Colton is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of California. With a population of 53,918 people and 15 associated neighborhoods, Colton is the 169th largest community in California.

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 9.92% 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.

In terms of college education, Colton is nearly on par with the US average for all cities of 21.84%: 17.55% of adults 25 and older in Colton have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.

The per capita income in Colton in 2022 was $24,998, which is low income relative to California, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $99,992 for a family of four. However, Colton contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Colton is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Colton home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. People of Hispanic or Latino origin are the most prevalent group in Colton, accounting for 72.78% of the city’s residents (people of Hispanic or Latino origin can be of any race). The greatest number of Colton residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Colton include German, Irish, English, French, and Italian.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Colton's cultural character, accounting for 20.63% of the city’s population.

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