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McDowell, KY

This is a small community in a single neighborhood. As throughout the site, some neighborhood-level data are reserved for subscribers.



Overview

McDowell is a tiny town located in the state of Kentucky. With a population of 661 people and just one neighborhood, McDowell is the 300th largest community in Kentucky.

Occupations and Workforce

Because occupations involving physical labor dominate the local economy, McDowell is generally considered to be a blue-collar town. 35.71% of the McDowell workforce is employed in blue-collar occupations, compared to the national average of 27.7%. Overall, McDowell is a town of sales and office workers, transportation and shipping workers, and production and manufacturing workers. There are especially a lot of people living in McDowell who work in sales jobs (64.29%), office and administrative support (0.00%), and personal care services (0.00%).

Setting & Lifestyle

McDowell’s overall crime rate ranks among the lowest in the nation, making it a very safe place to live.

The town is relatively quiet, having a combination of lower population density and few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. For example, McDowell has relatively fewer families with younger children, and/or college students. Combined, this makes McDowell a pretty quiet place to live overall. If you like quiet, you will probably enjoy it here.

In McDowell, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 36.43 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average.

As is often the case in a small town, McDowell doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.

Demographics

The percentage of adults in McDowell who are college-educated is close to the national average for all communities of 21.84%: 17.46% of the adults in McDowell have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.

The per capita income in McDowell in 2022 was $9,664, which is low income relative to Kentucky and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $38,656 for a family of four. McDowell also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 72.42% of its population below the federal poverty line.

The people who call McDowell home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of McDowell residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in McDowell include English, Welsh, Scots-Irish, German, and Swiss.

The most common language spoken in McDowell is English. Other important languages spoken here include African languages and Arabic.

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

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.

Occupations

There are more people living in the neighborhood employed as sales and service workers (59.5%) than almost any neighborhood in the country. From fast-food service workers to major sales accounts, sales and service workers make up the largest proportion of our national employment picture. But despite that size and importance nationally, this neighborhood still stands out as unique due to the dominance of people living here who work in such occupations.

Modes of Transportation

In the neighborhood, walking to work is a real option for many. In fact, NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research reveals walking to and from work is the chosen way to commute for 14.4% of residents here. This is a higher proportion of walking commuters than we found in 97.1% of American neighborhoods. Get ready to put on your walking shoes if you move here!

Real Estate

The real estate in this neighborhood consists of more mobile homes than 96.4% of all neighborhoods in America, with 33.3% of the occupied housing here being classified as mobile homes. So if you are looking for a mobile home, or you like the look and feel of mobile home parks, this neighborhood might have the setting you desire.

People

The neighborhood stands out for having an average per capita income lower than 95.5% of the neighborhoods in the United States. Also of note, 55.7% of the children in this area live in poverty; an extraordinarily high percentage compared to other neighborhoods in the nation. In a nation where approximately one in four children grows up in poverty, this neighborhood stands out for the depth of the problem manifested here.

In addition, if you're nearing retirement age, or in retirement, the is an excellent choice for you to consider for top-quality retirement living. This neighborhood is rated by NeighborhoodScout as among the top 8.2% of retiree-friendly neighborhoods in Kentucky, combining peace and quiet, safety from crime, and offering diverse housing options from which retirees can choose. Maybe it's because of these amenities that a large proportion of the residents here are college educated seniors, mixed with other age groups. For these and other reasons, NeighborhoodScout identifies this neighborhood as a top-notch place to consider if you are thinking of or planning to retire in Kentucky.

The Neighbors

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 McDowell are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 95.5% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 55.7% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 96.0% of U.S. neighborhoods.

A neighborhood is far different if it is dominated by enlisted military personnel rather than people who earn their living by farming. It is also different if most of the neighbors are clerical support or managers. What is wonderful is the sheer diversity of neighborhoods, allowing you to find the type that fits your lifestyle and aspirations.

In the neighborhood, 40.5% of the working population is employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 30.1% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (15.3%), and 14.1% in executive, management, and professional occupations.

Languages

The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 98.7% of households.

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 neighborhood in McDowell, KY, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as English (9.5%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (8.7%), and residents who report German roots (2.8%), and some of the residents are also of Welsh ancestry (1.7%).

Getting to Work

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 between 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (27.1% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.

Here most residents (80.2%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also hop out the door and walk to work to get to work (14.4%) and 5.2% of residents also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors 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.

Real Estate includes:
Average Home Values
Rental Market
Housing Market Details
Neighborhood Setting
Economics & Demographics include:
Lifestyle & Special Character
Household Types
Commute To Work
Migration & Mobility
Race & Ethnic Diversity
Employment Industries & Occupations
Income & Unemployment Rate
Higher Education Attainment
Crime includes:
Neighborhood Crime Index
Crimes Per Square Mile
Property Crime Comparison
Violent Crime Comparison
Schools include:
School Ratings
Schools In District
Public School Test Scores
School District Enrollment
Educational Expenditures

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