Prairie City is a tiny city located in the state of Oregon. With a population of 817 people and just one neighborhood, Prairie City is the 193rd largest community in Oregon.
Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Prairie City is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Prairie City is a city of professionals, construction workers and builders, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Prairie City who work in teaching (17.65%), management occupations (14.48%), and sales jobs (13.57%).
A relatively large number of people in Prairie City telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 11.76% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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.
It is a fairly quiet city 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!) Prairie City 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. Prairie City has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Prairie City than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Prairie City may be for you.
Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 14.42 minutes getting to work every day.
As is often the case in a small city, Prairie City doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.
The education level of Prairie City citizens is a little higher than the average for US cities and towns: 22.47% of adults in Prairie City have at least a bachelor's degree.
The per capita income in Prairie City in 2022 was $35,433, which is middle income relative to Oregon and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $141,732 for a family of four. However, Prairie City contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
The people who call Prairie City home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Prairie City residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Prairie City include German, English, Italian, Scottish, and Irish.
The most common language spoken in Prairie City is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and African languages.
The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.
This neighborhood has wide open spaces, few people, and lots of space to stretch out. If you like locations that fit that description, you may like this neighborhood. Based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis, with only 1 people per square mile living here, this neighborhood is less crowded than 99.5% of America. 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, vacant homes and apartments are a significant characteristic of this neighborhood. In fact, with 29.1% of the residential real estate vacant, the neighborhood claims the distinction of having a higher vacancy rate than 95.1% 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.
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 98.9% of all American neighborhoods. This is truly a unique cultural characteristic of this neighborhood.
Regardless of the means by which residents commute, this neighborhood has a length of commute that is notable. Residents of the neighborhood have the pleasure of having one of the shortest commutes to work of any neighborhood in America. 60.7% 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 96.3% of U.S. neighborhoods. Less time commuting means more time for other things in life.
In the neighborhood, walking to work is a real option for many. In fact, NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research reveals walking to and from work is the chosen way to commute for 11.2% of residents here. This is a higher proportion of walking commuters than we found in 95.7% of American neighborhoods. Get ready to put on your walking shoes if you move here!
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Swiss and Welsh ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 2.0% of this neighborhood's residents have Swiss ancestry and 1.9% have Welsh ancestry.
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 Prairie City are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 93.0% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 37.8% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 88.2% 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, 41.9% 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 20.4% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (20.4%), and 9.1% in farming, forestry, or commercial fishing.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 99.0% of households. Some people also speak Italian (4.1%).
Boston's Beacon Hill blue-blood streets, Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish enclaves, Los Angeles' Persian neighborhoods. Each has its own culture derived primarily from the ancestries and culture of the residents who call these neighborhoods home. Likewise, each neighborhood in America has its own culture – some more unique than others – based on lifestyle, occupations, the types of households – and importantly – on the ethnicities and ancestries of the people who live in the neighborhood. Understanding where people came from, who their grandparents or great-grandparents were, can help you understand how a neighborhood is today.
In the neighborhood in Prairie City, OR, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (25.2%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (14.6%), and residents who report Irish roots (6.2%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (5.0%), along with some Spanish ancestry residents (4.1%), 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 (60.7% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (63.0%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also hop out the door and walk to work to get to work (11.2%) and 5.5% of residents also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors 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.