Sainte-Croix () is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.
History
Sainte-Croix is first mentioned in 1177 as Sancta Crux. In 1317 it was mentioned as Saint Crueyz. Previously it was known by its German name Heilig Kreuz.
Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.6%. Out of the forested land, 45.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 3.8% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 1.0% is used for growing crops and 21.2% is pastures and 18.9% is used for alpine pastures. All the water in the municipality is flowing water.
It is located between Yverdon in Vaud, Fleurier in Neuchâtel, and Pontarlier in France.
The village of Sainte Croix is situated at an altitude of in the Jura Mountains at the foot of the Chasseron. The municipal area stretches over two valleys, Sainte Croix and Les Granges and includes 27 villages. Some of the most notable include Sainte Croix, L' Auberson, La Gitte Dessous, La Chaux, La Vraconne, La Sagne and Le Château.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure, a Latin Cross Or issuant from a Coupeaux Vert.
Demographics
thumb|Sainte Croix village
thumb|Sainte Croix train station
Sainte-Croix has a population () of . , 14.6% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of 7.5%. It has changed at a rate of 14.3% due to migration and at a rate of -5.8% due to births and deaths.
Most of the population () speaks French (3,914 or 90.3%), with German being second most common (96 or 2.2%) and Italian being third (93 or 2.1%). There are 2 people who speak Romansh.
, there were 1,549 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 2,086 married individuals, 443 widows or widowers and 255 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 1,980 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2. persons per household.
there were 2,847 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 3 rooms of which there were 1,049. There were 155 single room apartments and 485 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 1,926 apartments (67.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 643 apartments (22.6%) were seasonally occupied and 278 apartments (9.8%) were empty.
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Sights
The entire villages of L’Auberson and Sainte-Croix and the hamlet of La Chaux are designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.
The Centre International de la Mécanique d'Art is located in the municipality.
Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SP which received 35.49% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (25.48%), the FDP (11.66%) and the Green Party (10.93%). In the federal election, a total of 1,263 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 40.8%.
Economy
, Sainte-Croix had an unemployment rate of 6.3%. , there were 91 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 36 businesses involved in this sector. 674 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 60 businesses in this sector. 891 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 145 businesses in this sector.
, there were 886 workers who commuted into the municipality and 585 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.5 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. About 33.9% of the workforce coming into Sainte-Croix are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 8.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 57% used a private car. During the school year, the political district provided pre-school care for a total of 578 children of which 359 children (62.1%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There were 223 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 223 students in those schools. There were also 18 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school.
, there were 160 students in Sainte-Croix who came from another municipality, while 106 residents attended schools outside the municipality. In 2009 the Musée des Arts et des Sciences was visited by 757 visitors (the average in previous years was 530). In 2009 the CIMA was visited by 14,171 visitors (the average in previous years was 18,096).