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Santa Cruz is the county seat of Santa Cruz County, California, United States.

As of the 2000 census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 54,593. It is located on the northern edge of the Monterey Bay, about 60 mi (100 km) south of San Francisco.

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Santa Cruz is located at 36°58'19" North, 122°1'35" West (36.972050, -122.026252)sup .

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 40.4 km² (15.6 mi²). 32.5 km² (12.5 mi²) of it is land and 8.0 km² (3.1 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 19.67% water.

Santa Cruz, also known as Surf City USA, experiences a Mediterranean climate, with mild summers due to coastal fog. Winters tend to be rainy, although periodic droughts have occurred in recent years.

of 2000, there are 54,593 people, 20,442 households, and 10,404 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,682.2mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 78.74% White, 1.73% African American, 0.86% Native American, 4.90% Asian, 0.13% Pacific Islander, 9.14% from other races, and 4.50% from two or more races. 17.39% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 20,442 households out of which 25.1% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.0% are married couples living together, 9.6% have a female householder with no husband present, and 49.1% are non-families. 29.3% of all households are made up of individuals and 7.6% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.44 and the average family size is 2.98.

In the city the population is spread out with 17.3% under the age of 18, 20.5% from 18 to 24, 32.6% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 8.5% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 32 years. For every 100 females there are 99.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 97.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $50,605, and the median income for a family is $62,231. Males have a median income of $44,751 versus $32,699 for females. The per capita income for the city is $25,758. 16.5% of the population and 6.6% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 12.5% of those under the age of 18 and 4.8% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

The area was first settled by Ohlone Indians, who were Native American hunter-gatherers. Santa Cruz was colonized in the mid-1700s by the Spanish, who established both a mission (Mission Santa Cruz) and a secular settlement named Branciforte. The town was named, as many of the early Spanish settlements were, for the Catholic feast day on which it was founded. The Ohlones were concentrated by the Spanish into the mission and suffered a rapid decline due to diseases and overwork.

Santa Cruz was settled by Americans in the 19th century. Immigrants from Scotland, Italy, China and Portugal also added distinctive contributions to the area's culture. In the 19th century forestry and commercial fishing were primary industries, as well as dairy farming and leather production.

In the early 1970s, Santa Cruz was referred to as "The Murder Capital of the World" because there were two active serial killers and one mass murderer in town. These were Ed Kemper, Herbert Mullin, and John Linley Frazier respectively. Although the Victorian Homes inner city area around the Louden Nelson Center has been gentrified, the Beach Flats area next to the boardwalk still has high crime rates.

Santa Cruz is also notable for the extensive damage it suffered during the October 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which leveled the mostly unreinforced-brick downtown, killing five people. The downtown area, the Pacific Garden Mall, has been rebuilt almost from scratch, although a few weed-covered vacant lots remain. This same area is also a gathering place for Santa Cruz's population of young street people, along with numerous street entertainers.

In recent years, because of its proximity to Silicon Valley, Santa Cruz has supported a large high-technology population, particularly in the Scotts Valley area. Many workers from Silicon Valley live in Santa Cruz and the surrounding towns. The influx of workers from Silicon Valley, in combination with growing enrollment at the university, has caused growing traffic problems and a high cost of housing; Santa Cruz is regularly listed among the five most expensive housing markets in the United States.

"The Pacific Garden Mall in downtown Santa Cruz (Pictured here: one of the more eccentric residents, often referred to as "Umbrella Man," known for wearing pink, carrying a pink umbrella, and walking very slowly up The Pacific Garden Mall in downtown Santa Cruz (Pictured here: one of the more eccentric residents, often referred to as "Umbrella Man," known for wearing pink, carrying a pink umbrella, and walking very slowly up

Santa Cruz is home to the University of California, Santa Cruz, which was built starting in the 1960s as an 'alternative' campus with a residential college system based on the British system, (see University of Cambridge or University of Oxford). Overlooking Monterey Bay among the redwood trees, UCSC is arguably the most beautiful of the University of California campuses. UCSC was long known for its lack of letter grades and organized sports teams, although this has been changing in recent years, with letter grades being required in addition to Narrative Evaluations provided by the instructor. Their mascot is the banana slug. There are now also a number of NCAA division III sports programs, including tennis, waterpolo, basketball and soccer.

Santa Cruz, known as Surf City USA, is well-known for surfing, and is the home of O'Neill Wetsuits and Santa Cruz Surfboards (as well as Santa Cruz Skateboards and Santa Cruz Bicycles). The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is California’s oldest amusement park and a designated State Historic Landmark. The City of Santa Cruz, in Santa Cruz County, was the site of the first surfing in California, when three Hawaiian princes surfed on locally milled redwood boards at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River in 1885. Santa Cruz has 11 world-class surf breaks, including the point breaks over rock bottoms near Steamer Lane and Pleasure Point, which create some of the best surfing waves in the world. Home to the Lighthouse Surfing Museum at Steamer Lane, which continues to be staffed by docents such as Harry Mayo and others from the Santa Cruz Surfing Club who have surfed Santa Cruz waves since the 1930s, Santa Cruz hosts several surf contests drawing international participants each year, including the O'Neill Cold Water Classic, the International Longboard Association contest, and many others.

There are many outdoor activities near by things such as camping, hiking, rock climbing, and many more...

Santa Cruz is also home to KSCO 1080 AM, one of the last independent commercial radio stations in the country.

In addition to its reputation in surfing and skateboarding, Santa Cruz is known for other alternative sports such as disc golf. The De Laveaga Disc Golf Course hosts PDGA tournaments, including the annual Masters Cup. De Laveaga will also be the disc golf and discathon venue for the WFDF-sanctioned World Disc Games overall event to be held in Santa Cruz in July 2005.

Santa Cruz provides many great opportunities for birding (see bird list) and butterfly watching.

Shakespeare Santa Cruz annually has a summer festival at UC Santa Cruz. The festival typically does two Shakespeare plays and one other play every summer, many of which are performed in a unique outdoor space among the redwoods.

Santa Cruz is also home to the Cabrillo Music Festival.

Camper Van Beethoven was spawned in Santa Cruz.

The principal industries of Santa Cruz are agriculture, tourism, education (UCSC) and high technology. Santa Cruz is a center of the organic agriculture movement, and many specialty products such as artichokes, grown in the Castroville area. Tourist attractions include the classic Santa Cruz Boardwalk on the beach, the redwood forests, and unspoiled Monterey Bay, which is protected as a marine sanctuary. The best known local high-tech companies are The Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) (now Tarantella) and Plantronics. Giro bicycle helmets, the Good Earth Tea and Erik's Deli Cafe are also headquartered in Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz is served by the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District bus system and SCMTDValley Transportation Authority collaborated bus service to San Jose, California. Greyhound Lines bus service is another option for visiting Surf City.

The Santa Cruz, Big Trees and Pacific Railway runs from the boardwalk up to the Roaring Camp depot in Felton and nearby Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.

The county has one public use general aviation airport and several for private use, as shown in the list of Santa Cruz airports. The nearest airports for commercial travel include San Jose International Airport, Monterey Peninsula Airport, San Francisco International Airport, and Oakland International Airport.

As a center of liberal activism, Santa Cruz became one of the first cities in California to test the state's medical marijuana laws in court after the arrest of several medical marijuana proponents by the DEA. The case was ruled in favor of the growers, and Santa Cruz has continued to be a haven for medical and recreational pot smokers.

A pirate radio station, Free Radio Santa Cruz (FRSC 101.1 FM), has been in operation there for a decade.