Mercer Island is a medium-sized city located in the state of Washington. With a population of 25,172 people and six associated neighborhoods, Mercer Island is the 45th largest community in Washington. Mercer Island home prices are not only among the most expensive in Washington, but Mercer Island real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.Mercer Island is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 96.73% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Mercer Island is a city of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Mercer Island who work in management occupations (20.67%), sales jobs (13.22%), and computer science and math (10.19%). Also of interest is that Mercer Island has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. Of important note, Mercer Island is also a city of artists. Mercer Island has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Mercer Island’s character. A relatively large number of people in Mercer Island telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 30.33% 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. Although the majority of commuting trips in the city are by private automobile, Mercer Island 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 Mercer Island area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.If knowledge is power, Mercer Island is a pretty powerful place. 77.74% of the adults in Mercer Island 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 Mercer Island in 2022 was $113,575, which is wealthy relative to Washington and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $454,300 for a family of four. Mercer Island is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Mercer Island home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Mercer Island residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Mercer Island include English, German, Irish, Italian, and Norwegian. Foreign born people are also an important part of Mercer Island's cultural character, accounting for 24.57% of the city’s population. The most common language spoken in Mercer Island is English. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese and Spanish.
