Wellston is a very small city located in the state of Missouri. With a population of 1,590 people and just one neighborhood, Wellston is the 315th largest community in Missouri. Wellston has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities.
Wellston is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 86.76% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Wellston is a city of professionals, service providers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Wellston who work in healthcare (29.52%), management occupations (13.52%), and healthcare suport services (11.72%).
Despite the fact that it is a small city, Wellston has quite a few people who take public transportation – mostly the bus - for their daily commute to work. This helps to fill a real need in the city for affordable transportation.
The rate of college-level education in Wellston is quite a bit lower than the national average among all cities of 21.84%: just 12.51% of people here over 25 have a bachelor's degree or an advanced degree.
The per capita income in Wellston in 2022 was $23,967, which is lower middle income relative to Missouri, and low income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $95,868 for a family of four. However, Wellston contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Wellston also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 35.44% of its population below the federal poverty line.
The people who call Wellston home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Wellston residents report their race to be Black or African-American, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Wellston include German, African, Italian, Yugoslavian, and Other West Indian.
The most common language spoken in Wellston is English. Other important languages spoken here include French and Tagalog.
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 Wellston, the neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
The neighborhood has a greater percentage of children living in poverty (68.4%) than found in 98.3% of all U.S. neighborhoods. Children living in poverty is one of the challenges facing America, and the world, and in this neighborhood in particular, the problem can be considered acute.
In addition, single parenting is hard. But you don't have to tell the neighborhood about it; they already know. 20.1% of this neighborhood's households are run by single mothers, which is a higher concentration than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.1% of American neighborhoods. Further NeighborhoodScout research showed strong statistical correlations among high rates of children living in single parent households, and neighborhood crime, particularly violent crime, neighborhood poverty, and, importantly, the percentage of low weight births and rates of infant mortality.
More people ride the bus in this neighborhood each day to get to work than 95.0% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Also, in the neighborhood, 8.0% of people ride the train to work each day. This is a very high percentage compared to most places. In fact, NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that this is a higher level of train ridership than in 95.0% of the neighborhoods in America.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more African ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 5.5% of this neighborhood's residents have African ancestry.
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 Wellston are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 82.6% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 68.4% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 98.3% 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 neighborhood, 50.1% 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 21.5% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (14.3%), and 14.1% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 98.2% of households.
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 Wellston, MO, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Sub-Saharan African (5.5%). There are also a number of people of African ancestry (5.5%), and residents who report German roots (2.9%).
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 neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (49.2% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (70.6%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also ride the bus to get to work (9.5%) and 8.0% of residents also take the train 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.