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Data on this report is based on areas within the legal city boundary, outlined in black on the map. Any additional neighborhoods shown on the map are associated with the city by name and are included for reference only.

Novato, CA
Real Estate & Demographic Data






Novato profile


Living in Novato



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 52,184 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.

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: 13.62% 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.

Novato 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 Novato, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 31.31 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.

Although the majority of commuting trips in the city are by private automobile, Novato is somewhat unusual for a city of its size for having a substantial number of people who use public transportation. For a lot of people, the bus helps to get to and from their jobs every morning, which benefits everyone in the Novato area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.

The education level of Novato ranks among the highest in the nation. Of the 25-and-older adult population in Novato, 46.49% have at least a bachelor's degree. The typical US community has just 21.84% of its adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree.

The per capita income in Novato in 2018 was $57,297, which is wealthy relative to California and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $229,188 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 22.36% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Novato include Irish, German, English, Italian, and European.

In addition, Novato has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (21.80%).

The most common language spoken in Novato is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.