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Data on this report is based on areas within the legal city boundary, outlined in black on the map. Any additional neighborhoods shown on the map are associated with the city by name and are included for reference only.

Foster City, CA
Real Estate & Demographic Data






Foster City profile


Living in Foster City



Foster City is a medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of California. With a population of 32,026 people and nine associated neighborhoods, Foster City is the 234th largest community in California.

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

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

And if you like science, one thing you'll find is that Foster City has lots of scientists living in town - whether they be life scientists, physical scientists (like astronomers), or social scientists (like geographers!). So, if you're scientific-minded, you might like it here too.

A relatively large number of people in Foster City telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 25.75% 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 of the nice things about Foster City 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.

In Foster City, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 32.41 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average. One bright side is that local public transit is widely used, so it may be an option to avoid the headache of driving in the heavy traffic by leaving the car at home and taking transit.

Like elsewhere in America, most people in Foster City use a private automobile to get to work. But notably, a substantial number of Foster City‘s citizens do make use of public transit in their daily commute, primarily riding taxis. This helps more people get to work with less air pollution, and require fewer highways to get them there.

Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Foster City, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Foster City is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 72.54% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 21.84%.

The per capita income in Foster City in 2022 was $91,552, which is wealthy relative to California and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $366,208 for a family of four.

Foster City is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Foster City home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Foster City residents report their race to be Asian, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Foster City include German, English, Irish, Italian, and Russian.

In addition, Foster City has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (47.96%).

The most common language spoken in Foster City is English. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese and Langs. of India.