Bridgewater is a very small town located in the state of New Hampshire. With a population of 1,184 people and just one neighborhood, Bridgewater is the 167th largest community in New Hampshire.
Bridgewater is neither predominantly blue-collar nor white-collar, instead having a mixed workforce of both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Overall, Bridgewater is a town of sales and office workers, professionals, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Bridgewater who work in management occupations (13.82%), office and administrative support (10.23%), and sales jobs (8.98%).
Also of interest is that Bridgewater 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: 7.98% 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.
Another notable thing is that Bridgewater is an extremely popular destination for tourists and seasonal residents. So much of the population is seasonal such that the town’s population swells significantly during the vacation season, and drops again when the season ends. Because of this, much of the local economy is centered around tourism; some businesses may be operated only during the high season. During the low season, year-round residents will notice that the city is a substantially quieter place to live.
It is a fairly quiet town because there are relatively few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. (Children, for example, often can't help themselves from being noisy, and being parents ourselves, we know!) Bridgewater has relatively few families with children living at home, and is quieter because of it. Renters and college students, for their own reasons, can also be noisy. Bridgewater has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Bridgewater than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Bridgewater may be for you.
In Bridgewater, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 30.68 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average.
The education level of Bridgewater citizens is substantially higher than the typical US community, as 32.82% of adults in Bridgewater have at least a bachelor's degree.
The per capita income in Bridgewater in 2022 was $49,968, which is middle income relative to New Hampshire, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $199,872 for a family of four. However, Bridgewater contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
The people who call Bridgewater home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Bridgewater residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Bridgewater include English, Irish, French, German, and Scots-Irish.
The most common language spoken in Bridgewater is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Polish.
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.
Vacant homes and apartments are a significant characteristic of this neighborhood. In fact, with 60.2% of the residential real estate vacant, the neighborhood claims the distinction of having a higher vacancy rate than 99.4% of the neighborhoods in America. This can either be because much of the property is seasonally occupied, like in many vacation areas, or that much of the real estate is more permanently abandoned.
In addition, 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.
If you're planning where to retire, the neighborhood in Bridgewater is a great option to consider. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive retirement dream area analysis, it's peaceful and quiet, has above average safety ratings compared to other neighborhoods in NH, offers a wide range of housing options, and has already attracted an enviable mix of college educated seniors. This neighborhood ranks as better for retirement living than 87.1% of the neighborhoods in New Hampshire. If you are considering retiring to New Hampshire, this is a good neighborhood to look at.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more French and Scots-Irish ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 16.3% of this neighborhood's residents have French ancestry and 5.7% have Scots-Irish ancestry.
is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 2.1% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Greek at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 99.2% 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 Bridgewater are middle-income, making it a moderate income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 50.7% of the neighborhoods in America. With 24.7% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 76.4% of U.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, 32.0% 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 27.5% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (25.2%), and 13.6% 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 93.4% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Italian, Polish, Vietnamese and Greek.
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 Bridgewater, NH, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (20.9%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (20.3%), and residents who report French roots (16.3%), and some of the residents are also of German ancestry (6.8%), along with some Italian ancestry residents (6.3%), 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 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (31.2% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.
Here most residents (75.0%) 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 (9.7%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.