City of Santa Cruz

Name

City of Santa Cruz

Legal name

City of Santa Cruz

Website

https://cityofsantacruz.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Municipal Government Services

NAICS

Executive Offices (92111), Regulation and Administration of Transportation Programs (926120), Administration of Housing Programs, Urban Planning, and Community Development (9251), Justice, Public Order, and Safety Activities (922)

SIC

Electric, Gas & Sanitary Services (4900), Refuse Systems (4953)

akta.pro primary industry

Mayor/City Manager & General Administration (BPAIACAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Local Transportation, Parking & Mobility Administration (BPAIACAM), Municipal Tax & Revenue Administration (Local) (BPAIACAD), Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services (BPAIACAI), Public Works & Municipal Infrastructure (Streets, Stormwater, Facilities) (BPAIACAF)

Keywords

• Municipal government services
• Public safety services
• Water utility services
• Parks and recreation
• Public transportation services

Headquarters

HQ city

Santa Cruz

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Others

Revenue model

1. Measure Z Sugary Drink Tax: Two-cent-per-fluid-ounce excise tax on beverages with added caloric sweeteners, collected from distributors, supporting the city's General Fund. Approved by voters in November 2024 and upheld by Sacramento County Superior Court in June 2026.
2. General Fund Revenue: The Measure Z tax revenue supports the city's General Fund, which funds essential municipal services including public safety, infrastructure, and community programs.

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The City of Santa Cruz is a municipal government that delivers essential public services to residents and businesses within its jurisdiction. Core offerings include public safety (police, fire), Santa Cruz Municipal Utilities (water), resource recovery, parking services and enforcement, transportation (bus service and the Santa Cruzer Beach & Downtown Shuttle), parks and recreation, libraries, animal services, housing assistance, homelessness response, business licensing and permitting, and code/building inspections.

Product overview

The City of Santa Cruz operates as a municipal government entity providing public services to residents rather than offering commercial technology products. The city's digital presence consists of a government services portal (santacruzca.gov) that provides access to municipal services including Santa Cruz Municipal Utilities (SCMU), resource recovery, parking services, public safety (police, fire), transportation (bus service, shuttle), housing assistance, homelessness response, and community development services. No commercial software products, platforms, or modules are offered.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Santa Cruz Municipal Utilities (SCMU)

Quantifiable outcome

• Two-cent-per-fluid-ounce excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages now in effect, collected from distributors to support General Fund

Named customers3 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• American Red CrossminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 July 2026Partnership with American Red Cross for Hearts in the Parks Blood Drive events. Santa Cruz Parks & Recreation hosts blood donation events in collaboration with the Red Cross to engage community members in giving back.
• Cabrillo CollegeminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 April 2026UCSC partnership with Cabrillo College as part of the Long Range Business Plan for student housing expansion, providing 600+ beds through this educational institution collaboration.
• City and County of Santa CruzcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 October 2025Partnership between the City and County of Santa Cruz to support the opening of Harvey West Studios, a 120-unit supportive housing development. Working together to identify sustainable approaches to meet ongoing community needs for essential homeless services as Housing Matters transitions to the new facility.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• City of Berkeley: Mid-sized California municipality that pioneered voter-approved excise taxes, including the nation's first soda tax (2015). Highly comparable to City of Santa Cruz on policy innovation, ballot-measure funding model, and progressive coastal California governance.
• City of Palo Alto: Smaller California city operating its own municipal utilities, parking, and community-development functions. Directly comparable to Santa Cruz in size, council-manager governance, and provision of utility and recreation services.
• City of Davis: California college-town municipality anchored by UC Davis with similar student-housing, sustainability, and bicycle-infrastructure priorities. Closely comparable to Santa Cruz in demographic profile, university partnership model, and progressive policy orientation.
• City of Sacramento: California capital city of comparable population scale offering the same breadth of municipal services (police, fire, utilities, parks and recreation, parking, transportation) and operating under a council-manager governance structure like Santa Cruz.
• City of Oakland: Mid-sized California coastal city facing similar housing affordability, public safety, and homelessness challenges. Operates an equivalent portfolio of municipal services (police, fire, parks, utilities, parking) at a comparable scale.

Regional players

• City of Capitola: Adjacent municipality within Santa Cruz County that operates an overlapping but smaller service portfolio (police, parking, recreation, public works). Provides a direct regional peer for cross-jurisdictional service coordination.
• City of Scotts Valley: Santa Cruz County neighbor offering a comparable set of municipal services (police, parks and recreation, building, planning) at a smaller scale. Useful regional benchmark for service delivery efficiency in the same county.

Broad incumbents

• City of San Jose: Largest California municipal operator; runs water, parking, airports, and convention-center-adjacent services. Useful broad-incumbent comparator for organizational scope and large-scale service delivery, though at a materially greater scale.
• City of San Francisco: Larger California municipal peer with an analogous service portfolio (utilities, parking, transit, parks, libraries, public safety). Provides broad-incumbent reference point for service delivery models at scale, though substantially larger and more complex than Santa Cruz.

Others

• County of Santa Cruz: Upper-tier government partner and collaborator on Harvey West Studios housing development and homelessness response. Functions as an enabling/ecosystem partner rather than direct competitor, sharing service responsibilities for health, housing, and social services across the same geography.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/cityofsantacruz
• Instagraminstagram.com/officialcityofsantacruz
• Xx.com/cityofsantacruz
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/city-of-santa-cruz

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about City of Santa Cruz