Merrillville, IN (Merrillville Northwest)

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 Merrillville Northwest neighborhood in Merrillville are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 75.8% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 27.3% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 79.5% 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 Merrillville Northwest neighborhood, 31.5% of the working population is employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations, with 23.0% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in executive, management, and professional occupations (22.4%), and 16.0% in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants.

Languages

The most common language spoken in the Merrillville Northwest neighborhood is English, spoken by 89.8% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (6.0%).

Ethnicity / Ancestry

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 Merrillville Northwest neighborhood in Merrillville, IN, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Mexican (14.4%). There are also a number of people of Jamaican ancestry (11.4%), and residents who report Irish roots (6.6%), and some of the residents are also of German ancestry (4.3%), along with some Polish ancestry residents (4.2%), 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 Merrillville Northwest neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (56.0% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.

Here most residents (89.6%) 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.