Santa Monica is a larger medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of California. With a population of 89,947 people and 19 associated neighborhoods, Santa Monica is the 83rd largest community in California. Santa Monica home prices are not only among the most expensive in California, but Santa Monica real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.Santa Monica is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 94.19% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Santa Monica is a city of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Santa Monica who work in management occupations (20.40%), art, media, and design (11.06%), and business and financial occupations (10.57%). Of important note, Santa Monica is also a city of artists. Santa Monica has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Santa Monica’s character. Also of interest is that Santa Monica has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. A relatively large number of people in Santa Monica telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 27.85% 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. Santa Monica 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. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery. If knowledge is power, Santa Monica is a pretty powerful place. 67.77% of the adults in Santa Monica have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns. The per capita income in Santa Monica in 2022 was $86,888, which is wealthy relative to California and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $347,552 for a family of four. However, Santa Monica contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Santa Monica is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Santa Monica home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Santa Monica residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Santa Monica also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 17.18% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Santa Monica include Irish, German, English, Italian, and European. Foreign born people are also an important part of Santa Monica's cultural character, accounting for 22.49% of the city’s population. The most common language spoken in Santa Monica is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Persian.
