Spencer is a very small town located in the state of North Carolina. With a population of 3,406 people and just one neighborhood, Spencer is the 237th largest community in North Carolina. Spencer has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic towns.
Because occupations involving physical labor dominate the local economy, Spencer is generally considered to be a blue-collar town. 45.70% of the Spencer workforce is employed in blue-collar occupations, compared to the national average of 27.7%. Overall, Spencer is a town of professionals, production and manufacturing workers, and transportation and shipping workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Spencer who work in sales jobs (8.46%), teaching (7.20%), and office and administrative support (6.99%).
Also of interest is that Spencer has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 18.75% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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.
As is often the case in a small town, Spencer doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.
The percentage of people in Spencer who are college-educated is somewhat higher than the average US community of 21.84%: 25.62% of adults in Spencer have at least a bachelor's degree.
The per capita income in Spencer in 2022 was $34,584, which is upper middle income relative to North Carolina, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $138,336 for a family of four. However, Spencer contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Spencer is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Spencer home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Spencer residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Spencer include English, Scots-Irish, German, Irish, and Scottish.
The most common language spoken in Spencer is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Italian.
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.
The neighborhood stands out within North Carolina for its college student friendly environment. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that this neighborhood is home to a number of college students, is relatively walkable, and above average in safety. In combination, this makes it stand out for a good place for college students to consider. Because a number of college students live here, this neighborhood may be close to a college campus and offer certain amenities nearby geared towards the student body. While it's not an environment for everyone, ambitious scholars can enjoy seasonal excitement between semesters and school breaks, and parents can rest easy knowing that the area has an above average safety rating. For each of these reasons, the neighborhood is rated among the top 5.6% of college-friendly places to live in NC.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Scots-Irish ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 9.4% of this neighborhood's residents have Scots-Irish 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 Spencer are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 65.6% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 17.6% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 66.1% of U.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, 37.8% of the working population is employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is executive, management, and professional occupations, with 34.3% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (17.9%), and 9.2% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 93.9% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Italian.
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 Spencer, NC, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (15.0%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (11.5%), and residents who report Scots-Irish roots (9.4%), and some of the residents are also of Mexican ancestry (3.8%), along with some Irish ancestry residents (2.4%), 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 between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (32.0% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (63.0%) 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 (17.0%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.