Wells is a very small city located in the state of Minnesota. With a population of 2,401 people and just one neighborhood, Wells is the 285th largest community in Minnesota. Much of the housing stock in Wells was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.
When you are in Wells, you'll notice that it is more blue-collar than most other communities in America. 36.09% of Wells’s employed work in blue-collar jobs, while America averages only 27.7% that do. Overall, Wells is a city of professionals, sales and office workers, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Wells who work in office and administrative support (12.82%), management occupations (7.67%), and teaching (7.59%).
Of important note, Wells is also a city of artists. Wells has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Wells’s character.
The overall crime rate in Wells is one of the lowest in the US. This makes it one of the safer places to live in the country in terms of crime.
The city 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, Wells has relatively fewer families with younger children, and/or college students. Combined, this makes Wells a pretty quiet place to live overall. If you like quiet, you will probably enjoy it here.
One of the benefits of Wells is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 18.91 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.
Being a small city, Wells does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
In terms of college education, Wells is nearly on par with the US average for all cities of 21.84%: 20.94% of adults 25 and older in Wells have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.
The per capita income in Wells in 2022 was $33,190, which is lower middle income relative to Minnesota, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $132,760 for a family of four. However, Wells contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Wells is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Wells home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Wells residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Wells include German, Norwegian, Irish, English, and Polish.
The most common language spoken in Wells is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Spanish.
When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
Each year, fewer and fewer Americans make their living as farmers, foresters, or fishers. But the neighborhood truly stands out among U.S. neighborhoods. According to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, this neighborhood has a greater proportion of farmers, foresters, or fishers than 97.8% of all American neighborhoods. This is truly a unique cultural characteristic of this neighborhood.
Whether walking, biking, riding, or driving, the length of one's commute is an important factor for one's quality of life. The neighborhood stands out for its commute length, according to NeighborhoodScout's analysis. Residents of the neighborhood have the pleasure of having one of the shortest commutes to work of any neighborhood in America. 62.8% of the residents have a commute time from home to work (one way) of less than fifteen minutes. This is a higher proportion of residents enjoying a short trip to work than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.0% of U.S. neighborhoods. Less time commuting means more time for other things in life.
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 5.4% of retiree-friendly neighborhoods in Minnesota, 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 Minnesota.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Norwegian and German ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 13.4% of this neighborhood's residents have Norwegian ancestry and 42.3% have German ancestry.
is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 9.2% 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 97.8% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 Wells are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 71.1% of U.S. neighborhoods. In addition, 5.4% 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 62.4% of America'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, 31.8% 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 30.0% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (18.4%), and 13.8% in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 98.3% of households. Some people also speak Polish (9.2%).
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 Wells, MN, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (42.3%). There are also a number of people of Norwegian ancestry (13.4%), and residents who report Irish roots (7.7%), and some of the residents are also of English ancestry (6.9%), along with some Polish ancestry residents (6.7%), among others.
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 under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (62.8% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (79.4%) 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 (8.2%) and 6.3% of residents also hop out the door and walk to work 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.