Jury Pool Profile

Santa Cruz County, California

Democratic +54 (2024)

Population: 266,021
Median household income: $109,266
Unemployment: 6.4%

Who sits on a jury?

Race & ethnicity

White alone 167,132 62.8%
Black or African American alone 2,545 1.0%
Asian alone 12,608 4.7%
American Indian / Alaska Native alone 2,641 1.0%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander alone 457 0.2%
Some other race alone 44,088 16.6%
Two or more races 36,550 13.7%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 93,116 35.0%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Age distribution

Median age 39.6

Under 18 49,902 18.8%
18–24 36,432 13.7%
25–44 63,937 24.0%
45–64 66,966 25.2%
65 and over 48,784 18.3%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Economic context

Local economy

Unemployment (12-mo): 6.4%; +0.91 pp vs. state
County GDP: $21.1B; 0.52% of state
Avg. annual pay: $67,622
Establishments: 10,171

U.S. BLS 2026M02 · U.S. BEA 2024 · BLS QCEW 2024

Top employment sectors

Average annual employment by supersector

Education & health services 30,654 29.3%
Trade, transportation & utilities 16,439 15.7%
Leisure & hospitality 14,759 14.1%
Professional & business services 9,506 9.1%
Manufacturing 7,903 7.6%
Natural resources & mining 7,464 7.1%
Construction 5,416 5.2%
Public administration 4,409 4.2%
Other services 4,115 3.9%
Financial activities 3,021 2.9%
Information 827 0.8%
Unclassified 1 0.0%

BLS QCEW 2024

Housing

Home ownership: 60.0%
Median gross rent: $2,172
Owner-occupied: 58,102
Renter-occupied: 38,771

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Political composition

Presidential results

2024 presidential · 134,135 votes cast

Democratic 100,998 75.3%
Republican 27,978 20.9%
Other / third-party 5,159 3.8%

Election results 2024

Languages, households, faith & health

Languages spoken at home

67.4% speak only English at home

Spanish 64,860 25.5%
Other Indo-European 4,385 1.7%
Chinese 2,893 1.1%
Other Asian/Pacific 2,105 0.8%
German 2,004 0.8%
Slavic languages 1,338 0.5%
French (incl. Cajun) 1,327 0.5%
Arabic 1,117 0.4%
Tagalog 927 0.4%
Other 743 0.3%
Korean 705 0.3%
Vietnamese 427 0.2%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Household composition

Households: 96,873
Family households: 61,150; 63.1% of households
Married w/ children: 46,439
Single-mother households: 4,227
Veterans: 8,560; 4% of civilians 18+

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Religious composition

39.5% overall adherence rate

Catholic 69,975 25.8%
Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 17,993 6.6%
Evangelical Protestant 13,282 4.9%
Mainline Protestant 3,093 1.1%
Black Protestant 1,386 0.5%
Orthodox 1,219 0.5%

US Religion Census 2020

Health & education

Health insured: 94.7%
With a disability: 11.2%
Bachelor's or higher: 43.6%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Court infrastructure

Trial court: Santa Cruz County Superior Court
Judges: 14 (Superior Court judges + commissioners; vintage 2026 courts.ca.gov per-court rosters and Judicial Council Court Statistics Report. Counts for the smallest rural counties (Alpine, Sierra, Mono, Modoc, Trinity, Mariposa, Colusa) are at or near the statutory authorized-judgeship floor per Cal. Gov. Code § 69590 et seq.)
Court seats: Santa Cruz

Court reference

Traffic safety context

California statewide totals, 2023 — not county-specific

Traffic fatalities: 25; 11.57 per 100k drivers
Fatal crashes: 24

NHTSA FARS 2023