The city enjoys a high standard of living and gross income per capita is 2.5 times greater than that of the state of Rio Grande do Sul as a whole.

The area around Santa Cruz do Sul is mainly agricultural, and produces large quantities of tobacco and soy beans for animal fodder.

Most of the tobacco produced in the area is exported as a raw material for cigarette manufacturing plants all over the world.

Soy bean processing plants sell several million tons of animal fodder annually, for domestic use and for export.

The Prefeitura Municipal de Santa Cruz do Sul won a 2004 Energy Globe Award for the João-de-Barro Bom-Plac House Project.