About Providence

Providence is a relatively large coastal city (ie. on the ocean or tidally-influenced rivers) located in the state of Rhode Island. With a population of 178,042 people and 37 constituent neighborhoods, Providence is the largest community in Rhode Island. Providence has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.

Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Providence is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Providence is a city of professionals, sales and office workers and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Providence who work in office and administrative support (14.78%), sales jobs (8.91%) and teaching (8.33%).

Providence is a nice balance between life in a moderately big city and the interesting diversions and culture that come from having a big college student population. The thousands of students who arrive on campus every fall will find that Providence has plenty of amenities and opportunities for them, while residents of Providence enjoy the lectures, music, art, and economic trickle-down that colleges typically provide. "Town and Gown" complement each other in Providence.

Providence 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 tidal rivers. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery.

Providence Information and Demographics

The education level of Providence citizens is a little higher than the average for US cities and towns: 24.39% of adults in Providence have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Providence in 2000 was $15,525, which is low income relative to Rhode Island, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $62,100 for a family of four.

Providence is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Providence home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Providence residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Providence also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 29.98% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Providence include Italian, Irish, Portuguese, English, French and German.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Providence's cultural character, accounting for 25.31% of the city’s population.

The languages spoken by people in Providence are also diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in Providence is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish, Mon-Khmer (Cambodian) and Portuguese.