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.

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 15.45% 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 South Lake Tahoe 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.

Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of South Lake Tahoe spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 16.57 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be.

The education level of South Lake Tahoe citizens is very high relative to the national average among all cities (21.84%): 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.

Foreign born people are also an important part of South Lake Tahoe's cultural character, accounting for 19.24% of the city’s population.

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