Salida is a somewhat small city located in the state of Colorado. With a population of 5,809 people and two associated neighborhoods, Salida is the 85th largest community in Colorado. Salida has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.

Housing costs in Salida are among some of the highest in the nation, although real estate prices here don't compare to real estate prices in the most expensive communities in Colorado.

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

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 19.81% 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.

Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 17.08 minutes getting to work every day.

The education level of Salida ranks among the highest in the nation. Of the 25-and-older adult population in Salida, 46.21% 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 Salida in 2018 was $38,081, which is middle income relative to Colorado, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $152,324 for a family of four. However, Salida contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Salida is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Salida home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Salida residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Salida also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 14.64% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Salida include German, English, Irish, Italian, and Swedish.

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