costs are 65.4% less expensive than Santa Cruz housing costs.

Is Health Care more affordable in Santa Cruz or is Health Care more affordable in Chico.
- Health related expenses are 10.6% more in Chico.
 Santa Cruz, CAChico, CAUnited States
 Overall  Unlock110.3100
 Food & Groceries111.5  Unlock100
 Health  Unlock120.8100
 Housing420.7  Unlock100
 Median Home Cost  Unlock$440,000$338,100
 Utilities94  Unlock100
 Transportation  Unlock84.9100
 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 Chico    31 Reviews

Chico is imperfect like most places, but it's still good. Any and all of it's issues proceed from it's main fault of growing increasingly liberal, which is to be  More

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Uuwuu · 
Over 3 years ago

Chico's decent. I've been living here for ~5 years now. Eveen though my brother loves Chico and would like to stay, I would like to leave. I have no issues with crime or  More

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I was born in Oroville and I grew up in Oroville and Biggs. I have heard all my life about crime in chico. Well I have lived in Chico near Chapman for almost 10 years  More

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