Costa Mesa 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 108,785 people and 21 constituent neighborhoods, Costa Mesa is the 49th largest community in California.

Costa Mesa is neither predominently blue-collar or white-collar, instead having a mixed workforce of both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Overall, Costa Mesa is a city of sales and office workers, professionals, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Costa Mesa who work in office and administrative support jobs (16.40%), sales jobs (13.44%), and management occupations (11.02%).

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

One thing that you will notice about Costa Mesa is that there is a good-sized population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile career starters. Many singles consider Costa Mesa 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, Costa Mesa 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 Costa Mesa 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.

Costa Mesa Information and Demographics

The overall education level of Costa Mesa citizens is substantially higher than the typical US community, as 29.09% of adults in Costa Mesa have at least a bachelor's degree, and the average American community has 14.96%.

The per capita income in Costa Mesa in 2000 was $23,342, which is upper middle income relative to California and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $93,368 for a family of four.

Costa Mesa is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Costa Mesa home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Costa Mesa is White, followed by Asian. Costa Mesa also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 31.79% of the city's residents. Important ancestries of people in Costa Mesa include German, English, Irish, and Italian.

Costa Mesa also has a high percentage of its population that was born in another country: 29.16%.

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