Oakland is a large coastal city (ie. on the ocean or tidally-influenced rivers) located in the state of California. With a population of 399,477 people and 105 constituent neighborhoods, Oakland is the eighth largest community in California.

Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Oakland is neither predominently one or the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Oakland is a city of sales and office workers, professionals, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Oakland who work in office and administrative support jobs (16.55%), management occupations (9.23%), and sales jobs (8.58%).

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

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

Oakland is one of the most attractive larger cities for people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile career starters. This makes it a good place to live for young singles in their 20s and 30s and who have undergraduate or graduate degrees and are starting their professional careers. Although Oakland is a large city, this demographic is significant enough that young professionals will find many others like themselves here, with really good opportunities for friendships, recreation, romance, and more.

The city is also nautical, which means that parts of Oakland are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and tidal rivers. Quite often, nautical areas such as these attract visitors and locals who come to enjoy the scenery and various waterfront activities.

One downside of living in Oakland, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 31.11 minutes every day commuting to work.

Oakland Information and Demographics

The overall education level of Oakland citizens is substantially higher than the typical US community, as 30.90% of adults in Oakland have at least a bachelor's degree, and the average American community has 14.96%.

The per capita income in Oakland in 2000 was $21,936, 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 $87,744 for a family of four.

Oakland is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Oakland home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Oakland is African-American, followed by White. Oakland 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 Oakland include German, Irish, and English.

In addition, Oakland has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (26.56%).

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