La Mesa is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of California. With a population of 60,360 people and 16 associated neighborhoods, La Mesa is the 151st largest community in California.

Housing costs in La Mesa 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.

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

A relatively large number of people in La Mesa telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 12.93% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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 thing that you will notice about La Mesa is that there is a good-sized population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile career starters. Many singles consider La Mesa a good place to live without being in a really big city, with opportunities for friendships and fun with others like themselves.

The education level of La Mesa citizens is very high relative to the national average among all cities (21.84%): 37.69% of adults in La Mesa have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.

The per capita income in La Mesa in 2022 was $44,185, which is middle income relative to California, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $176,740 for a family of four. However, La Mesa contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

La Mesa is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call La Mesa home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of La Mesa residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. La Mesa also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 28.05% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in La Mesa include English, German, Irish, Italian, and Scottish.

The most common language spoken in La Mesa is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.