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Shirley, MA

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





Overview


Shirley is a somewhat small town located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 6,782 people and just one neighborhood, Shirley is the 215th largest community in Massachusetts.

Housing costs in Shirley 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 Massachusetts.

Occupations and Workforce

Shirley is neither predominantly blue-collar nor white-collar, instead having a mixed workforce of both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Overall, Shirley is a town of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Shirley who work in management occupations (14.82%), office and administrative support (11.21%), and teaching (7.22%).

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

Of important note, Shirley is also a town of artists. Shirley has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Shirley’s character.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 16.61% 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.

Setting & Lifestyle

One downside of living in Shirley is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Shirley, the average commute to work is 34.49 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average.

Demographics

The overall education level of Shirley citizens is substantially higher than the typical US community, as 32.60% of adults in Shirley have at least a bachelor's degree, and the average American community has 21.84%.

The per capita income in Shirley in 2022 was $46,749, which is lower middle income relative to Massachusetts, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $186,996 for a family of four.

Shirley is a somewhat ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Shirley home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Shirley residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Shirley include Irish, English, French, Italian, and Scottish.

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

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

Many things matter about a neighborhood, but the first thing most people notice is the way a neighborhood looks and its particular character. For example, one might notice whether the buildings all date from a certain time period or whether shop signs are in multiple languages. This particular neighborhood in Shirley, the neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.

People

In a nation where 1 out of every 4 children lives in poverty, the neighborhood stands out as being ranked among the lowest 0.0% of neighborhoods affected by this global issue.

In addition, of particular note, 17.7% of the people in the neighborhood currently reside in a correction facility, held due to punishment for a crime.

Also, if you're planning where to retire, the neighborhood in Shirley 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 MA, 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 89.0% of the neighborhoods in Massachusetts. If you are considering retiring to Massachusetts, this is a good neighborhood to look at.

Diversity

Did you know that the neighborhood has more Scottish and French ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 8.3% of this neighborhood's residents have Scottish ancestry and 11.0% have French ancestry.

is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 0.1% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Mon-Khmer, which is the dominant language of Cambodia, at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 95.3% of the neighborhoods in America.

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 Shirley are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 83.6% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 0.0% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 100.0% of America'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, 53.7% 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 18.1% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (15.6%), and 12.5% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.

Languages

The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 88.2% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish, Polish, Langs. of India and French.

Ethnicity / Ancestry

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 Shirley, MA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (22.4%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (13.2%), and residents who report French roots (11.0%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (9.0%), along with some Scottish ancestry residents (8.3%), among others.

Getting to Work

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 between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (26.4% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.

Here most residents (79.9%) 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.


Real Estate includes:
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Economics & Demographics include:
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Commute To Work
Migration & Mobility
Race & Ethnic Diversity
Employment Industries & Occupations
Income & Unemployment Rate
Higher Education Attainment
Crime includes:
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Schools include:
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