Menlo Park 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 32,295 people and ten associated neighborhoods, Menlo Park is the 235th largest community in California.
Menlo Park home prices are not only among the most expensive in California, but Menlo Park real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.
Also of interest is that Menlo Park 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 Menlo Park 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 Menlo Park telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 27.25% 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.
Menlo Park, while not large, also appears to be attractive to some younger, educated professionals, who help shape the character of the city.
Menlo Park 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.
Although the majority of commuting trips in the city are by private automobile, Menlo Park 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 train helps to get to and from their jobs every morning, which benefits everyone in the Menlo Park area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.
If knowledge is power, Menlo Park is a pretty powerful place. 72.46% of the adults in Menlo Park have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns.
The per capita income in Menlo Park in 2022 was $113,716, which is wealthy relative to California and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $454,864 for a family of four.
Menlo Park is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Menlo Park home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Menlo Park residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Menlo Park also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 17.32% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Menlo Park include German, English, Irish, Italian, and French.
In addition, Menlo Park has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (29.64%).
The most common language spoken in Menlo Park is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.