San Francisco is a very large coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of California. With a population of 808,988 people and 242 associated neighborhoods, San Francisco is the fourth largest community in California. Much of the housing stock in San Francisco was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.

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

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

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

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 27.46% 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.

San Francisco is one of the most attractive larger cities for people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile career starters. This makes it a good place to live for young singles in their 20s and 30s and who have undergraduate or graduate degrees and are starting their professional careers. Although San Francisco is a large city, this demographic is significant enough that young professionals will find many others like themselves here, with really good opportunities for friendships, recreation, romance, and more.

One of the nice things about San Francisco 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 San Francisco, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 32.18 minutes every day commuting to work. It is, however, a pedestrian-friendly city. Many of its neighborhoods are dense enough and have amenities close enough together that people find it feasible to get around on foot. In addition, 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.

San Francisco, like many big cities in America, has a public transportation system, but the citizens of San Francisco are lucky because theirs is one of the most extensive and widely used. Many commuters choose to leave their cars at home and instead use the bus to get to and from work. In fact, for some people it is feasible to forgo car ownership entirely, avoiding the cost and headache of driving in heavy traffic. The benefits include reduced air pollution and load on the road network.

Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to San Francisco, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. San Francisco is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 60.12% 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 San Francisco in 2022 was $90,285, which is wealthy relative to California and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $361,140 for a family of four. However, San Francisco contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

San Francisco is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call San Francisco home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of San Francisco residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. San Francisco also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 15.93% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in San Francisco include Irish, German, English, Italian, and French.

In addition, San Francisco has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (34.22%).

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