Des Moines is a medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Washington. With a population of 31,988 people and six associated neighborhoods, Des Moines is the 40th largest community in Washington. Housing costs in Des Moines 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 Washington.Unlike some cities, Des Moines isn’t mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Des Moines are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Des Moines is a city of service providers, professionals, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Des Moines who work in management occupations (10.38%), office and administrative support (8.62%), and sales jobs (6.86%). Also of interest is that Des Moines 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: 12.61% 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. Des Moines 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 Des Moines is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Des Moines, the average commute to work is 31.47 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average. On the other hand, local public transit is widely used in the city, so leaving the car at home and taking transit is often a viable alternative. Like elsewhere in America, most people in Des Moines use a private automobile to get to work. But notably, a substantial number of Des Moines‘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 overall education level of Des Moines citizens is substantially higher than the typical US community, as 33.21% of adults in Des Moines have at least a bachelor's degree, and the average American community has 21.84%. The per capita income in Des Moines in 2022 was $42,963, which is upper middle income relative to Washington and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $171,852 for a family of four. However, Des Moines contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Des Moines is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Des Moines home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Des Moines residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Des Moines also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 20.85% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Des Moines include German, English, Irish, Italian, and European. In addition, Des Moines has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (26.47%). The most common language spoken in Des Moines is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Vietnamese.
