Sarasota is a larger medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Florida. With a population of 54,764 people and 70 constituent neighborhoods, Sarasota is the 64th largest community in Florida.

Housing costs in Sarasota 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 Florida.

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

A relatively large number of people in Sarasota telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 11.50% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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.

Sarasota 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.

The citizens of Sarasota are very well educated compared to the average community in the nation: 38.31% of adults in Sarasota have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.

The per capita income in Sarasota in 2018 was $48,380, which is upper middle income relative to Florida, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $193,520 for a family of four. However, Sarasota contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Sarasota is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Sarasota home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Sarasota residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Sarasota also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 15.52% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Sarasota include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Polish.

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