Accomac is a tiny coastal town (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Virginia. With a population of 512 people and just one neighborhood, Accomac is the 330th largest community in Virginia.
When you are in Accomac, you'll notice that it is more blue-collar than most other communities in America. 54.72% of Accomac’s employed work in blue-collar jobs, while America averages only 27.7% that do. Overall, Accomac is a town of production and manufacturing workers, service providers, and transportation and shipping workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Accomac who work in healthcare suport services (15.41%), management occupations (6.60%), and office and administrative support (4.09%).
Accomac is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Quite often, nautical areas such as these attract visitors and locals who come to enjoy the scenery and various waterfront activities.
Residents of the town have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 14.71 minutes getting to work every day.
Accomac is a small town, and as is often the case with smaller towns, the population isn't large or dense enough to support much in the way of a public transportation system. In fact, there are many rural roads around Accomac, which makes walking or biking to and from work a bit difficult. This makes for a very car-oriented town: 96.54% of residents commute to work by private automobile, and people often drive out of town for work, shopping, and other activities.
As is often the case in a small town, Accomac doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.
In Accomac, just 9.25% of people over 25 hold a college degree, which is very low compared to the rest of the nation, whereas the average among all cities is 21.84%.
The per capita income in Accomac in 2022 was $15,717, which is low income relative to Virginia and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $62,868 for a family of four. However, Accomac contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Accomac is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Accomac home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. People of Hispanic or Latino origin are the most prevalent group in Accomac, accounting for 47.65% of the town’s residents (people of Hispanic or Latino origin can be of any race). The greatest number of Accomac residents report their race to be Black or African-American, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Accomac include English, German, Irish, Italian, and Haitian.
In addition, Accomac has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (24.22%).
The most common language spoken in Accomac is Spanish. Other important languages spoken here include English and French Creole.
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.
Do you like a coastal setting? If so, this neighborhood may be to your liking. The neighborhood is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet. Often such coastal places have amenities and recreational activities on the waterfront that are attractive to residents and visitors alike. 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.
NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research identifies the neighborhood as having one of the highest concentrations of people employed in manufacturing or as laborers of any neighborhood in America. In fact, despite the loss of manufacturing jobs nationally, this neighborhood has 53.9% of its working residents employed in such fields, which is a higher proportion than 99.5% of American neighborhoods.
Furthermore, 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 98.7% of all American neighborhoods. This is truly a unique cultural characteristic of this neighborhood.
Of particular note, 3.7% of the people in the neighborhood currently reside in a correction facility, held due to punishment for a crime.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Haitian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 1.8% of this neighborhood's residents have Haitian ancestry.
is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 6.8% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak French at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 98.4% 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 Accomac are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 87.3% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 37.0% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 87.5% of U.S. neighborhoods.
The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.
In the neighborhood, 53.9% of the working population is employed in manufacturing and laborer 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 19.5% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (12.2%), and 8.3% in farming, forestry, or commercial fishing.
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 57.7% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French.
Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.
In the neighborhood in Accomac, VA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Mexican (15.2%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (2.9%), and residents who report Haitian roots (1.8%), and some of the residents are also of German ancestry (1.6%), along with some Irish ancestry residents (1.3%), among others. In addition, 21.0% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
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 (47.6% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (74.2%) 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 (21.7%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.