City vs city
Boulder Creek vs Santa Cruz, CA
Boulder Creek currently scores 4 points higher overall than Santa Cruz, with the largest gap in flood.
Use this comparison for relocation decisions, insurance shopping, and hazard-prioritized mitigation planning.
Hazard breakdown
Scores describe each city’s reference grid tile, not every property. A missing model is unavailable, not zero risk. Air quality uses an ingested EPA AirNow snapshot and may not reflect current conditions; other factors describe baseline exposure. The overall score blends different hazards and is not a probability of damage. Read the scoring methodology and sources.
Overall
Boulder Creek: 24/100 · Santa Cruz: 20/100
Boulder Creek is 4 points higher.
Flood
Boulder Creek: 26/100 · Santa Cruz: 13/100
Boulder Creek is 13 points higher.
Boulder Creek: FEMA NFHL flood zones: 1 features intersect this tile.
Santa Cruz: FEMA NFHL flood zones: 5 features intersect this tile.
Wind
Boulder Creek: 2/100 · Santa Cruz: 1/100
Boulder Creek is 1 points higher.
Boulder Creek: Wind exposure derived from ingested design wind / climatology tiles.
Santa Cruz: Wind exposure derived from ingested design wind / climatology tiles.
Lightning
Boulder Creek: 0/100 · Santa Cruz: 0/100
No gap.
Boulder Creek: Lightning exposure derived from ingested climatology tiles.
Santa Cruz: Lightning exposure derived from ingested climatology tiles.
Tornado
Boulder Creek: 0/100 · Santa Cruz: 12/100
Santa Cruz is 12 points higher.
Boulder Creek: Tornado risk derived from NOAA SPC historical reports.
Santa Cruz: Tornado risk derived from NOAA SPC historical reports.
Hail
Boulder Creek: 5/100 · Santa Cruz: 10/100
Santa Cruz is 5 points higher.
Boulder Creek: Hail risk derived from NOAA SPC historical reports.
Santa Cruz: Hail risk derived from NOAA SPC historical reports.
Storm surge
Boulder Creek: Unavailable · Santa Cruz: Unavailable
A score difference cannot be calculated without both sources.
Boulder Creek: Storm surge model is not available for this location yet.
Santa Cruz: Storm surge model is not available for this location yet.
Wildfire
Boulder Creek: 66/100 · Santa Cruz: 58/100
Boulder Creek is 8 points higher.
Boulder Creek: Wildfire exposure derived from ingested fire potential tiles.
Santa Cruz: Wildfire exposure derived from ingested fire potential tiles.
Ingested air quality
Boulder Creek: 20/100 · Santa Cruz: 23/100
Santa Cruz is 3 points higher.
Boulder Creek: Air quality score derived from the latest ingested EPA AirNow AQI grid; may not reflect current conditions. See methodology for the recorded ingest date.
Santa Cruz: Air quality score derived from the latest ingested EPA AirNow AQI grid; may not reflect current conditions. See methodology for the recorded ingest date.