Felton, California.
Typical home $809,957 (+5.8% in a year), asking rent $2,962 . Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,951 (+85%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $44,735 +6%
- $765,223$809,957 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $50,329 +7%
- $759,628$809,957 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Felton$4,251
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 54 years.
Typical home values in Felton, CA rose 5.8% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Felton, Santa Cruz County, California
Felton, in Santa Cruz County, had 4,489 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $123,056 a year and half less, against $111,093 across Santa Cruz County; 4% of its people live below the poverty line. 76% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 24% are rented. Unemployment in Santa Cruz County was 5.3% in August 2026, and the county had 0.1% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Felton is a small community in Santa Cruz County where most homes are lived in by their owners, and household incomes run above the county's. Fewer residents live below the poverty line than you might expect for the region, and a large share of adults hold a four-year degree. Homes here are costly, and so is renting.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, professional and business services, and shops also employing many. A good number work from home, and the typical commute is a moderate one. Across Santa Cruz County, the largest workplaces include the University of California-Santa Cruz, Dominican Hospital and Pajaro Valley Unified, though the county's job market has been fairly flat and unemployment has eased slightly over the past year.
Things to do. Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park and the Roaring Camp and Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad both sit in or beside town, one a protected redwood area and the other a railroad museum. A short drive away are Natural Bridges State Beach and the Giant Dipper, a well-known seaside attraction. Winters are mild and wet with little or no snow, and summers turn hot by August.
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- 1,748households
- 61%of adults have a degree
- 4%below the poverty line
- 26 mintypical commute
- 24%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Santa Cruz County had 104,438 jobs in 2025, 0.1% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 64° and lows near 37°; warmest in August, with highs near 90° and lows near 51°. About 50 inches of rain a year, and little or no snow.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Ben Lomond #4 weather station, 3 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Santa Cruz County
- Granite ConstructionCorporate offices4,846
- University of California-Santa CruzUniversity or college4,465
- Pajaro Valley UnifiedSchool district1,927FTE
- Reiter Berry FarmsBerry farming1,600
- City of Santa Cruz CITY OF SANTA CRUZCity of santa cruz1,524
- Dominican HospitalGeneral hospital1,136FTE
- County of Santa CruzAdministration of public health programs789
- Cabrillo CollegeTwo-year college780
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 196 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 39,903 people in all across the county; Felton has two of its own. Colleges come from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24), school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Inland floodingVery high
- EarthquakesRelatively high
- Landslidesrelatively high in parts of FeltonRelatively moderate
- Wildfirerelatively high in parts of FeltonRelatively moderate
- Heat wavesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Felton’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Santa Cruz County and the Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA metro.
Felton home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Felton$809,957
- California$761,538
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 6 Felton listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Felton15.65%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Felton29
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Felton11
Zip codes with a Felton address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Felton — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.