Wood Lake is a tiny village located in the state of Nebraska. With a population of 48 people and just one neighborhood, Wood Lake is the 213th largest community in Nebraska. Wood Lake has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic villages in the country.
Unlike some villages where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Wood Lake is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Wood Lake is a village of professionals, farmers, fishers, or foresters, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Wood Lake who work in community and social services (50.00%), farm management occupations (33.33%), and management occupations (16.67%).
Another notable thing is that Wood Lake is an extremely popular destination for tourists and seasonal residents. So much of the population is seasonal such that the village’s population swells significantly during the vacation season, and drops again when the season ends. Because of this, much of the local economy is centered around tourism; some businesses may be operated only during the high season. During the low season, year-round residents will notice that the city is a substantially quieter place to live.
Wood Lake’s overall crime rate ranks among the lowest in the nation, making it a very safe place to live.
The village is relatively quiet, having a combination of lower population density and few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. For example, Wood Lake has relatively fewer families with younger children, and/or college students. Combined, this makes Wood Lake a pretty quiet place to live overall. If you like quiet, you will probably enjoy it here.
Being a small village, Wood Lake does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
The population of Wood Lake is very well educated relative to most cities and towns in the nation, where the average community has 21.84% of its adult population holding a 4-year degree or higher: 38.89% of adults in Wood Lake have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.
The per capita income in Wood Lake in 2022 was $25,367, which is low income relative to Nebraska and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $101,468 for a family of four.
The people who call Wood Lake home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Wood Lake residents report their race to be White, followed by Native American. Important ancestries of people in Wood Lake include French, English, Irish, German, and Yugoslavian.
The most common language spoken in Wood Lake is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Italian.
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 Wood Lake, the neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
This neighborhood has wide open spaces, few people, and lots of space to stretch out. If you like locations that fit that description, you may like this neighborhood. Based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis, with only 0 people per square mile living here, this neighborhood is less crowded than 99.6% of America.
It used to be that most Americans lived on the farm, or otherwise made their living from the land, the forests, or the sea. With global trade and an economy increasingly based on providing services to one another, fewer people farm, fish or harvest timber now than at any time in American history. But according to NeighborhoodScout's leading analysis, the neighborhood stands apart from most American neighborhood due to the proportion of its residents still working in these fields. With 13.7% of the workforce so employed, this neighborhood has a greater concentration of such workers than 99.4% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Regardless of the means by which residents commute, this neighborhood has a length of commute that is notable. Residents of the neighborhood have the pleasure of having one of the shortest commutes to work of any neighborhood in America. 68.0% of the residents have a commute time from home to work (one way) of less than fifteen minutes. This is a higher proportion of residents enjoying a short trip to work than NeighborhoodScout found in 98.2% of U.S. neighborhoods. Less time commuting means more time for other things in life.
In the neighborhood, walking to work is a real option for many. In fact, NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research reveals walking to and from work is the chosen way to commute for 13.4% of residents here. This is a higher proportion of walking commuters than we found in 96.7% of American neighborhoods. Get ready to put on your walking shoes if you move here!
If you are planning to retire in Nebraska, 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 Nebraska, 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 96.6% of neighborhoods in NE. If a Nebraska retirement is in your future, this neighborhood should be one of the places you visit.
In addition, priests and therapists would like to think they know the secrets to a truly successful marriage, but according to NeighborhoodScout's research, the folks of the neighborhood may actually hold the key. 69.9% of its residents are married, which is a higher percentage than is found in 96.1% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 35.5% of the households here have four, five, or more cars. That is more cars per household than in 96.4% of the neighborhoods in the nation.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Belgian and Swiss ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 0.7% of this neighborhood's residents have Belgian ancestry and 1.5% have Swiss ancestry.
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 Wood Lake are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 74.0% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 10.1% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 50.4% of U.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, 58.3% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is farming, forestry, or commercial fishing, with 13.7% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (13.1%), and 8.5% in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 98.9% of households.
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 Wood Lake, NE, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (31.0%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (14.3%), and residents who report Irish roots (9.4%), and some of the residents are also of Swedish ancestry (3.4%), along with some French ancestry residents (3.1%), 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 under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (68.0% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (45.5%) 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 (21.9%) and 13.4% 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.