Homes, condos and land for sale and rent in Aptos, CA

The name Aptos is Ohlone, meaning “the people”. Aptos was traditionally inhabited by the Ohlone Awaswas people. The name is one of only three native words that have survived (in Hispanicized form) as place names in Santa Cruz County (the others are Soquel and Zayante).
The first European land exploration of Alta California, the Spanish Portolà expedition, passed through the area on its way north, camping at one of the creeks on October 16, 1769. The expedition diaries don’t provide enough information to be sure which creek it was, but the direction of travel was northwest, parallel to the coast. Franciscan missionary Juan Crespi, traveling with the expedition, noted in his diary that, “We stopped on the bank of a small stream, which has about four varas of deep running water. It has on its banks a good growth of cottonwoods and alders; on account of the depth at which it runs it may be that it cannot be utilized to water some plains through which it runs.” Crespi diary translator Herbert Bolton speculated that the location was Soquel Creek, but it could have been Aptos Creek.
In the early 1960s Aptos began a period of rapid development, including Cabrillo College, Rancho Del Mar Shopping Center, the Seascape Resort development, and many residential developments.

Aptos is located at 36°58′53″N 121°54′27″W (36.981500, -121.907432).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 6.4 square miles (17 km2), all of it land. The southwestern geographical boundary is Monterey Bay, while the northeast boundary is the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Aptos lies near the San Andreas Fault, and the epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake is marked within The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park.

Aptos is home to both the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park and Seacliff State Beach California state parks. Nisene Marks is popular with hikers and mountain bikers, and also contains the epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (magnitude 6.9).
Many Aptos beaches are popular spots for surfing and bodyboarding. Aptos is also a popular spot for Freeride biking and street skateboarding. Efforts have gone towards attempting to build a skate park in Aptos, however it appears likely at this point.

The beaches of Aptos are frequented by a small but dedicated group of surfers. Due to exclusively sand-bottom beaches, wave shape in Aptos is typically not as high quality as in neighboring Capitola and Santa Cruz. However, during the Autumn and Winter, local spots “Platforms” and “Beer Can” are frequently surfed.
Aptos is also home to the annual Fourth of July “World’s Shortest Parade,” so called because the parade route is about .6 miles long.

The 2010 United States Census reported that Aptos had a population of 6,220. The population density was 978.9 people per square mile (378.0/km²). The racial makeup of Aptos was 5,420 (87.1%) White, 58 (0.9%) African American, 43 (0.7%) Native American, 247 (4.0%) Asian, 8 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 175 (2.8%) from other races, and 269 (4.3%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 611 persons (9.8%).
The census reported that 98.7% of the population lived in households and 1.3% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters.
There were 2,549 households, out of which 686 (26.9%) had children under the age of 18 living, 1,353 (53.1%) were married couples living together, 192 (7.5%) had a female householder with no husband present, 95 (3.7%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 142 (5.6%) unmarried. 665 households (26.1%) were made up of individuals and 268 (10.5%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41. There were 1,640 families (64.3% of all households); the average family size was 2.86.

The population was spread out with 1,150 people (18.5%) under the age of 18, 436 people (7.0%) aged 18 to 24, 1,342 people (21.6%) aged 25 to 44, 2,189 people (35.2%) aged 45 to 64, and 1,103 people (17.7%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46.9 years. For every 100 females there were 97.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.8 males.
There were 2,711 housing units at an average density of 426.7 per square mile (164.7/km²), of which 75.6% were owner-occupied and 24.4% were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.5%; the rental vacancy rate was 0.8%. 75.2% of the population lived in owner-occupied housing units and 23.5% lived in rental housing units.

Cabrillo College is a two-year community college in Aptos.
Aptos has three public elementary schools: Valencia Elementary, Rio Del Mar Elementary, and Mar Vista Elementary. It also has one junior high school, Aptos Junior High School, and one high school, Aptos High School. Private schools include Santa Cruz Montessori School, Orchard School, Twin Lakes Christian School, and Aptos Academy.