Big Bear Lake is a somewhat small city located in the state of California. With a population of 5,031 people and four associated neighborhoods, Big Bear Lake is the 520th largest community in California.

Housing costs in Big Bear Lake 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.

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

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 23.13% 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.

Another notable thing is that Big Bear Lake is an extremely popular destination for tourists and seasonal residents. So much of the population is seasonal such that the city’s population swells significantly during the vacation season, and drops again when the season ends. Because of this, much of the local economy is centered around tourism; some businesses may be operated only during the high season. During the low season, year-round residents will notice that the city is a substantially quieter place to live.

Being a small city, Big Bear Lake does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.

The education level of Big Bear Lake citizens is substantially higher than the typical US community, as 33.98% of adults in Big Bear Lake have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Big Bear Lake in 2022 was $46,147, which is upper middle income relative to California, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $184,588 for a family of four. However, Big Bear Lake contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Big Bear Lake is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Big Bear Lake home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Big Bear Lake residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Big Bear Lake also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 29.63% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Big Bear Lake include Irish, German, English, Scottish, and Italian.

The most common language spoken in Big Bear Lake is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Arabic.