Burien is a larger medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Washington. With a population of 50,806 people and 12 associated neighborhoods, Burien is the 25th largest community in Washington.

Housing costs in Burien 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 Washington.

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

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 13.72% 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.

Burien 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.

Like elsewhere in America, most people in Burien use a private automobile to get to work. But notably, a substantial number of Burien‘s citizens do make use of public transit in their daily commute, primarily riding the bus. This helps more people get to work with less air pollution, and require fewer highways to get them there.

The education level of Burien citizens is substantially higher than the typical US community, as 29.90% of adults in Burien have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Burien in 2022 was $46,834, which is upper middle income relative to Washington, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $187,336 for a family of four. However, Burien contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Burien is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Burien home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Burien residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Burien also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 21.89% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Burien include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Norwegian.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Burien's cultural character, accounting for 23.59% of the city’s population.

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