Novato is a medium-sized coastal city (ie. on the ocean or tidally-influenced rivers) located in the state of California. With a population of 47,795 people and 11 constituent neighborhoods, Novato is the 165th largest community in California.

Novato is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 85.79% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Novato is a city of sales and office workers, professionals, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Novato who work in management occupations (14.39%), sales jobs (14.24%), and office and administrative support jobs (13.84%).

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

In addition, Novato is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates." Urban sophisticates are people who are both educated and wealthy, and thus tend to be older, richer, and more established than young professionals. "Urban sophisticates" is not just about being educated and well-off financially: it is a point of view and state of mind, one that you might call 'urbaneness.' But such people can and do regularly live in small towns, suburbs and rural areas, as well as in big cities. They read, support the arts and high-end shops, and love travel.

One of the nice things about Novato is that is it nautical, meaning that parts of the city are somewhat historic and on the ocean, or touch tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and tidal rivers. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.

One downside of living in Novato, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 34.83 minutes every day commuting to work.

Novato Information and Demographics

The population of Novato is very well educated relative to most cities and towns in the nation, where the average community has 14.96% of its adult population holding a 4-year degree or higher: 37.03% of adults in Novato have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.

The per capita income in Novato in 2000 was $32,402, which is upper middle income relative to California, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $129,608 for a family of four. However, Novato contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Novato is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Novato home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Novato is White, followed by Asian. Novato also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 12.92% of the city's residents. Important ancestries of people in Novato include Irish, German, Italian, English, French, and Russian.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Novato's cultural character, accounting for 17.15% of the city's population.

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