South San Francisco is a larger medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of California. With a population of 63,484 people and 15 associated neighborhoods, South San Francisco is the 140th largest community in California.

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

Also of interest is that South San Francisco 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: 12.91% 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 San Francisco 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. Quite often, nautical areas such as these attract visitors and locals who come to enjoy the scenery and various waterfront activities.

Like elsewhere in America, most people in South San Francisco use a private automobile to get to work. But notably, a substantial number of South San Francisco‘s citizens do make use of public transit in their daily commute, primarily riding the bus. This helps more people get to work with less air pollution, and require fewer highways to get them there.

The population of South San Francisco is very well educated relative to most cities and towns in the nation, where the average community has 21.84% of its adult population holding a 4-year degree or higher: 39.38% of adults in South San Francisco have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.

The per capita income in South San Francisco in 2022 was $58,031, which is upper middle income relative to California, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $232,124 for a family of four. However, South San Francisco contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

South San Francisco is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call South San Francisco home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of South San Francisco residents report their race to be Asian, followed by White. South San Francisco also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 29.15% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in South San Francisco include Irish, Italian, English, German, and European.

Foreign born people are also an important part of South San Francisco's cultural character, accounting for 38.90% of the city’s population.

The most common language spoken in South San Francisco is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Tagalog.