Westfield, MA (Westfield State University)

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 Westfield State University neighborhood in Westfield are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 67.5% of U.S. neighborhoods. 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 Westfield State University neighborhood, 41.9% 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 29.3% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (24.3%), and 4.5% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.

Languages

The most common language spoken in the Westfield State University neighborhood is English, spoken by 92.1% of households. Some people also speak Italian (12.4%).

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 Westfield State University neighborhood in Westfield, MA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Asian (5.5%). There are also a number of people of Italian ancestry (4.4%), and residents who report Irish roots (3.5%), and some of the residents are also of Puerto Rican ancestry (2.8%), along with some Polish ancestry residents (1.9%), 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 Westfield State University neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (67.4% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.

Here most residents (56.7%) hop out the door and walk to work to get to work. In addition, quite a number also drive alone in a private automobile to get to work (35.2%) . This is a special neighborhood for the number of people who walk to work. Combining exercise, low cost, and reduced pollution, plus the chance to see your neighbors, walking to work is fairly uncommon in America but likely to increase as people try to reduce their dependence on automobiles, and this neighborhood offers that opportunity today.