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Sheffield, MA

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





Overview


Sheffield is a very small town located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 3,329 people and just one neighborhood, Sheffield is the 284th largest community in Massachusetts. Sheffield has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic towns.

Housing costs in Sheffield are among some of the highest in the nation, although real estate prices here don't compare to real estate prices in the most expensive communities in Massachusetts.

Occupations and Workforce

Sheffield is neither predominantly blue-collar nor white-collar, instead having a mixed workforce of both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Overall, Sheffield is a town of sales and office workers, service providers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Sheffield who work in office and administrative support (11.18%), sales jobs (10.53%), and management occupations (8.29%).

A relatively large number of people in Sheffield telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 8.49% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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

Sheffield is a good choice for families with children because of several factors. Many other families with children live here, making it a place where both parents and children are more likely to develop social ties with other families. The town’s good public school district and large population of college-educated adults provide an environment conducive to academic success. Many people own their own single-family homes, providing areas for children to play and stability in the community. Finally, Sheffield’s overall crime rate ranks among the lowest in the country, making it one of the safest places to raise a family.

It is a fairly quiet town because there are relatively few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. (Children, for example, often can't help themselves from being noisy, and being parents ourselves, we know!) Sheffield has relatively few families with children living at home, and is quieter because of it. Renters and college students, for their own reasons, can also be noisy. Sheffield has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Sheffield than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Sheffield may be for you.

Demographics

The citizens of Sheffield are very well educated compared to the average community in the nation: 35.15% of adults in Sheffield have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.

The per capita income in Sheffield in 2018 was $58,648, which is upper middle income relative to Massachusetts, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $234,592 for a family of four.

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

The most common language spoken in Sheffield is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Polish.

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.

Car Ownership

We Americans love our cars. Not only are they a necessity for most Americans due to the shape of our neighborhoods and the distances between where we live, work, shop, and go to school, but we also fancy them. As a result, most households in America have one, two, or three cars. But NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis shows that the neighborhood has a highly unusual pattern of car ownership. Residents of this neighborhood must really love automobiles. NeighborhoodScout's Analysis reveals that 34.6% of the households here have four, five, or more cars. That is more cars per household than in 95.9% of the neighborhoods in the nation.

People

If you are planning to retire in Massachusetts, this neighborhood should be on your must-see list. For many reasons, may be considered a retiree's dream neighborhood. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis and metrics, it's peaceful and quiet, has above average safety from crime compared to other neighborhoods in Massachusetts, while also offering a diverse range of housing options. This, along with the vibrant mix of very educated seniors and other age groups who choose to live here, makes the neighborhood more retiree-friendly than 95.7% of neighborhoods in MA. If a Massachusetts retirement is in your future, this neighborhood should be one of the places you visit.

Diversity

Did you know that the neighborhood has more Irish and Finnish ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 27.7% of this neighborhood's residents have Irish ancestry and 2.2% have Finnish ancestry.

is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 16.4% 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 99.3% of the neighborhoods in America.

The Neighbors

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 Sheffield are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 66.6% of the neighborhoods in America. With 12.3% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 54.5% of U.S. neighborhoods.

A neighborhood is far different if it is dominated by enlisted military personnel rather than people who earn their living by farming. It is also different if most of the neighbors are clerical support or managers. What is wonderful is the sheer diversity of neighborhoods, allowing you to find the type that fits your lifestyle and aspirations.

In the neighborhood, 30.0% of the working population is employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is executive, management, and professional occupations, with 28.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (27.0%), and 14.9% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.

Languages

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 95.4% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Polish.

Ethnicity / Ancestry

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 Sheffield, MA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (27.7%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (16.9%), and residents who report Italian roots (16.3%), and some of the residents are also of English ancestry (15.7%), along with some Polish ancestry residents (6.8%), among others.

Getting to Work

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 under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (41.3% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.

Here most residents (77.6%) 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 (9.8%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.


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Economics & Demographics include:
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Commute To Work
Migration & Mobility
Race & Ethnic Diversity
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Crime includes:
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Schools include:
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