Clifton profile

Living in Clifton

Clifton is a tiny town located in the state of Virginia. With a population of 295 people and four constituent neighborhoods, Clifton is the 340th largest community in Virginia. Much of the housing stock in Clifton was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic towns in the country.

Clifton home prices are not only among the most expensive in Virginia, but Clifton real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

Clifton is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 95.52% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Clifton is a town of managers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Clifton who work in management occupations (35.07%), sales jobs (13.43%), and business and financial occupations (11.94%).

Also of interest is that Clifton has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

A relatively large number of people in Clifton telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 8.21% 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.

In addition, Clifton is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates". Urban sophisticates are educated, wealthy, executives and professionals, who have urbane tastes in books, food, and travel, whether they actually live in a big city, or choose to reside in a small town. In big or medium-sized cities, urban sophisticates tend to frequent art institutions such as opera, symphonies, ballet, live theatre, and museums.

Because of many things, Clifton is a very good place for families to consider. With an enviable combination of good schools, low crime, college-educated neighbors who tend to support education because of their own experiences, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family properties, Clifton really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Clifton perfect? Of course not, and if you like frenetic nightlife, it will be far from your cup of tea. But overall this is a solid community, with many things to recommend it as a family-friendly place to live.

One downside of living in Clifton, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 33.29 minutes every day commuting to work. However, local public transit is widely used. For those who would prefer to avoid driving entirely and leave their car at home, it may be an option to use the transit instead.

Even though Clifton is a smaller town, it has many people who hop on public transportation – mostly the train for their daily commute to work. Typically, these people are commuting to good jobs in the surrounding cities.

Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Clifton. 68.48% of adults here have a 4-year degree or graduate degree, whereas the national average for all cities and towns is just 21.84%.

The per capita income in Clifton in 2010 was $75,662, which is wealthy relative to Virginia and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $302,648 for a family of four.

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

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