Grafton is a tiny city located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 765 people and just one neighborhood, Grafton is the 730th largest community in Illinois. Grafton has seen a significant amount of newer housing growth in recent years. Quite often, new home construction is the result of new residents moving in who are middle class or wealthier, attracted by jobs, a healthy local economy, or other amenities as they leave nearby or far away areas for greener pastures. This seems to be the case in Grafton, where the median household income is $89,808.00.
Unlike some cities, Grafton isn’t mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Grafton are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Grafton is a city of managers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Grafton who work in management occupations (17.82%), business and financial occupations (12.07%), and healthcare (11.49%).
One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 22.99% 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.
Another notable thing is that Grafton is an extremely popular vacation destination. A significant portion of the population is seasonal. During the vacation season, the city experiences a large influx of people who take up residence in second homes they own in the area. As the vacation season ends, the population drops again, leaving behind a substantially quieter and smaller city.
Because of many things, Grafton 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, Grafton really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Grafton 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.
The city 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, Grafton has relatively fewer families with younger children, and/or college students. Combined, this makes Grafton a pretty quiet place to live overall. If you like quiet, you will probably enjoy it here.
One downside of living in Grafton, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 33.47 minutes every day commuting to work.
Being a small city, Grafton does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
In terms of college education, Grafton is somewhat better educated than the 21.84% who have a 4-year degree or higher in the typical US community: 27.54% of adults 25 and older in the city have at least a bachelor's degree.
The per capita income in Grafton in 2022 was $49,186, which is wealthy relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $196,744 for a family of four.
The people who call Grafton home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Grafton residents report their race to be White. Important ancestries of people in Grafton include German, Irish, English, French, and European.
The most common language spoken in Grafton is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Persian.
When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
Despite all of the residential real estate here in the neighborhood, NeighborhoodScout has discovered that much of it is vacant. In resort or second-home vacation areas, this naturally occurs because homes and apartments are seasonally occupied, and empty for a portion of the year. In non-vacation or resort areas, however, this can be an indicator of property abandonment or a weak real estate market. The vacancy rate here is 49.4%, which is higher than 98.6% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
In addition, uncrowded roads, rural America and space to be the individual you are. If you like these characteristics, this neighborhood may fit you. With just 29 residents per square mile, is less crowded than 93.0% of all U.S. neighborhoods. One of the notable things about is that it is one of the quietest neighborhoods in America, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis and quantitative rating of quietness. When you are here, you will find it to be very quiet. If quiet and peaceful are your cup of tea, you may have found a great place for you.
If you're nearing retirement age, or in retirement, the is an excellent choice for you to consider for top-quality retirement living. This neighborhood is rated by NeighborhoodScout as among the top 5.9% of retiree-friendly neighborhoods in Illinois, combining peace and quiet, safety from crime, and offering diverse housing options from which retirees can choose. Maybe it's because of these amenities that a large proportion of the residents here are college educated seniors, mixed with other age groups. For these and other reasons, NeighborhoodScout identifies this neighborhood as a top-notch place to consider if you are thinking of or planning to retire in Illinois.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more German and Welsh ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 34.6% of this neighborhood's residents have German ancestry and 2.1% have Welsh 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 Grafton are middle-income, making it a moderate income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 57.9% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 5.9% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 61.8% of America'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, 43.9% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 35.6% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (14.7%), and 5.7% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 98.5% 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 Grafton, IL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (34.6%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (13.2%), and residents who report Irish roots (11.1%), and some of the residents are also of French ancestry (4.5%), along with some Scottish ancestry residents (3.1%), 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 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (44.1% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.
Here most residents (70.7%) 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 (17.1%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.