Santa Monica is a larger medium-sized coastal city (ie. on the ocean or tidally-influenced rivers) located in the state of California. With a population of 84,084 people and 19 constituent neighborhoods, Santa Monica is the 76th largest community in California.

Santa Monica is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 93.00% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Santa Monica is a city of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Santa Monica who work in management occupations (14.74%), art, media and design (13.29%), and sales jobs (11.67%).

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

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

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 7.97% 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.

One thing that you will notice about Santa Monica is that there is a good-sized population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile career starters. Many singles consider Santa Monica a good place to live without being in a really big city, with opportunities for friendships and fun with others like themselves.

In addition to being popular with young singles, Santa Monica is also home to many people who can be described as "urban sophisticates." While both of these categories describe educated professionals, urban sophisticates are quite a different demographic. 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.

The city is also nautical, which means that parts of Santa Monica are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and tidal rivers. Quite often, nautical areas such as these attract visitors and locals who come to enjoy the scenery and various waterfront activities.

Santa Monica Information and Demographics

Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Santa Monica, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Santa Monica is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 54.80% 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 Santa Monica in 2000 was $42,874, which is wealthy relative to California and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $171,496 for a family of four.

Santa Monica is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Santa Monica home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Santa Monica is White, followed by Asian. Santa Monica also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 13.50% of the city's residents. Important ancestries of people in Santa Monica include English, German, Irish, Russian, Italian, Iranian, and Polish.

Santa Monica also has a high percentage of its population that was born in another country: 24.85%.

The most common language spoken in Santa Monica is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Persian.