Sanibel is a somewhat small coastal city (ie. on the ocean or tidally-influenced rivers) located in the state of Florida. With a population of 6,042 people and two constituent neighborhoods, Sanibel is the 310th largest community in Florida.

Sanibel is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 88.07% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Sanibel is a city of sales and office workers, managers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Sanibel who work in management occupations (23.47%), sales jobs (19.38%), and office and administrative support jobs (10.18%).

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

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their homes - 13.00% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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.

Sanibel is a major vacation destination. Much of the city's population is seasonal: many people own second homes and only live there part-time, during the vacation season. The effect on the local economy is that many of the businesses are dependant on tourist dollars, and may operate only during the high season. As the vacation season ends, Sanibel's population drops significantly, such that year-round residents will notice that the city is a much quieter place to live.

A very large number of seniors call Sanibel home: people 65 and over are 39.01% 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 city's services and social community are geared to this demographic.

One of the nice things about Sanibel 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 of the benefits of Sanibel is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 18.30 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.

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

Sanibel Information and Demographics

Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Sanibel, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Sanibel is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 54.91% 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 Sanibel in 2000 was $66,912, which is wealthy relative to Florida and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $267,648 for a family of four. However, Sanibel contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

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

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