Is Santa Cruz A Good Place for Single 20s Male? (San Diego: apartment, townhouse)

[KingSpring85]

Hello,

I am a 23 year old single male finishing my nursing home licensure back East who has always had a fascination with Cali and it's lifestyle. As much as I would love to live in San Francisco or San Diego, recent graduates with minimal experience have much easier times finding adequate jobs in smaller, less desirable markets like Santa Cruz, particularly in my field of nursing home administration. A lead presented itself regarding a job in the S.C. area that may be opening up and I need your expertise to decide if it is worth pursuit.

Is Santa Cruz weather as good as I think? A lot of sun, temperate
I play tennis and golf. Is the community active in these senses?
Can $80,000/year afford me a nice apartment/townhouse?
Is there a prevalent population of attractive, educated women in the area?
If you were a single mid-20s male with a respectable job, would you want to live in SC?

Thanks for your help. I have family in nearby San Jose so if you think this could be a good fit I will pursue it further.

[StandingRoomOnly]

Santa Cruz weather is on the foggier side--and if you are looking for a lot of sunshine, I'd advise moving elsewhere--southern CA would be better fit if you are looking for sunny beaches.

Will you find places to play golf and tennis in the area? Yes, but Santa Cruz is more of a hippie culture at heart (not preppy), a Berkeley-by-the-sea so-to-speak--disc golf and surfing is more in-line with Santa Cruz than golf and tennis.

I think you are better off looking elsewhere, being a 23 year old looking for more of a golf and tennis sort of culture and sunny weather...thought about Santa Barbara? That may be a good fit for you.

[bigdumbgod]

If you have something lined up for $80k, give it a try (few come in with this luxury). You can always move if it ain't all that.

[marcopolo666]

Originally Posted by KingSpring85

Is Santa Cruz weather as good as I think? A lot of sun, temperate
I play tennis and golf. Is the community active in these senses?
Can $80,000/year afford me a nice apartment/townhouse?
Is there a prevalent population of attractive, educated women in the area?
If you were a single mid-20s male with a respectable job, would you want to live in SC?

Thanks for your help. I have family in nearby San Jose so if you think this could be a good fit I will pursue it further.

1st, if you have family in San Jose that you can "impose on" for a few months, live with them for 2-4 months and save money for your rental. The commute SJ->SC is "opposite commute" and a breeze (easy in both morning and evening, unless you by "Santa Cruz" you mean "have to take highway 1 towards Soquel" Or "San Jose" means "taking highway 85 east towards highway 17"). That way you can put money aside for a few months and save for car/rental.

SC weather is temperate : not freezing in winter, not boiling in summer. The summer often has overcast skies in the morning, and it can rain crazy-lot in Jan-Mar.

$80K/yr is fine. If worst comes to worst, use Craigslist > Cities to find a room for the first few months until you can get the lay of the land.

By definition, there are never *enough* attractive, educated women in any area, unfortunately. There's a university (UCSC) so there are 20-21 year old females, and graduate students.

I was an early-20s guy in SC and had a blast (a long, long time ago).

Some people complain about how "horrible" SC is, and I don't get it. Try living in west Richmond CA (like I did) - SC is a dream compared to that.

[Ruth4Truth]

idk, I vote for the Santa Cruz area, I think you have the right idea, OP. You're asking if a community full of college students with an active beach and surfing scene is good for a 20-something male? It was designed with your demographic in mind, tailor-made!

[Billy Millennium]

Not really. Wouldn't live there unless you're into the hipster or alternative scene. UCSC isn't known for having attractive girls and those would probably be your targets. The beach (although best in the Bay Area) isn't that great. Really scenic but water temps aren't as good as down south.

As someone else mentioned, check out Santa Barbara. Nicer and cleaner city, better weather, and more fun/easier to meet people I'm sure. Girls will be much better down there (and wearing less) and it's more normal. Both SC and SB are pricey; so if you're gonna spend the cash choose wisely. I'd even do San Luis Obispo over Santa Cruz; but Santa Barbara would probably be tops as far as far as liveliness.

[tstieber]

It's true that Santa Barbara is a much nicer and more upscale city than SC, but both have their appeal. SB is more high-end and clean, whereas SC is a little more alternative and will offer more in terms of live music and stuff like that. Both have some homeless people, and both have college influences. Both are a little cut off from major metro areas (SC is 30 minutes to Silicon Valley, and 90 minutes to SF), and SB is about 45-60 minutes from Malibu and LA. Both cities have huge surf cultures, but I'd say SC is probably bigger. If you like water sports, including paddleboarding and that sort of stuff, SC has pretty gentle conditions for it, but water temps do stay cold even in summer, although SB water temps are also cold, just a little tiny bit less cold. Weather is really decent in both places, with SB being a bit sunnier in winter but not as much difference as you'd think. In January, SB averages 65F to SC's 61F, and in August, SB averages 76F to SC's 74F. The last few days have been as warm as 80F in Santa Cruz, so even winter gets some warm spells each year despite being farther north. Both cities have prevalent fog in the mornings and evenings.

If you want to know about tennis courts, I'd check tennismaps.com. SC seems to have a reasonable but not enormous number of courts, especially compared to the Bay Area, which has vast numbers of courts. But I'm sure there are enough once you find the ones you like. And you can play year-round.

SC seems to have a few golf courses in town, and while I'm no expert, I think Pasatiempo is well known. But then there are other in Aptos, Pajaro Dunes, and of course the really famous ones at Pebble Beach to the south. And you could also head out for the day to courses in the Bay Area. Close to SC would be ones in Scotts Valley, the Ritz-Carlton links at Half Moon Bay, and then gazillions of them throughout Silicon Valley/South Bay and the Peninsula that aren't too far. So for golf, you'd probably have a handful around SC proper and dozens within an hour.

I think overall, SC would only be a good place to live full-time if you really loved the beach and beach culture. Can't comment on the girls, but given that it's a college town, people will be coming from all over so it won't just be vegan granola chicks. Yes, that element exists, but there are also mainstream people.

[gemstone1]

"recent graduates with minimal experience have much easier times finding adequate jobs in smaller, less desirable markets like Santa Cruz"

Personally, I would not class Santa Cruz as "less desirable"....that would bring to mind, Bakersfield, Barstow, Needles, Fresno, El Centro, etc. on the extreme end, and Watsonville, Salinas on the more moderate "less desirable"....but you are right, as a less experienced health care worker, you have to be willing to go where more experienced folks won't. If you are weighing Santa Cruz against Santa Barbara, then yes it would be less desirable....for high income retirees. Just my opinion.

Regards
Gemstone1

[chessgeek]

Capitola and Aptos just to the south of Santa Cruz will offer more mainstream or prep types than Santa Cruz proper. You may want to check those communities before making a final decision. FWIW, Capitola has Santa Cruz County's only enclosed mall good for those occasional rainy winter days (like today!).

[Senno]

OP: Do ya have a USTA ranking?

SC has a lively tennis scene, and you can play NorCal tennis tournaments if you are that active and wish to.

La Madrona is a nice little club I've played at over there, as well.

I'm not sure if they have any clay or grass courts if you are interested in such things.

I'm sure golf is prevalent over there as well. Although I've never golfed in the area.

Here's a link for ya for tennis info:

Places to play tennis in Santa Cruz, CA | Tennis Maps