Springfield, MA (Athol Junction / American International College)

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 Athol Junction / American International College neighborhood in Springfield are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 93.2% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 55.2% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 95.8% 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 Athol Junction / American International College neighborhood, 35.4% 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 24.6% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in executive, management, and professional occupations (23.2%), and 16.7% in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants.

Languages

The most common language spoken in the Athol Junction / American International College neighborhood is English, spoken by 53.5% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (44.3%).

Ethnicity / Ancestry

Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.

In the Athol Junction / American International College neighborhood in Springfield, MA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Puerto Rican (52.9%). There are also a number of people of Jamaican ancestry (9.1%), and residents who report Dominican roots (7.9%).

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 Athol Junction / American International College neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (46.4% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.

Here most residents (73.2%) 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 (12.7%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.