South Pasadena is a medium-sized city located in the state of California. With a population of 25,850 people and six associated neighborhoods, South Pasadena is the 272nd largest community in California.

South Pasadena home prices are not only among the most expensive in California, but South Pasadena real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

Of important note, South Pasadena is also a city of artists. South Pasadena has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape South Pasadena’s character.

Also of interest is that South Pasadena 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: 23.48% 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.

South Pasadena, while not large, also appears to be attractive to some younger, educated professionals, who help shape the character of the city.

In South Pasadena, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 31.52 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. In addition, the city is also quite pedestrian-friendly, because many neighborhoods are very dense and have amenities close enough together that people find it feasible to get around on foot.

Although the majority of commuting trips in the city are by private automobile, South Pasadena 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 subway helps to get to and from their jobs every morning, which benefits everyone in the South Pasadena area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.

If knowledge is power, South Pasadena is a pretty powerful place. 71.77% of the adults in South Pasadena 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 South Pasadena in 2022 was $71,865, which is wealthy relative to California and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $287,460 for a family of four.

South Pasadena is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call South Pasadena home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of South Pasadena residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. South Pasadena also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 18.16% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in South Pasadena include German, English, Irish, Italian, and French.

Foreign born people are also an important part of South Pasadena's cultural character, accounting for 24.56% of the city’s population.

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