Des Moines is a medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Washington. With a population of 32,408 people and six associated neighborhoods, Des Moines is the 40th largest community in Washington.

Housing costs in Des Moines 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 Des Moines has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 11.28% 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.

One of the nice things about Des Moines 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.

One downside of living in Des Moines is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Des Moines, the average commute to work is 31.62 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average. On the other hand, local public transit is widely used in the city, so leaving the car at home and taking transit is often a viable alternative.

Although the majority of commuting trips in the city are by private automobile, Des Moines is somewhat unusual for a city of its size for having a substantial number of people who use public transportation. For a lot of people, the bus helps to get to and from their jobs every morning, which benefits everyone in the Des Moines area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.

The education level of Des Moines citizens is substantially higher than the typical US community, as 30.42% of adults in Des Moines have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Des Moines in 2022 was $42,528, which is upper middle income relative to Washington and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $170,112 for a family of four. However, Des Moines contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Des Moines is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Des Moines home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Des Moines residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Des Moines also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 18.21% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Des Moines include German, English, Irish, European, and Norwegian.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Des Moines's cultural character, accounting for 25.84% of the city’s population.

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