Oblong is a very small village located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 1,349 people and just one neighborhood, Oblong is the 640th largest community in Illinois.
Unlike some villages where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Oblong is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Oblong is a village of service providers, sales and office workers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Oblong who work in office and administrative support (14.46%), personal care services (13.51%), and food service (12.70%).
Of important note, Oblong is also a village of artists. Oblong has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Oblong’s character.
Also of interest is that Oblong has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
The rate of college-level education in Oblong is quite a bit lower than the national average among all cities of 21.84%: just 11.29% of people here over 25 have a bachelor's degree or an advanced degree.
The per capita income in Oblong in 2022 was $28,339, which is low income relative to Illinois, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $113,356 for a family of four. However, Oblong contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
The people who call Oblong home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Oblong residents report their race to be White, followed by Native American. Important ancestries of people in Oblong include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Welsh.
The most common language spoken in Oblong is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and German/Yiddish.
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.
Our research reveals that 92.1% of commuters who live in the neighborhood get to work each day by driving alone in their automobiles, which is a higher proportion than 99.0% of U.S. neighborhoods.
There is an especially high percentage of incarcerated people (1.4%) living in the neighborhood.
How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Oblong are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 64.0% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 19.5% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 69.1% of U.S. neighborhoods.
What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.
In the neighborhood, 30.3% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 28.0% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (26.9%), and 14.7% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 99.1% of households.
Boston's Beacon Hill blue-blood streets, Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish enclaves, Los Angeles' Persian neighborhoods. Each has its own culture derived primarily from the ancestries and culture of the residents who call these neighborhoods home. Likewise, each neighborhood in America has its own culture – some more unique than others – based on lifestyle, occupations, the types of households – and importantly – on the ethnicities and ancestries of the people who live in the neighborhood. Understanding where people came from, who their grandparents or great-grandparents were, can help you understand how a neighborhood is today.
In the neighborhood in Oblong, IL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (20.5%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (14.6%), and residents who report Irish roots (6.9%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (2.7%), along with some French ancestry residents (1.3%), among others.
How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (55.5% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (92.1%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.