Live Oak is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Cruz County, California between the cities of Santa Cruz and Capitola and north of the former Union Pacific railroad. Live Oak sits at an elevation of 102 feet (31 m). The population was 17,038 at the 2020 census. The population of the greater Live Oak area, including Twin Lakes and Pleasure Point, was 27,921.

Santa Cruz County, officially the County of Santa Cruz, is a county on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 270,861. The county seat is Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz County comprises the Santa Cruz–Watsonville, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area. The county is on the California Central Coast, south of the San Francisco Bay Area region. The county forms the northern coast of the Monterey Bay, with Monterey County forming the southern coast.