South Lake Tahoe is a medium-sized city located in the state of California. With a population of 21,225 people and 13 associated neighborhoods, South Lake Tahoe is the 308th largest community in California.

Housing costs in South Lake Tahoe 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, South Lake Tahoe is also a city of artists. South Lake Tahoe has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape South Lake Tahoe’s character.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 15.45% 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.

Another notable thing is that South Lake Tahoe is a major vacation destination. Much of the city’s population is seasonal: many people own second homes and only live there part-time, during the vacation season. The effect on the local economy is that many of the businesses are dependent on tourist dollars, and may operate only during the high season. As the vacation season ends, South Lake Tahoe’s population drops significantly, such that year-round residents will notice that the city is a much quieter place to live.

Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 16.57 minutes getting to work every day.

The citizens of South Lake Tahoe are very well educated compared to the average community in the nation: 35.86% of adults in South Lake Tahoe have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.

The per capita income in South Lake Tahoe in 2022 was $56,022, which is upper middle income relative to California, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $224,088 for a family of four. However, South Lake Tahoe contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

South Lake Tahoe is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call South Lake Tahoe home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of South Lake Tahoe residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. South Lake Tahoe also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 26.08% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in South Lake Tahoe include German, Irish, English, Italian, and French.

In addition, South Lake Tahoe has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (19.24%).

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