Hayward is a relatively large coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of California. With a population of 156,754 people and 39 associated neighborhoods, Hayward is the 34th largest community in California. Housing costs in Hayward 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.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Hayward is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Hayward is a city of professionals, sales and office workers, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Hayward who work in office and administrative support (11.27%), management occupations (9.17%), and sales jobs (8.45%). Also of interest is that Hayward has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 11.28% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. 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. Hayward 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. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery. In Hayward, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 34.33 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 Hayward use a private automobile to get to work. But notably, a substantial number of Hayward‘s citizens do make use of public transit in their daily commute, primarily riding the subway. This helps more people get to work with less air pollution, and require fewer highways to get them there.The overall education level of Hayward citizens is substantially higher than the typical US community, as 31.48% of adults in Hayward have at least a bachelor's degree, and the average American community has 21.84%. The per capita income in Hayward in 2022 was $42,311, 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 $169,244 for a family of four. However, Hayward contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Hayward is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Hayward home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. People of Hispanic or Latino origin are the most prevalent group in Hayward, accounting for 39.66% of the city’s residents (people of Hispanic or Latino origin can be of any race). The greatest number of Hayward residents report their race to be Asian, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Hayward include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Portuguese. Foreign born people are also an important part of Hayward's cultural character, accounting for 40.37% of the city’s population. The most common language spoken in Hayward is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Tagalog.
