Atherton is a somewhat small town located in the state of California. With a population of 7,210 people and two constituent neighborhoods, Atherton is the 477th largest community in California.

Atherton is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 95.17% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Atherton is a town of managers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Atherton who work in management occupations (27.89%), sales jobs (12.86%), and business and financial occupations (9.79%).

Of important note, Atherton is also a town of artists. Atherton has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Atherton's character.

Also of interest is that Atherton has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 12.30% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

In addition, Atherton is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates," which are people who are not only wealthy and employed in professional occupations, but highly educated to boot. Urban sophisticates have urbane tastes - whether they reside in a big or small city, a suburb, or a little town. Urban sophisticates support bookstores, quality clothing stores, enjoy luxury travel, and in big cities, they are truly the patrons of the arts, attending and supporting institutions such as opera, symphony, ballet, and theatre.

Because of many things, Atherton is a great place for families with children to consider. First of all, many other families with children live here, making Atherton a place where both parents and children are more likely to develop social ties with other families, as well as find family-oriented services and community. The town's good public school district and large population of college-educated adults provide an environment conducive to academic values. With regard to real estate, Atherton has a high rate of owner-occupied single family homes, which tends to reflect stability in the local community. Finally, Atherton's overall crime rate is lower than average for the country.

Atherton Information and Demographics

Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Atherton, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Atherton is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 76.19% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 14.96%.

The per capita income in Atherton in 2000 was $112,408, which is wealthy relative to California and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $449,632 for a family of four. However, Atherton contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Atherton is a somewhat ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Atherton home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Atherton is White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Atherton include German, English, Irish, Italian, Scottish, Polish, Swedish, and Russian.

The languages spoken by people in Atherton are also diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in Atherton is English. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese, Spanish, and French.