About Carmel

Carmel is a somewhat small coastal town (ie. on the ocean or tidally-influenced rivers) located in the state of California. With a population of 12,986 people and just one neighborhood, Carmel is the 377th largest community in California.

Carmel is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 89.90% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Carmel is a town of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Carmel who work in sales jobs (14.53%), management occupations (13.93%), and office and administrative support jobs (10.01%).

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

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 10.94% 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.

A very large number of seniors call Carmel home: people 65 and over are 32.54% of the population. Because of the prominence of the retirement community, this is good place for the over-65 crowd to settle, as many of the town's services and social community are geared to this demographic.

In addition, Carmel is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates." Urban sophisticates are educated, wealthy, executives and professionals, who have urbane tastes in books, food, and travel, whether they actually live in a big city, or choose to reside in a small town. In big or medium-sized cities, urban sophisticates tend to frequent art institutions such as opera, symphonies, ballet, live theatre, and museums.

The town is also nautical, which means that parts of Carmel are somewhat historic and bounded by the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and tidal rivers. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery. This is certainly the case with Carmel, which has a vibrant tourist economy.

Residents of Carmel by-and-large get to work each day by driving: 96.5% use their own cars for their daily commute, making it a very car-oriented town. While Carmel may be a convenient place for driving around town, the negative aspect of this is that places that are suitable for walking or bicycling to and from work or stores may be few and far between. In general, car-oriented communities emphasize roads and convenience of driving, but not have a lot of walking-friendly areas to get from home to work, and tend not to have a lot of public transportation options.

Carmel is a small town, and as such doesn't have a public transit system that people use to get to and from their jobs every day.

Carmel Information and Demographics

Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Carmel. 52.20% of adults here have a 4-year degree or graduate degree, whereas the national average for all cities and towns is just 14.96%.

The per capita income in Carmel in 2000 was $49,904, which is wealthy relative to California and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $199,616 for a family of four.

The people who call Carmel home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Carmel is White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Carmel include English, German, Irish, Italian, Scottish, European, French, Scotch-Irish, and Norwegian.

The most common language spoken in Carmel is English. Some people also speak Spanish.