City vs city
Santa Cruz vs Scotts Valley, CA
Scotts Valley 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
Santa Cruz: 20/100 · Scotts Valley: 24/100
Scotts Valley is 4 points higher.
Flood
Santa Cruz: 13/100 · Scotts Valley: 27/100
Scotts Valley is 14 points higher.
Santa Cruz: FEMA NFHL flood zones: 5 features intersect this tile.
Scotts Valley: FEMA NFHL flood zones: 2 features intersect this tile.
Wind
Santa Cruz: 1/100 · Scotts Valley: 2/100
Scotts Valley is 1 points higher.
Santa Cruz: Wind exposure derived from ingested design wind / climatology tiles.
Scotts Valley: Wind exposure derived from ingested design wind / climatology tiles.
Lightning
Santa Cruz: 0/100 · Scotts Valley: 0/100
No gap.
Santa Cruz: Lightning exposure derived from ingested climatology tiles.
Scotts Valley: Lightning exposure derived from ingested climatology tiles.
Tornado
Santa Cruz: 12/100 · Scotts Valley: 8/100
Santa Cruz is 4 points higher.
Santa Cruz: Tornado risk derived from NOAA SPC historical reports.
Scotts Valley: Tornado risk derived from NOAA SPC historical reports.
Hail
Santa Cruz: 10/100 · Scotts Valley: 17/100
Scotts Valley is 7 points higher.
Santa Cruz: Hail risk derived from NOAA SPC historical reports.
Scotts Valley: Hail risk derived from NOAA SPC historical reports.
Storm surge
Santa Cruz: Unavailable · Scotts Valley: Unavailable
A score difference cannot be calculated without both sources.
Santa Cruz: Storm surge model is not available for this location yet.
Scotts Valley: Storm surge model is not available for this location yet.
Wildfire
Santa Cruz: 58/100 · Scotts Valley: 67/100
Scotts Valley is 9 points higher.
Santa Cruz: Wildfire exposure derived from ingested fire potential tiles.
Scotts Valley: Wildfire exposure derived from ingested fire potential tiles.
Ingested air quality
Santa Cruz: 23/100 · Scotts Valley: 22/100
Santa Cruz is 1 points higher.
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.
Scotts Valley: Air quality score derived from the latest ingested EPA AirNow AQI grid; may not reflect current conditions. See methodology for the recorded ingest date.