San Diego is a very large coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of California. With a population of 1,381,162 people and 326 associated neighborhoods, San Diego is the second largest community in California.

Housing costs in San Diego 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.

There are many members of the armed forces living in San Diego. You will notice when you visit or live here that some of the people you meet or see around town are employed by the armed services - even if they are not always in uniform.

Also of interest is that San Diego 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: 16.91% 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.

San Diego 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 San Diego 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.

San Diego 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. Quite often, nautical areas such as these attract visitors and locals who come to enjoy the scenery and various waterfront activities.

The education level of San Diego ranks among the highest in the nation. Of the 25-and-older adult population in San Diego, 48.68% have at least a bachelor's degree. The typical US community has just 21.84% of its adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree.

The per capita income in San Diego in 2022 was $51,368, which is upper middle income relative to California, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $205,472 for a family of four. However, San Diego contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

San Diego is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call San Diego home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of San Diego residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. San Diego also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 30.10% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in San Diego include German, Irish, English, Italian, and European.

Foreign born people are also an important part of San Diego's cultural character, accounting for 24.89% of the city’s population.

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