San Rafael is a larger medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of California. With a population of 59,971 people and 16 associated neighborhoods, San Rafael is the 150th largest community in California.

San Rafael home prices are not only among the most expensive in California, but San Rafael real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

Of important note, San Rafael is also a city of artists. San Rafael has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape San Rafael’s character.

Also of interest is that San Rafael 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: 22.60% 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 interesting thing about San Rafael, despite not being a huge city, is that there is a relatively high proportion of people living here who are young, single, and upwardly-mobile professionals. This makes it a good choice for other relocating single professionals. Here, these young singles will find many others like themselves, with opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun.

San Rafael 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.

Although the majority of commuting trips in the city are by private automobile, San Rafael 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 San Rafael area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.

San Rafael is one of the most well-educated cities in the nation. 49.63% of adults in San Rafael have at least a bachelor's degree. Compare that to the average community in America, which has just 21.84% with a bachelor's degree or higher.

The per capita income in San Rafael in 2022 was $66,398, which is wealthy relative to California and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $265,592 for a family of four. However, San Rafael contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

San Rafael is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call San Rafael home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of San Rafael residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. San Rafael also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 32.50% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in San Rafael include German, Irish, English, Italian, and European.

In addition, San Rafael has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (26.79%).

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