2BR rent: county vs state vs US
HUD FY2027 monthly gross FMR. State and U.S. values are population-weighted county means. Dollars per month.
LivingCostFacts / county
Santa Cruz County, CA: cost of living
Compare HUD rent benchmarks with household income in Santa Cruz County, California. These figures describe area-wide conditions rather than a personal budget.
Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA metro RPP: 109.9 (BEA 2024; U.S. = 100). Regional context, not a county-specific price estimate.
BEA 2024 · HUD FY2027 · ACS 2020–2024 · CPI through 2026-10
$4,254
2BR monthly rent
HUD FY2027
46.0%
Rent / household income
Annual 2BR FMR ÷ ACS median income
$111,093
Median household income
ACS 2020–2024
$1,027,500
Median home value
Owner-occupied homes, ACS 2020–2024
Read the local picture
Fair Market Rent (FMR) is HUD’s estimate of the 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality rental homes occupied by recent movers. It includes rent and most tenant-paid utilities. A household’s actual rent can differ substantially by neighborhood, lease and property.
Put the benchmark in context
The rent-to-income comparison uses 12 months of the 2BR FMR divided by median household income. It compares different vintages and all household types; it is not the share of renter households that are cost burdened.
Annual income vs annual 2BR rent
ACS 2020–2024 median household income and 12 × HUD FY2027 2BR FMR. Dollars per year; separate vintages and household groups.
Income remaining after this rent benchmark is $60,045 per year, before taxes, food, transport, health care and other expenses.
This county or equivalent belongs to the Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA metro area. Its 2024 metro-wide all-items RPP is 109.9. A metro RPP is not a county-specific price estimate.
The data in view
Monthly rent by bedroom
HUD FY2027 gross monthly FMR; includes most tenant-paid utilities. Dollars per month.
Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA: RPP components
BEA 2024 regional context; each category is compared with its own U.S. = 100 benchmark. These are not county price estimates or spending shares.
Black marker: U.S. benchmark = 100 in each row.
Monthly Fair Market Rent by bedroom
HUD 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality units; includes tenant-paid utilities except telephone, cable and internet. These are benchmarks, not asking-rent medians.
| Home size | FY2027 monthly gross rent |
|---|---|
| Studio | $3,230 |
| 1 bedroom | $3,390 |
| 2 bedrooms | $4,254 |
| 3 bedrooms | $5,531 |
| 4 bedrooms | $5,748 |
Homeownership and population
Property taxes are for owner-occupied homes, not a renter charge. A + marks a Census top-coded estimate.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Median annual real estate taxes paid | $6,538 |
| Population used for weighting (HUD pop2024) | 264,926 |
Compare rent and income
State and U.S. rents are population-weighted means of available county benchmarks; income is the published ACS median.
| Area | 2BR rent / month | Median household income |
|---|---|---|
| Santa Cruz County | $4,254 | $111,093 |
| California | $2,632 | $99,122 |
| United States | $1,761 | $80,734 |