Hercules is a medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of California. With a population of 25,920 people and six associated neighborhoods, Hercules is the 280th largest community in California.

Housing costs in Hercules 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.

Also of interest is that Hercules has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 15.26% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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.

One of the nice things about Hercules is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.

One downside of living in Hercules is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Hercules, the average commute to work is 38.33 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average. On the other hand, local public transit is widely used in the city, so leaving the car at home and taking transit is often a viable alternative.

Like elsewhere in America, most people in Hercules use a private automobile to get to work. But notably, a substantial number of Hercules‘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 education level of Hercules ranks among the highest in the nation. Of the 25-and-older adult population in Hercules, 45.31% have at least a bachelor's degree. The typical US community has just 21.84% of its adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree.

The per capita income in Hercules in 2022 was $52,818, which is upper middle income relative to California, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $211,272 for a family of four.

Hercules is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Hercules home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Hercules residents report their race to be Asian, followed by Black or African-American. Hercules also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 15.74% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Hercules include Irish, Nigerian, German, Italian, and Other Arab.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Hercules's cultural character, accounting for 32.31% of the city’s population.

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