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Gary, WV

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



Overview

Gary is a tiny city located in the state of West Virginia. With a population of 687 people and just one neighborhood, Gary is the 169th largest community in West Virginia. Much of the housing stock in Gary was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.

Occupations and Workforce

Gary is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 92.71% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Gary is a city of service providers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Gary who work in healthcare suport services (27.43%), architecture and engineering (15.28%), and food service (11.46%).

Setting & Lifestyle

The overall crime rate in Gary is one of the lowest in the US. This makes it one of the safer places to live in the country in terms of crime.

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

One downside of living in Gary, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 30.57 minutes every day commuting to work.

Gary is very much a car-oriented city. This is because the population of Gary isn't large enough or dense enough to support an extensive public transit system. It has a lot of rural roads, and the distance between houses can be quite large, which together tends to discourage walking and bicycling to work. 99.30% of residents commute to work in their own car (and the drive is typically to a job out of town). People also tend to drive out of town for other services as well, such as shopping, doctors appointments, and more.

Being a small city, Gary does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.

Demographics

Gary ranks among the bottom of the nation in terms of college education compared to other cities and towns: only 3.37% of people over 25 have a college degree.

The per capita income in Gary in 2022 was $19,188, which is low income relative to West Virginia and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $76,752 for a family of four. However, Gary contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Gary is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Gary home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Gary residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Gary include Irish, Dutch, English, French, and German.

The most common language spoken in Gary is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and African languages.

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

Occupations

The neighborhood has a greater proportion of government workers living in it than 98.5% of the neighborhoods in America, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. This is a unique feature of this neighborhood, and one that shapes its character.

People

Of note, 61.4% of the children in this area live in poverty; an extraordinarily high percentage compared to other neighborhoods in the nation. In a nation where approximately one in four children grows up in poverty, this neighborhood stands out for the depth of the problem manifested here.

In addition, the neighborhood is unique for having just 5.8% of adults here having earned a bachelor's degree. This is a lower rate of college graduates than NeighborhoodScout found in 96.7% of America's neighborhoods.

Also, the neighborhood stands out within West Virginia for its college student friendly environment. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that this neighborhood is home to a number of college students, is relatively walkable, and above average in safety. In combination, this makes it stand out for a good place for college students to consider. Because a number of college students live here, this neighborhood may be close to a college campus and offer certain amenities nearby geared towards the student body. While it's not an environment for everyone, ambitious scholars can enjoy seasonal excitement between semesters and school breaks, and parents can rest easy knowing that the area has an above average safety rating. For each of these reasons, the neighborhood is rated among the top 7.7% of college-friendly places to live in WV.

Modes of Transportation

Our research reveals that 89.1% of commuters who live in the neighborhood get to work each day by driving alone in their automobiles, which is a higher proportion than 96.3% of U.S. neighborhoods.

Real Estate

Despite all of the residential real estate here in the neighborhood, NeighborhoodScout has discovered that much of it is vacant. In resort or second-home vacation areas, this naturally occurs because homes and apartments are seasonally occupied, and empty for a portion of the year. In non-vacation or resort areas, however, this can be an indicator of property abandonment or a weak real estate market. The vacancy rate here is 32.1%, which is higher than 95.9% of all U.S. neighborhoods.

In addition, 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 28 people per square mile living here, this neighborhood is less crowded than 93.2% of America.

Diversity

Did you know that the neighborhood has more Irish ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 26.4% of this neighborhood's residents have Irish ancestry.

Migration / Stability

Some neighborhoods have more internal cohesiveness than others. While other neighborhoods feel like a collection of strangers who just happen to live near each other. Sometimes this comes down to not only the personalities of the people in a place, but how long people have been together in that neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research has revealed some interesting things about the rootedness of people in the neighborhood. More residents of the neighborhood live here today that also were living in this same neighborhood five years ago than is found in 97.3% of U.S. neighborhoods. This neighborhood is really made up of people who know each other, don't move often, and have lived here in this very neighborhood for quite a while.

The Neighbors

How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.

The neighbors in the neighborhood in Gary are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 94.9% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 61.4% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 97.3% 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, 37.1% 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 28.8% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (21.6%), and 18.0% in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions.

Languages

The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 97.1% of households.

Ethnicity / Ancestry

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 Gary, WV, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (26.4%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (12.9%), and residents who report English roots (10.2%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (2.3%), along with some Scottish ancestry residents (2.2%), 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 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (51.4% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.

Here most residents (89.1%) 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 (5.5%) and 5.3% 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.

Real Estate includes:
Average Home Values
Rental Market
Housing Market Details
Neighborhood Setting
Economics & Demographics include:
Lifestyle & Special Character
Household Types
Commute To Work
Migration & Mobility
Race & Ethnic Diversity
Employment Industries & Occupations
Income & Unemployment Rate
Higher Education Attainment
Crime includes:
Neighborhood Crime Index
Crimes Per Square Mile
Property Crime Comparison
Violent Crime Comparison
Schools include:
School Ratings
Schools In District
Public School Test Scores
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Educational Expenditures

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