West Union is a tiny town located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 271 people and just one neighborhood, West Union is the 781st largest community in Illinois. Much of the housing stock in West Union was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic towns in the country.
Because occupations involving physical labor dominate the local economy, West Union is generally considered to be a blue-collar town. 44.63% of the West Union workforce is employed in blue-collar occupations, compared to the national average of 27.7%. Overall, West Union is a town of sales and office workers, production and manufacturing workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in West Union who work in office and administrative support (22.31%), management occupations (13.22%), and sales jobs (8.26%).
Overall, West Union’s crime rate is one of the lowest in the nation, which makes a great place to live if safety is an important concern.
Residents will find that the town is relatively quiet. This is because it is not over-populated, and it has fewer college students, renters, and young children - all of whom can be noisy at times. So, if you're looking for a relatively peaceful place to live, West Union is worth considering.
Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of West Union spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 17.67 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the town are less than they would otherwise be.
As is often the case in a small town, West Union doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.
In West Union, just 8.97% of people over 25 hold a college degree, which is very low compared to the rest of the nation, whereas the average among all cities is 21.84%.
The per capita income in West Union in 2018 was $25,610, which is lower middle income relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $102,440 for a family of four. However, West Union contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
West Union is a somewhat ethnically-diverse town. The people who call West Union home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of West Union residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in West Union include German, European, Irish, English, and Welsh.
The most common language spoken in West Union is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Polish.
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 West Union, the neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
Astoundingly, NeighborhoodScout's research reveals that this single neighborhood has a higher concentration of married couples living here than 98.8% of all U.S. neighborhoods. Whether they have school-aged children or not, married couples are the rule in the neighborhood. If you are a married couple, you may find many people here with a similar lifestyle, and perhaps common interests. But if you are single, you might not find many other singles here.
In addition, the neighborhood is a great option for families, as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's research on this neighborhood. The combination of top public schools, low crime rates, and owner-occupied single family homes, make this neighborhood among the top 5.8% of family-friendly neighborhoods in the state of Illinois. Many other families also live here, making it easy to socialize and develop a sense of community. In addition, families here highly value education, as is reflected by the strength of the local schools.
Unpopulated, and rural, the neighborhood is one of the least crowded neighborhoods in all of America. If you like open space, no traffic, and lots of room, this neighborhood may be just what you are looking for. According to NeighborhoodScout's leading research, this neighborhood is less densely populated than 95.5% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 West Union are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 74.7% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 0.8% 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 79.3% of America'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, 37.4% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 35.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (15.6%), and 11.4% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 99.2% of households. Some people also speak Italian (2.0%).
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 West Union, IL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (22.6%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (15.4%), and residents who report English roots (15.1%), and some of the residents are also of French ancestry (4.6%), along with some Mexican ancestry residents (2.8%), 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 between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (33.9% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (80.5%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (12.2%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.