Scotts Valley, California.
Typical home $1,233,968 (+2.7% in a year), asking rent $3,686 . Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$3,240 (+100%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $32,047 +3%
- $1,201,921$1,233,968 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $130,794 +12%
- $1,103,174$1,233,968 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.
- Scotts Valley$6,477
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 31 years.
Typical home values in Scotts Valley, CA rose 2.7% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Scotts Valley, Santa Cruz County, California
Scotts Valley is a city of 12,224 people in Santa Cruz County. Half its households earn more than $143,750 a year and half less, against $111,093 across Santa Cruz County; 6% of its people live below the poverty line. 74% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 26% 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 professional services.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Scotts Valley is a small city in Santa Cruz County, and its residents are older than in most of the country. Household incomes run well above the county's, and relatively few people live below the poverty line. Most homes are lived in by their owners, though both buying and renting here cost a good deal. A large share of adults hold a four-year degree.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, with many others in professional and business services, manufacturing and retail. Among the largest workplaces in town are Bay Photo, Scotts Valley Unified and HP. Many people work from home, and the typical commute is a moderate one. Unemployment across the county is a little higher than a year ago, and the number of jobs has slipped slightly.
Things to do. Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, a protected area, and Roaring Camp and Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad, a museum, are both a short drive away. So are Natural Bridges State Beach and Seacliff State Beach for a day by the water. Winters are mild and the summers warm, with little or no snow and a fair amount of rain over the year.
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- 5,036households
- 56%of adults have a degree
- 6%below the poverty line
- 25 mintypical commute
- 26%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, 4 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Scotts Valley
- Bay PhotoPhotofinishing labs235
- Scotts Valley UnifiedSchool district188FTE
- HPWorkstations, computer, manufacturing125
- Fox Factory Scotts Valley Disc DriveMotorcycles and parts manufacturing108
- SafewaySupermarkets and other grocery stores88
- TargetDiscount department stores86
- American Medical Response78
- Brookdale Scotts ValleyAssisted-living facilities without on-site nursing care facilities74
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 16 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,238 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); 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
- EarthquakesVery high
- Inland floodingVery high
- Landslidesrelatively high in parts of Scotts ValleyRelatively moderate
- Wildfirerelatively high in parts of Scotts ValleyRelatively 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 Scotts Valley’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.
Scotts Valley home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Scotts Valley$1,233,968
- 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 4 Scotts Valley 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.
- Scotts Valley28.54%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Scotts Valley48
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Scotts Valley12
Zip codes with a Scotts Valley address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Scotts Valley — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.