Novato is a larger medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of California. With a population of 52,708 people and 14 constituent neighborhoods, Novato is the 172nd largest community in California.
Novato home prices are not only among the most expensive in California, but Novato real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.
Novato is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 88.29% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Novato is a city of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Novato who work in management occupations (15.49%), sales jobs (12.22%), and office and administrative support (10.14%).
Also of interest is that Novato has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 10.33% 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 of the nice things about Novato is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.
One downside of living in Novato, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 31.89 minutes every day commuting to work. However, local public transit is widely used. For those who would prefer to avoid driving entirely and leave their car at home, it may be an option to use the transit instead.
For the size of the city, public transportation in Novato is quite heavily used. Mostly, people who use it for their daily commute are taking the bus. For Novato, the benefits are reduced air pollution and congestion on the highways.
The citizens of Novato are among the most well-educated in the nation: 46.32% of adults in Novato have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree, whereas the average US city has 21.84% holding at least a bachelor's degree.
The per capita income in Novato in 2018 was $55,813, which is wealthy relative to California and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $223,252 for a family of four. However, Novato contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Novato is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Novato home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Novato residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Novato also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 20.48% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Novato include Irish, German, English, Italian, and Scottish.
In addition, Novato has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (20.60%).
The most common language spoken in Novato is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.