2025 Compare Cities Rankings:
Scotts Valley, CA vs Olympia, WA

#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

#1 Most Secure Places to Live in the U.S. (Mid-Size Metro Areas)

#4 Most Secure Places to Live 2011 (Mid-Size Cities)

#10 Safest Places from Natural Disasters

#16 2005 Best Places to Live

#36 Best Green Cities

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

We lived and worked in Scotts Valley for a number of years. It's a nice enough city, safe and clean unlike some areas of Santa Cruz. It's well managed and the schools  More

Great weather and small town feel but it is changing rapidly  More

Scotts Valley is an ideal, small town with many wonderful features. It's just 10 minutes from the beaches in nearby Santa Cruz yet doesn't get the wet fog because it's  More

We moved here from Kitsap Bremerton/Silverdale WA area and this beats it all the way in all material ways. The only reason not to give it 5 stars is the cost of  More

The city is horrible. The business have been chased out by homeless. The city government makes it for difficult for businesses to thrive. If you like what Seattle is  More

Having lived all over the world we decided to retire in Olympia and live on the Puget Sound. Yes it rains but the weather can change dramatically in a day with sun and  More