Hercules is a medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of California. With a population of 26,582 people and six associated neighborhoods, Hercules is the 280th largest community in California. Housing costs in Hercules 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 California.Hercules is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 86.85% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Hercules is a city of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Hercules who work in office and administrative support (13.93%), sales jobs (10.83%), and healthcare (10.42%). Also of interest is that Hercules 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: 18.07% 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 Hercules 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. In Hercules, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 37.16 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average. One bright side is that local public transit is widely used, so it may be an option to avoid the headache of driving in the heavy traffic by leaving the car at home and taking transit. Like elsewhere in America, most people in Hercules use a private automobile to get to work. But notably, a substantial number of Hercules‘s citizens do make use of public transit in their daily commute, primarily riding the bus. This helps more people get to work with less air pollution, and require fewer highways to get them there.The education level of Hercules ranks among the highest in the nation. Of the 25-and-older adult population in Hercules, 46.27% 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 Hercules in 2022 was $56,098, which is upper middle income relative to California, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $224,392 for a family of four. Hercules is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Hercules home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Hercules residents report their race to be Asian, followed by Black or African-American. Hercules also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 14.81% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Hercules include Irish, German, Nigerian, English, and Italian. Foreign born people are also an important part of Hercules's cultural character, accounting for 34.81% of the city’s population. The most common language spoken in Hercules is English. Other important languages spoken here include Tagalog and Spanish.
