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.

A relatively large number of people in Santa Monica telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 7.97% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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.

Another interesting thing about Santa Monica, despite not being a huge city, is that there is a relatively high proportion of people living here who are young, single, and upwardly-mobile professionals. This makes it a good choice for other relocating single professionals. Here, these young singles will find many others like themselves, with opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun.

In addition to being popular with young singles, Santa Monica 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.

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

If knowledge is power, Santa Monica is a pretty powerful place. 54.80% of the adults in Santa Monica 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 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.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Santa Monica's cultural character, accounting for 24.85% of the city's population.

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