Chincoteague is a very small coastal town (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Virginia. With a population of 3,279 people and three associated neighborhoods, Chincoteague is the 163rd largest community in Virginia.Chincoteague is neither predominantly blue-collar nor white-collar, instead having a mixed workforce of both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Overall, Chincoteague is a town of professionals, sales and office workers, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Chincoteague who work in food service (13.76%), office and administrative support (12.03%), and sales jobs (9.39%). Also of interest is that Chincoteague has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. A relatively large number of people in Chincoteague telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 9.91% 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. Another notable thing is that Chincoteague 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!) Chincoteague 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. Chincoteague has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Chincoteague than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Chincoteague may be for you. One of the nice things about Chincoteague 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 of the benefits of Chincoteague is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 17.58 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result. Being a small town, Chincoteague does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.The citizens of Chincoteague are very well educated compared to the average community in the nation: 37.24% of adults in Chincoteague have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree. The per capita income in Chincoteague in 2022 was $42,338, which is upper middle income relative to Virginia and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $169,352 for a family of four. However, Chincoteague contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. The people who call Chincoteague home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Chincoteague residents report their race to be White. Important ancestries of people in Chincoteague include English, Irish, German, British, and Italian. The most common language spoken in Chincoteague is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Arabic.
