Essex is a very small coastal town (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 3,668 people and just one neighborhood, Essex is the 273rd largest community in Massachusetts. Much of the housing stock in Essex was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic towns in the country.
Essex home prices are not only among the most expensive in Massachusetts, but Essex real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.
Essex is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 88.07% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Essex is a town of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Essex who work in management occupations (16.90%), teaching (15.85%), and sales jobs (7.55%).
Of important note, Essex is also a town of artists. Essex has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Essex’s character.
Also of interest is that Essex 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: 14.57% 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.
In addition, Essex 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, Essex is a great place for families with children to consider. First of all, many other families with children live here, making Essex a place where both parents and children are more likely to develop social ties with other families, as well as find family-oriented services and community. The town’s good public school district and large population of college-educated adults provide an environment conducive to academic values. With regard to real estate, Essex has a high rate of owner-occupied single family homes, which tends to reflect stability in the local community. Finally, Essex’s overall crime rate ranks among the lowest in the country, making it one of the safest places to raise a family.
Essex 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 bays. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery.
Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Essex, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Essex is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 62.83% 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 Essex in 2018 was $53,186, which is upper middle income relative to Massachusetts, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $212,744 for a family of four. However, Essex contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
The people who call Essex home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Essex residents report their race to be White. Important ancestries of people in Essex include English, Irish, Italian, German, and Scottish.
The most common language spoken in Essex 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 Essex, the neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
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.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Canadian and Scottish ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 1.4% of this neighborhood's residents have Canadian ancestry and 5.6% have Scottish ancestry.
is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 12.7% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Italian at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 98.8% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 Essex 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 88.1% of the neighborhoods in America. With 14.8% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 58.9% 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, 59.1% 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 20.9% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (11.9%), and 8.0% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 97.8% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Polish.
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 Essex, MA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as English (20.1%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (20.0%), and residents who report Italian roots (11.8%), and some of the residents are also of German ancestry (7.9%), along with some Scottish ancestry residents (5.6%), 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 between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (39.1% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (66.2%) 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 (9.0%) and 7.6% of residents also hop out the door and walk to work for their daily commute. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.
