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Sterling, MA

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





Overview


Sterling is a somewhat small town located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 8,139 people and just one neighborhood, Sterling is the 208th largest community in Massachusetts.

Housing costs in Sterling 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

Sterling is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 85.09% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Sterling is a town of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Sterling who work in management occupations (18.10%), business and financial occupations (11.24%), and teaching (10.09%).

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

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 10.00% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. 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

In addition, Sterling is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates". Urban sophisticates are educated, wealthy, executives and professionals, who have urbane tastes in books, food, and travel, whether they actually live in a big city, or choose to reside in a small town. In big or medium-sized cities, urban sophisticates tend to frequent art institutions such as opera, symphonies, ballet, live theatre, and museums.

Because of many things, Sterling is a great place for families with children to consider. First of all, many other families with children live here, making Sterling a place where both parents and children are more likely to develop social ties with other families, as well as find family-oriented services and community. The town’s good public school district and large population of college-educated adults provide an environment conducive to academic values. With regard to real estate, Sterling has a high rate of owner-occupied single family homes, which tends to reflect stability in the local community. Finally, Sterling’s overall crime rate ranks among the lowest in the country, making it one of the safest places to raise a family.

Despite being a small town, Sterling has a lot of people using the train to get to and from work every day. Most of these people on the train are using it to get to good jobs in other cities.

Demographics

Sterling is one of the most well-educated cities in the nation. 49.71% of adults in Sterling have at least a bachelor's degree. Compare that to the average community in America, which has just 21.84% with a bachelor's degree or higher.

The per capita income in Sterling in 2022 was $69,244, which is upper middle income relative to Massachusetts, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $276,976 for a family of four.

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

The most common language spoken in Sterling is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and French Creole.

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 Sterling, the neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.

People

Of note is NeighborhoodScout's research finding that the neighborhood has some of the lowest rates of children living in poverty of any neighborhood in the United States. In a nation where approximately 1 in 4 children are living in poverty, the community truly stands out from the rest in this regard.

In addition, a majority of the adults in the neighborhood are wealthy and educated executives. They own stately homes that tend to maintain high real estate appreciation rates. Their upper-level careers keep them busy, but allow them to live comfortably. If you're an executive and want to keep similar company, consider settling in this neighborhood, rated as an executive lifestyle "best choice" neighborhood for Massachusetts by NeighborhoodScout's analysis, which rated it as better for executive lifestyles than 96.0% of the neighborhoods in Massachusetts. In addition to being an excellent choice for highly educated executives, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for urban sophisticates, active retirees and families with school-aged children.

Diversity

Did you know that the neighborhood has more French Canadian and Portuguese ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 7.5% of this neighborhood's residents have French Canadian ancestry and 5.5% have Portuguese ancestry.

is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 9.1% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Polish at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 97.7% of the neighborhoods in America.

The Neighbors

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 Sterling are wealthy, making it among the 15% highest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 89.6% 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.

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, 61.5% 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 14.4% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (12.6%), and 11.1% in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants.

Languages

The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 96.3% of households. Some people also speak Polish (9.1%).

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 neighborhood in Sterling, MA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (27.6%). There are also a number of people of Italian ancestry (15.8%), and residents who report English roots (15.7%), and some of the residents are also of French ancestry (9.3%), along with some German ancestry residents (8.5%), 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 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (38.1% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.

Here most residents (80.0%) 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 (5.1%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.


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Economics & Demographics include:
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Commute To Work
Migration & Mobility
Race & Ethnic Diversity
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Higher Education Attainment
Crime includes:
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Schools include:
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