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Real Estate Prices & Overview

Opal Cliffs median real estate price is $995,378, which is more expensive than 45.3% of the neighborhoods in California and 71.0% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.

The average rental price in Opal Cliffs is currently $4,251, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 77.9% of the neighborhoods in California.

Opal Cliffs is an urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Santa Cruz, California. This is a coastal neighborhood (i.e., is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet).

Opal Cliffs real estate is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to medium sized (three or four bedroom) single-family homes and mobile homes. Most of the residential real estate is occupied by a mixture of owners and renters. Many of the residences in the Opal Cliffs neighborhood are older, well-established, built between 1940 and 1969. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.

Opal Cliffs has a 9.9% vacancy rate, which is well above average compared to other U.S. neighborhoods (higher than 61.1% of American neighborhoods). Most vacant housing here is vacant year round. This could either signal that there is a weak demand for real estate in the neighborhood or that large amount of new housing has been built and not yet occupied. Either way, if you live here, you may find many of the homes or apartments are empty.

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.

Real Estate

Opal Cliffs is a neighborhood that is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet. Many times, such places have amenities that bring locals and visitors to the waterfront for recreational activities or to check out the scenery. In some densely populated areas that are less financially well-off, the neighborhood waterfront can be relatively industrial and less open to recreation. In addition to being coastal, Opal Cliffs is a very nautical neighborhood, meaning that it is somewhat historic, walkable, densely populated and on the water. This gives the neighborhood a very nautical feel, with some seaside and shipping feel, which some may really enjoy the sights and sounds of.

Modes of Transportation

Would you like to be able to ride your bike to work? If you are attracted to the idea of getting a little exercise of the two-wheeled type while reducing your carbon footprint, bicycling to work might be the answer. But which neighborhood you live in can make this either impossible, or alternatively, a great and realistic option. NeighborhoodScout's analysis revealed that the Opal Cliffs neighborhood is a fantastic option for bicycle commuters, as 3.3% of commuters here do ride their bikes to and from work on a daily basis. This is a higher amount than we found in 96.3% of the neighborhoods in America.

Diversity

Did you know that the Opal Cliffs neighborhood has more Swedish and Lithuanian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 5.9% of this neighborhood's residents have Swedish ancestry and 1.4% have Lithuanian ancestry.

The Neighbors

There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.

The neighbors in the Opal Cliffs neighborhood in Santa Cruz are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 63.3% of the neighborhoods in America. With 15.7% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 61.5% 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 Opal Cliffs neighborhood, 52.0% 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 26.3% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (14.2%), and 7.5% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.

Languages

The most common language spoken in the Opal Cliffs neighborhood is English, spoken by 83.2% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (12.9%).

Ethnicity / Ancestry

Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.

In the Opal Cliffs neighborhood in Santa Cruz, CA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (18.2%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (12.3%), and residents who report Mexican roots (11.8%), and some of the residents are also of German ancestry (10.7%), along with some Italian ancestry residents (7.1%), among others. In addition, 11.2% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.

Getting to Work

How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in Opal Cliffs neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (42.8% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.

Here most residents (61.0%) 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 (11.8%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.


Real Estate includes:
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Commute To Work
Migration & Mobility
Race & Ethnic Diversity
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Crime includes:
Neighborhood Crime Index
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Schools include:
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