Valparaiso is a very small coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Florida. With a population of 4,852 people and just one neighborhood, Valparaiso is the 291st largest community in Florida.
The armed forces are a huge part of the life in Valparaiso, employing 14.88% of the workforce. While it is a military town, the civilian sector still plays an important role in the local economy, where the Professional, scientific, and technical services and Public Service industries employ 21.17% and 15.37% of the civilian workforce, respectively.
Also of interest is that Valparaiso has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
Valparaiso 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. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery.
Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 18.51 minutes getting to work every day.
The education level of Valparaiso ranks among the highest in the nation. Of the 25-and-older adult population in Valparaiso, 45.94% 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 Valparaiso in 2022 was $49,304, which is upper middle income relative to Florida, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $197,216 for a family of four. However, Valparaiso contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Valparaiso is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Valparaiso home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Valparaiso residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Valparaiso include English, German, Irish, Polish, and European.
The most common language spoken in Valparaiso is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Korean.
The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.
Do you like a coastal setting? If so, this neighborhood may be to your liking. The neighborhood is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet. Often such coastal places have amenities and recreational activities on the waterfront that are attractive to residents and visitors alike. In addition to being coastal, is a very nautical neighborhood, meaning that it is somewhat historic, walkable, densely populated and on the water. This gives the neighborhood a very nautical feel, with some seaside and shipping feel, which some may really enjoy the sights and sounds of.
The neighborhood stands out nationally for having a greater proportion of its residents active in the military than 99.6% of other U.S. neighborhoods. If you come here, you will notice military people active in their jobs, going to and from work, and in plain clothes out and about the neighborhood.
Furthermore, the government often provides some of the more stable jobs in the economy. From local, to state, to federal government workers, the government can also be a major employer. What NeighborhoodScout's analysis revealed, is that the neighborhood in particular stands out when compared nationally for the proportion of its working residents who are employed by the government. At 13.9% of its workforce, this neighborhood has a greater concentration of government workers than 96.4% of U.S. neighborhoods.
If you're planning where to retire, the neighborhood in Valparaiso is a great option to consider. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive retirement dream area analysis, it's peaceful and quiet, has above average safety ratings compared to other neighborhoods in FL, offers a wide range of housing options, and has already attracted an enviable mix of college educated seniors. This neighborhood ranks as better for retirement living than 87.9% of the neighborhoods in Florida. If you are considering retiring to Florida, this is a good neighborhood to look at.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more British and Croatian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 2.4% of this neighborhood's residents have British ancestry and 1.0% have Croatian ancestry.
is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 0.7% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Japanese at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 95.8% of the neighborhoods in America.
There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Valparaiso are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 62.6% of the neighborhoods in America. With 15.7% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 62.9% of U.S. neighborhoods.
The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.
In the neighborhood, 46.0% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 23.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in the military (16.0%), and 16.0% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 93.9% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (3.0%).
Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
In the neighborhood in Valparaiso, FL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as English (21.2%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (11.1%), and residents who report Irish roots (9.4%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (7.2%), along with some Polish ancestry residents (4.8%), among others.
Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (48.9% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (71.3%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (16.1%) and 6.5% of residents also hop out the door and walk to work for their daily commute. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.