Half Moon Bay is a somewhat small coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of California. With a population of 11,176 people and three associated neighborhoods, Half Moon Bay is the 396th largest community in California.

Half Moon Bay home prices are not only among the most expensive in California, but Half Moon Bay real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

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

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

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 20.45% 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.

Half Moon Bay is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Quite often, nautical areas such as these attract visitors and locals who come to enjoy the scenery and various waterfront activities.

One downside of living in Half Moon Bay, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 31.19 minutes every day commuting to work.

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

Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Half Moon Bay, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Half Moon Bay is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 54.58% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 21.84%.

The per capita income in Half Moon Bay in 2022 was $79,985, which is wealthy relative to California and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $319,940 for a family of four. However, Half Moon Bay contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Half Moon Bay is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Half Moon Bay home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Half Moon Bay residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Half Moon Bay also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 24.46% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Half Moon Bay include Irish, English, German, Italian, and French.

Half Moon Bay also has a high percentage of its population that was born in another country: 20.97%.

The most common language spoken in Half Moon Bay is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Polish.