HomeCaliforniaSanta Cruz CountyWatsonville city
Watsonville city, California: commercial real estate data.
Watsonville city is a Census city of 51,712 people across 6.79 square miles of land, in Santa Cruz County. Median household income is $78,393, 44.8 percent of occupied homes are owned, and the SBA record carries 52 7(a) approvals to borrowers here worth $34.4 m.
82 sourced place values · tier FULL · 9 sections · underlined figures are computed by MMCG Analytics, not published by the agency
Watsonville
What Watsonville is
- Census place typecity
- Land area6.79 sq mi
- Water area0.1 sq mi
- Population per square mile of land7,620
- County holding the largest share of its areaSanta Cruz County, 100.0 percent
US Census Bureau, cartographic boundary file, places, 2024 vintage. US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Watsonville
How many people live in Watsonville
- Population51,712
- Median age33.8
- Population under 1815,062
- Share under 1829.1 percent
- Population 65 and over6,713
- Share 65 and over13.0 percent
- Households15,151
- Family households11,622
- Share of households that are families76.7 percent
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Watsonville
Income and work in Watsonville
- Median household income$78,393
- Per capita income$28,021
- Civilian labor force23,745
- Employed21,924
- Unemployed1,821 plus or minus 422
- Unemployment rate7.7 percent plus or minus 1.8
- Adults 25 and over31,114
- Adults 25 and over with a high school diploma or higher65.2 percent
- Adults 25 and over with a bachelor degree or higher12.4 percent
- Adults 25 and over with a graduate degree3.9 percent plus or minus 0.9
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Watsonville
Housing in Watsonville
- Housing units15,790
- Occupied units15,151
- Vacant units639 plus or minus 272
- Vacancy rate4.0 percent plus or minus 1.7
- Owner occupied6,793
- Renter occupied8,358
- Ownership rate44.8 percent
- Median owner-occupied home value$686,000
- Median gross rent, monthly$1,889
- Annual rent as a share of median income28.9 percent
- Single family units9,497
- Share single family60.1 percent
- Units in buildings of two or more5,178
- Share in buildings of two or more32.8 percent
- Mobile homes1,115 plus or minus 257
- Median year structure built1977
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Watsonville
How Watsonville gets to work
- Workers 16 and over who commute19,643
- Commuting under 15 minutes5,385
- Share commuting under 15 minutes27.4 percent
- Commuting 30 minutes or more7,234
- Share commuting 30 minutes or more36.8 percent
- Drove alone70.8 percent
- Carpooled16.0 percent
- Public transport1.4 percent plus or minus 0.7
- Walked1.3 percent plus or minus 0.6
- Worked from home6.4 percent plus or minus 1.5
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
Watsonville
SBA loans in Watsonville (7(a))
- Approvals52
- Gross approval$34,410,200
- Average approval$661,735
- Median approval$350,000
- Ninetieth percentile approval$1,470,000
- Largest approval$5,000,000
- Jobs supported643
- Jobs per approval12.4
- Loans with a final outcome9
- Paid in full8
- Charged off1
- Median term120 months
- Share on real estate terms of 20 years or more19.2 percent
- Share to franchises1.9 percent
- Distinct lenders22
- Distinct industries by NAICS33
A charge-off rate is not published here. only 9 resolved loans, too few to publish a rate, and a rate over that few outcomes would move several points on one loan.
US Small Business Administration, 7(a) FOIA release, FY2020 to FY2026 year to date, as of 2026-06-30.
Watsonville
SBA loans in Watsonville (504)
- Approvals27
- Gross approval$27,733,000
- Average approval$1,027,148
- Median approval$632,000
- Largest approval$3,678,000
- Jobs supported359
- Loans with a final outcome11
- Charged off0
- Charge-off rate over resolved loans0.0 percent
- Median term240 months
- Distinct CDCs7
US Small Business Administration, 504 FOIA release, FY2010 to FY2026 year to date, as of 2026-06-30.
Watsonville
Flood risk in Watsonville
- Listed NFIP communities1
- Of those, participating1
- Best Community Rating System classClass 8
- NFIP community number060357
- Currently effective map date05/16/12
FEMA, National Flood Insurance Program Community Status Book, Community Status Book, as retrieved.
Santa Cruz County, not Watsonville
Santa Cruz County context, not Watsonville figures
These are Santa Cruz County figures. There is no place level equivalent published for any of them, so they are shown as the county backdrop and never as Watsonville measurements.
- Establishments in Santa Cruz County7,136
- Employment at those establishments, Santa Cruz County80,209
- Covered employment, Santa Cruz County104,514
- Average annual pay, Santa Cruz County$67,622
- Average weekly wage, Santa Cruz County$1,300
- Housing units permitted, Santa Cruz County259
- Of those, single family, Santa Cruz County189
- County product, 2024, Santa Cruz County$21,092,114,000
- County product change over the prior year, Santa Cruz County6.4 percent
- Average income of an arriving household, Santa Cruz County$136,380
Every figure in this section is published for Santa Cruz County as a whole and is not a measurement of Watsonville. It is here because a county backdrop is what a credit committee reads a place against, and it is labelled so that it can never be quoted as the place's own.
US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, 2023. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2024 annual averages. US Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, 2024 annual. US Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional, table CAGDP2, CAGDP2, through 2024. US Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income county migration flows, 2021 to 2022 filing years.
Coverage
What this page does not hold.
Every item below could be filled with a plausible figure. None of them is. On a page a lender may read, a number that cannot be traced is worse than an absence, so the absences are named.
- Parcel level detail, zoning and flood zone at an address are resolved in the platform, not on this page.
SBA figures count approvals to borrowers whose address is in the place. They are not approvals for projects inside the place boundary: the tape records a borrower city and a project county, and those can differ.
Common questions
Watsonville questions, answered from the record.
How many people live in Watsonville, California?
51,712, in 15,151 households. Watsonville city covers 6.79 square miles of land, which is 7,620 people per square mile. Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
What county is Watsonville in?
Santa Cruz County, which holds 100.0 percent of the place by area. Source: US Census Bureau, cartographic boundary file, places, 2024 vintage.
What is the median household income in Watsonville?
$78,393. The median owner-occupied home is valued at $686,000. Median gross rent is $1,889 per month. Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, place level, 2020-2024 5-year.
How much SBA lending goes to Watsonville businesses?
52 7(a) approvals totalling $34.4 m, across 22 lenders, median approval $350,000, plus 27 504 approvals worth $27.7 m. These count approvals to borrowers whose address is in Watsonville, not projects sited inside the place boundary, and they are approvals recorded in the release rather than loans disbursed.
Do SBA loans to Watsonville borrowers get paid back?
No rate is published for Watsonville. only 9 resolved loans, too few to publish a rate, and a percentage over that few outcomes would move several points on a single loan. The counts are shown instead.
Is Watsonville in the National Flood Insurance Program?
Yes. Watsonville appears in the FEMA Community Status Book as community 060357, carrying Community Rating System class 8, which is a premium discount for exceeding the programme minimum. Whether a specific parcel sits in a mapped special flood hazard area is an address level question the platform answers.
Are the county figures on this page Watsonville figures?
No, and they are labelled so. County Business Patterns, QCEW, the Building Permits Survey, BEA product and IRS migration are published for Santa Cruz County as a whole and there is no place level equivalent. They appear in one clearly marked section as context and are never presented as measurements of Watsonville.
Is zoning published for Watsonville?
Not yet. The zoning layer is in build. Nothing on this page presents parcel level zoning.