Berkeley is a relatively large coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of California. With a population of 118,962 people and 36 associated neighborhoods, Berkeley is the 51st largest community in California. Much of the housing stock in Berkeley was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.

Berkeley home prices are not only among the most expensive in California, but Berkeley real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

Also of interest is that Berkeley has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

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

And if you like science, one thing you'll find is that Berkeley has lots of scientists living in town - whether they be life scientists, physical scientists (like astronomers), or social scientists (like geographers!). So, if you're scientific-minded, you might like it here too.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 32.48% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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.

Berkeley is a nice balance between life in a moderately big city and the interesting diversions and culture that come from having a big college student population. The thousands of students who arrive on campus every fall will find that Berkeley has plenty of amenities and opportunities for them, while residents of Berkeley enjoy the lectures, music, art, and economic trickle-down that colleges typically provide. "Town and Gown" complement each other in Berkeley.

Not only is Berkeley a city with many college students, but it also retains many recent graduates who are looking to start new careers, creating a very large population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile. That’s because Berkeley is full of single people in their 20s and 30s and who have undergraduate or graduate degrees and are starting careers in professional occupations. This makes Berkeley a pretty good place for young, educated career starters looking to find many people like themselves, with good opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun.

One of the nice things about Berkeley 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.

For the size of the city, public transportation in Berkeley is quite heavily used. Mostly, people who use it for their daily commute are taking the subway. For Berkeley, the benefits are reduced air pollution and congestion on the highways.

Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Berkeley. 75.05% of adults here have a 4-year degree or graduate degree, whereas the national average for all cities and towns is just 21.84%.

The per capita income in Berkeley in 2022 was $66,936, which is wealthy relative to California and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $267,744 for a family of four. However, Berkeley contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Berkeley is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Berkeley home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Berkeley residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Berkeley also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 12.12% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Berkeley include German, English, Irish, Italian, and European.

In addition, Berkeley has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (21.26%).

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