Riverside is a large city located in the state of California. With a population of 317,261 people and 80 constituent neighborhoods, Riverside is the 12th largest community in California.

Housing costs in Riverside 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.

In addition, Riverside also has a very large population of students, making it a major college town. As often the case, having so many students around has a strong influence on the local culture. In fact, Riverside is one of only a few big cities that are also major college towns, making it one of the nation's prominent intellectual centers. In addition, the presence of thousands of college students gives Riverside a sophisticated style, and provides lots of diversions and entertainment for students. Being a big "college town" not only means that Riverside has a burgeoning arts, music, and nightclub scene, but the innovation sector of the local economy receives a great boost from both the intellectual output of the faculty and the thousands of enthusiastic students who graduate every spring.

This makes it a good place to live for young singles in their 20s and 30s and who have undergraduate or graduate degrees and are starting their professional careers. Although Riverside is a large city, this demographic is significant enough that young professionals will find many others like themselves here, with really good opportunities for friendships, recreation, romance, and more.

One downside of living in Riverside, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 31.08 minutes every day commuting to work.

The education level of Riverside citizens is a little higher than the average for US cities and towns: 23.89% of adults in Riverside have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Riverside in 2018 was $28,771, which is lower middle income relative to California, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $115,084 for a family of four. However, Riverside contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Riverside is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Riverside 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 Riverside, accounting for 54.91% of the city’s residents (people of Hispanic or Latino origin can be of any race). The greatest number of Riverside residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Riverside include German, Irish, English, Italian, and European.

In addition, Riverside has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (22.50%).

The most common language spoken in Riverside is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.