Fairfax is a somewhat small town located in the state of California. With a population of 7,157 people and three constituent neighborhoods, Fairfax is the 478th largest community in California.

Fairfax is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 87.94% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Fairfax is a town of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Fairfax who work in sales jobs (16.69%), management occupations (13.00%), and office and administrative support jobs (11.28%).

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

Also of interest is that Fairfax 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: 8.21% 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.

For a small town, there is also a high proportion of single, often educated, people living in Fairfax. This is not typical for most smaller communities in America, and adds a feeling of vibrancy to Fairfax.

In addition to being popular with young singles, Fairfax is also home to many people who can 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, Fairfax is a very good place for families to consider. With an enviable combination of good schools, low crime, college-educated neighbors who tend to support education because of their own experiences, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family properties, Fairfax really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Fairfax perfect? Of course not, and if you like frenetic night life, it will be far from your cup of tea. But overall this is a solid community, with many things to recommend it as a family-friendly place to live.

One downside of living in Fairfax, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 37.29 minutes every day commuting to work.

Being a small town, Fairfax does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.

Fairfax Information and Demographics

If knowledge is power, Fairfax is a pretty powerful place. 48.84% of the adults in Fairfax have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 14.96% for all cities and towns.

The per capita income in Fairfax in 2000 was $34,080, which is wealthy relative to California and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $136,320 for a family of four.

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

The most common language spoken in Fairfax is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French.