Mathews is a tiny coastal town (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Virginia. With a population of 525 people and just one neighborhood, Mathews is the 327th largest community in Virginia.
Mathews is neither predominantly blue-collar nor white-collar, instead having a mixed workforce of both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Overall, Mathews is a town of service providers, sales and office workers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Mathews who work in healthcare suport services (16.20%), food service (15.92%), and sales jobs (12.85%).
Also of interest is that Mathews has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
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!) Mathews 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. Mathews has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Mathews than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Mathews may be for you.
One of the nice things about Mathews is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.
Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Mathews spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 18.87 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the town are less than they would otherwise be.
Mathews is a very car-oriented town. 96.93% of residents commute to work in a private automobile rather than by other means, such as public transit, bicycling, or walking. This is because Mathews is a small town , and most people who live here have to drive out of town for work, and the town population is not large nor dense enough to support an extensive public transportation system. Mathews has a lot of rural roads, and houses can be far apart. Many residents drive out of town for regular shopping trips as well.
Mathews is a small town, and as such doesn't have a public transit system that people use to get to and from their jobs every day.
The percentage of adults in Mathews with college degrees is slightly lower than the national average of 21.84% for all communities. 14.86% of adults in Mathews have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.
The per capita income in Mathews in 2022 was $23,912, which is low income relative to Virginia and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $95,648 for a family of four. However, Mathews contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
The people who call Mathews home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Mathews residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Mathews include English, German, Irish, European, and Scottish.
The most common language spoken in Mathews is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Spanish.
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.
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.
If you are planning to retire in Virginia, 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 Virginia, 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 96.7% of neighborhoods in VA. If a Virginia retirement is in your future, this neighborhood should be one of the places you visit.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Scots-Irish and Cuban ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 15.6% of this neighborhood's residents have Scots-Irish ancestry and 3.6% have Cuban ancestry.
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 Mathews are middle-income, making it a moderate income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 50.7% of the neighborhoods in America. With 22.7% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 73.4% 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, 43.8% 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 30.8% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (23.4%), and 6.0% in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions.
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 97.1% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Spanish.
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 Mathews, VA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Scots-Irish (15.6%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (9.5%), and residents who report Irish roots (6.1%), and some of the residents are also of Cuban ancestry (3.6%), along with some Scottish ancestry residents (1.8%), 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 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (33.6% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.
Here most residents (71.9%) 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.