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Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA

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





Overview


Manchester-by-the-Sea is a somewhat small coastal town (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 5,354 people and just one neighborhood, Manchester-by-the-Sea is the 243rd largest community in Massachusetts. Manchester-by-the-Sea has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic towns.

Manchester-by-the-Sea home prices are not only among the most expensive in Massachusetts, but Manchester-by-the-Sea real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

Occupations and Workforce

Manchester-by-the-Sea is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 92.56% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Manchester-by-the-Sea is a town of managers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Manchester-by-the-Sea who work in management occupations (19.70%), business and financial occupations (17.41%), and sales jobs (12.85%).

Of important note, Manchester-by-the-Sea is also a town of artists. Manchester-by-the-Sea has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Manchester-by-the-Sea’s character.

Also of interest is that Manchester-by-the-Sea has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 26.99% 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.

Setting & Lifestyle

In addition, Manchester-by-the-Sea is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates". Urban sophisticates are people who are both educated and wealthy, and thus tend to be older, richer, and more established than young professionals. "Urban sophisticates" is not just about being educated and well-off financially: it is a point of view and state of mind, one that you might call 'urbaneness'. But such people can and do regularly live in small towns, suburbs and rural areas, as well as in big cities. They read, support the arts and high-end shops, and love travel.

Because of many things, Manchester-by-the-Sea is a very good place for families to consider. With an enviable combination of good schools, low crime, college-educated neighbors who tend to support education because of their own experiences, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family properties, Manchester-by-the-Sea really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Manchester-by-the-Sea perfect? Of course not, and if you like frenetic nightlife, it will be far from your cup of tea. But overall this is a solid community, with many things to recommend it as a family-friendly place to live.

One of the nice things about Manchester-by-the-Sea 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 downside of living in Manchester-by-the-Sea, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 32.11 minutes every day commuting to work. However, local public transit is widely used. For those who would prefer to avoid driving entirely and leave their car at home, it may be an option to use the transit instead.

In Manchester-by-the-Sea, a lot of people use the train to get to work every day though Manchester-by-the-Sea is a relatively small town. Those that ride the train are primarily traveling out of town to good jobs in other cities.

Demographics

Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Manchester-by-the-Sea, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Manchester-by-the-Sea is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 81.09% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 21.84%.

The per capita income in Manchester-by-the-Sea in 2018 was $95,704, which is wealthy relative to Massachusetts and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $382,816 for a family of four.

The people who call Manchester-by-the-Sea home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Manchester-by-the-Sea residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Manchester-by-the-Sea include English, Irish, Italian, Canadian, and German.

The most common language spoken in Manchester-by-the-Sea is English. Other important languages spoken here include Slavic languages and Italian.

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

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.

Real Estate

is a neighborhood that is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet. Many times, such places have amenities that bring locals and visitors to the waterfront for recreational activities or to check out the scenery. In some densely populated areas that are less financially well-off, the neighborhood waterfront can be relatively industrial and less open to recreation. 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.

People

If you come to know the people here, you will recognize that you're in the company of one of the wealthiest communities in the nation. In fact, a mere 1.3% of America's neighborhoods are wealthier than the neighborhood. Real estate here is exceedingly well-maintained, and similarly, tends to maintain its value over time. The cars driven are mostly luxury brands like Mercedes, Audi, BMW, and Lexus. If the public schools aren't up to snuff, the residents of this neighborhood preferentially send their children to private preparatory schools. Vacation to Disney? Yes, but equally popular are summers in Europe. As one would expect in a considerably wealthy neighborhood such as this, also has one of the lowest ratings of child poverty in the nation.

In addition, if you're a regular supporter of the arts and enjoy outings to the theatre, weekend boutique-ing, or even a finely aged wine with dinner, than you're in good company with the people of the neighborhood. This neighborhood is uniquely immersed with more "urban sophisticates" than 98.2% of neighborhoods across the country. The people here truly stand out as a class among their own. They are an exclusive community characterized by refined tastes, cultural inclinations, and the means to live well. Urban sophisticates live a big city lifestyle, whether or not they live in or near a big city. They are educated executives or managers by week, and serial patrons of the arts by weekend. If this lifestyle pertains to you, than you'll certainly feel right at home in the neighborhood. In addition to being an excellent choice for urban sophisticates, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for active retirees, highly educated executives and families with school-aged children.

Also, the rate of college educated adults in the neighborhood is a unique characteristic of the neighborhood. 81.1% of adults here have received at least a 4-year bachelor's degree, compared to the average neighborhood in America, which has 34.3% of the adults with a bachelor's degree. The rate here is higher than NeighborhoodScout found in 98.1% of all U.S. neighborhoods.

Occupations

Executives, managers and professionals make up 70.3% of the workforce in the neighborhood which, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis, is a higher proportion of such high-level people than is found in 95.6% of the neighborhoods in America. For this reason, this neighborhood really stands out as unique.

Diversity

Did you know that the neighborhood has more Canadian and Yugoslav ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 8.9% of this neighborhood's residents have Canadian ancestry and 1.2% have Yugoslav ancestry.

is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 0.9% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Japanese at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 97.1% of the neighborhoods in America.

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 Manchester-by-the-Sea are wealthy, making it among the 15% highest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 98.7% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 0.0% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 100.0% of America'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, 70.3% 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 17.1% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (6.7%), and 5.2% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.

Languages

The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 94.9% of households.

Ethnicity / Ancestry

Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.

In the neighborhood in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as English (23.1%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (17.3%), and residents who report Italian roots (12.1%), and some of the residents are also of Canadian ancestry (8.9%), along with some German ancestry residents (7.1%), among others.

Getting to Work

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 between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (33.3% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.

Here most residents (55.4%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also take the train to get to work (8.8%) . 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:
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Neighborhood Setting
Economics & Demographics include:
Lifestyle & Special Character
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Commute To Work
Migration & Mobility
Race & Ethnic Diversity
Employment Industries & Occupations
Income & Unemployment Rate
Higher Education Attainment
Crime includes:
Neighborhood Crime Index
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Schools include:
School Ratings
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