Santa Cruz, CA (Banana Belt / Upper Ocean)

How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.

The neighbors in the Banana Belt / Upper Ocean neighborhood in Santa Cruz are wealthy, making it among the 15% highest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 85.3% of the neighborhoods in America. With 15.0% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 61.4% of U.S. neighborhoods.

What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.

In the Banana Belt / Upper Ocean neighborhood, 53.3% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 18.5% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (14.2%), and 13.1% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.

Languages

The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the Banana Belt / Upper Ocean neighborhood is English, spoken by 70.0% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish, Italian, Chinese and Arabic.

Ethnicity / Ancestry

Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.

In the Banana Belt / Upper Ocean neighborhood in Santa Cruz, CA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Mexican (20.0%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (13.8%), and residents who report German roots (12.4%), and some of the residents are also of Irish ancestry (11.7%), along with some Italian ancestry residents (7.2%), among others. In addition, 17.0% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.

Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in Banana Belt / Upper Ocean neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (43.2% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.

Here most residents (63.0%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (9.0%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.