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St. James, NC

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





Overview


St. James is a somewhat small coastal town (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of North Carolina. With a population of 7,327 people and just one neighborhood, St. James is the 133rd largest community in North Carolina. Much of the housing stock in St. James was built relatively recently. The construction of new real estate can often be taken as an indication that the local St. James economy is robust, and that jobs or other amenities are attracting an influx of new residents. This seems to be the case in St. James, where the median household income is $113,507.00.

St. James home prices are not only among the most expensive in North Carolina, but St. James real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

Occupations and Workforce

St. James is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 93.58% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, St. James is a town of managers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in St. James who work in management occupations (25.86%), sales jobs (12.96%), and computer science and math (10.50%).

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

Of important note, St. James is also a town of artists. St. James has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape St. James’s character.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 33.83% 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.

Setting & Lifestyle

In addition, St. James 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, St. James is a very good place for families to consider. With an enviable combination of good schools, low crime, college-educated neighbors who tend to support education because of their own experiences, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family properties, St. James really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is St. James perfect? Of course not, and if you like frenetic nightlife, it will be far from your cup of tea. But overall this is a solid community, with many things to recommend it as a family-friendly place to live.

The town 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, St. James has relatively fewer families with younger children, and/or college students. Combined, this makes St. James a pretty quiet place to live overall. If you like quiet, you will probably enjoy it here.

One of the nice things about St. James is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.

One downside of living in St. James, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 40.63 minutes every day commuting to work. However, local public transit is widely used. For those who would prefer to avoid driving entirely and leave their car at home, it may be an option to use the transit instead.

In St. James, a lot of people use a ferryboat to get to work every day though St. James is a relatively small town. Those that ride a ferryboat are primarily traveling out of town to good jobs in other cities.

Demographics

Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to St. James, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. St. James is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 65.43% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 21.84%.

The per capita income in St. James in 2022 was $90,098, which is wealthy relative to North Carolina and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $360,392 for a family of four.

The people who call St. James home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of St. James residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in St. James include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Polish.

The most common language spoken in St. James is English. Other important languages spoken here include Scandinavian languages and Spanish.

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

Real Estate

is a neighborhood that is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet. Many times, such places have amenities that bring locals and visitors to the waterfront for recreational activities or to check out the scenery. In some densely populated areas that are less financially well-off, the neighborhood waterfront can be relatively industrial and less open to recreation. In addition to being coastal, is a very nautical neighborhood, meaning that it is somewhat historic, walkable, densely populated and on the water. This gives the neighborhood a very nautical feel, with some seaside and shipping feel, which some may really enjoy the sights and sounds of. One of the notable things about is that it is one of the quietest neighborhoods in America, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis and quantitative rating of quietness. When you are here, you will find it to be very quiet. If quiet and peaceful are your cup of tea, you may have found a great place for you.

In addition, if you like the look and ambience of new homes and newly built neighborhoods, you will love the neighborhood. A whopping 74.3% of the homes and other residential real estate here were built after 1999, which is a higher proportion of new homes then you will find in 96.6% of the neighborhoods in the U.S. Everything here just feels new.

Modes of Transportation

In the neighborhood, 8.8% of people ride a ferry 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 ferry ridership than in 99.9% of the neighborhoods in America.

Length of Commute

Regardless of the means by which residents commute, this neighborhood has a length of commute that is notable. Long commutes can be brutal. They take time, money, and energy, leaving less of you for yourself and your family. The residents of the neighborhood unfortunately have the distinction of having, on average, a longer commute than most any neighborhood in America. 19.2% of commuters here travel more than one hour just one-way to work. That is more than two hours per day. This percentage with two-hour + round-trip commutes is higher than NeighborhoodScout found in 99.4% of all neighborhoods in America.

People

Priests and therapists would like to think they know the secrets to a truly successful marriage, but according to NeighborhoodScout's research, the folks of the neighborhood may actually hold the key. 74.5% of its residents are married, which is a higher percentage than is found in 98.8% of the neighborhoods in America.

In addition, if you are planning to retire in North Carolina, this neighborhood should be on your must-see list. For many reasons, may be considered a retiree's dream neighborhood. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis and metrics, it's peaceful and quiet, has above average safety from crime compared to other neighborhoods in North Carolina, while also offering a diverse range of housing options. This, along with the vibrant mix of very educated seniors and other age groups who choose to live here, makes the neighborhood more retiree-friendly than 97.8% of neighborhoods in NC. If a North Carolina retirement is in your future, this neighborhood should be one of the places you visit. In addition to being an excellent choice for active retirees, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for highly educated executives.

Diversity

Did you know that the neighborhood has more Austrian and French Canadian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 1.2% of this neighborhood's residents have Austrian ancestry and 3.0% have French Canadian ancestry.

The Neighbors

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 St. James are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 77.3% of the neighborhoods in America. With 11.3% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 52.4% 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, 51.3% 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 22.3% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (17.3%), and 9.1% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.

Languages

The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 95.1% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (2.4%).

Ethnicity / Ancestry

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 St. James, NC, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (21.8%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (19.2%), and residents who report English roots (17.1%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (7.3%), along with some French ancestry residents (4.5%), 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 (40.3% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans. However, there is also a significant group of residents (19.2%) who commute over an hour in each direction.

Here most residents (58.4%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also ride a ferry to get to work (8.8%) . 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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