Sophia is a very small town located in the state of West Virginia. With a population of 1,081 people and just one neighborhood, Sophia is the 148th largest community in West Virginia.
Sophia is neither predominantly blue-collar nor white-collar, instead having a mixed workforce of both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Overall, Sophia is a town of professionals, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Sophia who work in healthcare (16.08%), food service (11.96%), and sales jobs (10.78%).
One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 8.57% 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.
As is often the case in a small town, Sophia doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.
The population of Sophia has a very low overall level of education: only 6.59% of people over 25 hold a 4-year college degree or higher.
The per capita income in Sophia in 2022 was $32,398, which is upper middle income relative to West Virginia, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $129,592 for a family of four. However, Sophia contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Sophia also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 38.03% of its population below the federal poverty line.
The people who call Sophia home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Sophia residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Sophia include English, Liberian, German, Irish, and Italian.
The most common language spoken in Sophia is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Polish.
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.
One of the unique characteristics of the neighborhood revealed by analysis is that the per capita income of residents here is lower than that found in 95.1% of the neighborhoods in America. The neighborhood also has a greater percentage of children living in poverty (74.6%) than found in 99.0% of all U.S. neighborhoods. Children living in poverty is one of the challenges facing America, and the world, and in this neighborhood in particular, the problem can be considered acute.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more English ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 66.7% of this neighborhood's residents have English ancestry.
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 Sophia are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 95.1% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 74.6% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 99.0% 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, 58.9% 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 19.0% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (14.4%), and 7.6% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 100.0% of households. Some people also speak Italian (2.3%).
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 Sophia, WV, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as English (66.7%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (9.4%), and residents who report Italian roots (4.9%), and some of the residents are also of Sub-Saharan African ancestry (4.8%), along with some Irish ancestry residents (2.4%), 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 (35.7% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (68.0%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.