Irvine is a large city located in the state of California. With a population of 313,685 people and 49 associated neighborhoods, Irvine is the 14th largest community in California. Irvine has seen a significant amount of newer housing growth in recent years. Quite often, new home construction is the result of new residents moving in who are middle class or wealthier, attracted by jobs, a healthy local economy, or other amenities as they leave nearby or far away areas for greener pastures. This seems to be the case in Irvine, where the median household income is $122,948.00. Irvine home prices are not only among the most expensive in California, but Irvine real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.Irvine is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 94.71% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Irvine is a city of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Irvine who work in management occupations (16.08%), business and financial occupations (11.06%), and computer science and math (10.73%). Also of interest is that Irvine has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. Of important note, Irvine is also a city of artists. Irvine has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Irvine’s character. A relatively large number of people in Irvine telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 23.15% 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. In addition, Irvine is a major college town. As is often the case in college towns, the many students that live in Irvine have a strong influence on the local culture and music scene. In fact, Irvine is one of only a few big cities that are also major college towns. This combination of big city status and thousands of college students gives Irvine, on one hand, a sophisticated style, while on the other also providing lots of diversions and entertainment for students. In fact, Irvine is one of the biggest "college towns" in America. This elevates both the status of the city and the knowledge sector of the local economy, which is sustained by a steady output of new college graduates every spring. Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Irvine. 70.02% of adults here have a 4-year degree or graduate degree, whereas the national average for all cities and towns is just 21.84%. The per capita income in Irvine in 2022 was $59,354, which is upper middle income relative to California, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $237,416 for a family of four. However, Irvine contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Irvine is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Irvine home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Irvine residents report their race to be Asian, followed by White. Irvine also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 11.24% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Irvine include German, English, Irish, Iranian, and Italian. Irvine also has a high percentage of its population that was born in another country: 39.57%. The most common language spoken in Irvine is English. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese and Spanish.
