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.
Unlike some towns, Sophia isn’t mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Sophia are a mix of both white- and blue-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.
Being a small town, Sophia does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
The citizens of Sophia have a very low rate of college education: just 6.59% of people over 25 have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree, compared to a national average of 21.84% for all cities.
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.
When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
The neighborhood stands out for having an average per capita income lower than 95.1% of the neighborhoods in the United States. 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.
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 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.
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, 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%).
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 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.
Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. 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.