Santa Cruz County, CA: Foreclosures, Tax Liens & Distressed Properties

Santa Cruz County, CA, California: 17 ZIP codes scored, Santa Cruz County, CA averaging 24/100 (low, Santa Cruz, CA), from 22 to 24. Santa Cruz County, CA is in its peak phase (Santa Cruz, CA confidence 12/100): Santa Cruz, CA home prices up 1.4% (Santa Cruz, CA) over twelve months. Santa Cruz County, CA lender headwind: 51/100.

Highest-scoring Santa Cruz County, CA ZIPs: 95003 (24/100), 95005 (24/100), 95006 (24/100), 95007 (24/100), 95010 (24/100), 95017 (24/100). Also scored in Santa Cruz County, CA: 95018, 95019, 95041, 95060, 95062, 95064, 95065, 95066, 95073, 95076.

Across Santa Cruz County, CA's scored ZIPs: median home value $981,200, household income $110,636, 9.4% vacancy, 8.1% poverty, 62% owner-occupied, median age 41.4.

Santa Cruz County, CA insurance distress 60/100 (#906 in the US); FEMA hazard 50/100 for Santa Cruz, CA; 3 federal disaster declarations in Santa Cruz County, CA since 2023; 8 Santa Cruz, CA NFIP flood claims, $117K paid.

10 banks with 39 branches lend in Santa Cruz County, CA; Santa Cruz, CA weighted bank stress 63/100, highest 74/100 in Santa Cruz, CA.

Santa Cruz County, CA unemployment 5.3% (Santa Cruz, CA -1.9 pts, six months); 714 new housing units permitted in Santa Cruz County, CA over twelve months, Santa Cruz, CA up 91% from 374; Santa Cruz, CA home prices +5.4% a year (Santa Cruz, CA) over three years.

106,977 housing units in Santa Cruz County, CA; 38,771 Santa Cruz, CA renter households; 49% of Santa Cruz, CA renters spend 30%+ of income on rent, 28% (Santa Cruz, CA) half or more.

Santa Cruz County, CA ranks #2,815 nationally on the opportunity index (Santa Cruz, CA, among all ranked counties); Santa Cruz, CA scores 24.3/100 and Santa Cruz, CA sits #46 inside California. Santa Cruz, CA is in the weak opportunity phase; Santa Cruz, CA's primary driver is bank institutional, Santa Cruz, CA second driver vacancy; Santa Cruz, CA moved down 141 places. 10 short-sale listings across Santa Cruz, CA; 100 days on market observed in Santa Cruz, CA; 8.8% vacancy over 17 Santa Cruz, CA ZIPs.

0.3% of Santa Cruz County, CA mortgages were ninety-plus days late in December 2025; Santa Cruz, CA's thirty-to-eighty-nine-day share was 0.5% (CFPB county sample). Santa Cruz, CA's ninety-day rate is unchanged on twelve months earlier; the Santa Cruz, CA peak since 2008 was 4.5% in October 2009; California overall reads 0.5%.

Santa Cruz County, CA has 4 watched banks; 4 Santa Cruz, CA banks sit in an elevated band. Santa Cruz, CA footprints: West Coast Community Bank (5 branches, stress 38) in Santa Cruz, CA; Liberty Bank National Assn (2 branches, stress 74) in Santa Cruz, CA; Pacific Valley Bank (1 branch, stress 66) in Santa Cruz, CA.

HUD lists 12 assisted multifamily properties in Santa Cruz County, CA with 672 units; 371 Santa Cruz, CA units are assisted, 4 Santa Cruz, CA properties under project-based Section 8.

10,079 of the 106,977 housing units in Santa Cruz, CA sit vacant. Santa Cruz County, CA permitted 534 multifamily units in twelve months; Santa Cruz, CA's one-to-four unit structures added 180 units in Santa Cruz County, CA.