Welch is a very small city located in the state of West Virginia. With a population of 3,414 people and just one neighborhood, Welch is the 53rd largest community in West Virginia.
Welch is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 89.66% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Welch is a city of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Welch who work in office and administrative support (20.26%), community and social services (19.18%), and legal occupations (11.64%).
Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Welch spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 13.73 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be.
In Welch, just 7.05% of people over 25 hold a college degree, which is very low compared to the rest of the nation, whereas the average among all cities is 21.84%.
The per capita income in Welch in 2022 was $11,974, which is low income relative to West Virginia and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $47,896 for a family of four.
Welch is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Welch home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Welch residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Welch include European, English, German, Irish, and Italian.
The most common language spoken in Welch is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Italian.
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.
An interesting characteristic about the neighborhood is that there are more incarcerated people living here than 99.5% of neighborhoods in the U.S. The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, currently with 1 out of every 100 adults in the country are incarcerated as a punishment for crimes committed. The extremely high incarceration rate of this neighborhood could mean that a prison, juvenile detention facility or other correctional facility occupies a large proportion of the neighborhood, or contains a large portion of the neighborhood's population.
In addition, one of the unique characteristics of the neighborhood revealed by analysis is that the per capita income of residents here is lower than that found in 98.4% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 33.6%, which is higher than 96.0% of all 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. 58.6% 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 95.6% of U.S. neighborhoods. Less time commuting means more time for other things in life.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Dutch ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 4.6% of this neighborhood's residents have Dutch 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 Welch are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 98.4% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 33.4% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 84.3% 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, 38.7% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations, with 21.9% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (20.1%), and 19.3% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 95.0% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (4.2%).
Boston's Beacon Hill blue-blood streets, Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish enclaves, Los Angeles' Persian neighborhoods. Each has its own culture derived primarily from the ancestries and culture of the residents who call these neighborhoods home. Likewise, each neighborhood in America has its own culture – some more unique than others – based on lifestyle, occupations, the types of households – and importantly – on the ethnicities and ancestries of the people who live in the neighborhood. Understanding where people came from, who their grandparents or great-grandparents were, can help you understand how a neighborhood is today.
In the neighborhood in Welch, WV, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (7.1%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (6.8%), and residents who report Dutch roots (4.6%), and some of the residents are also of French ancestry (2.2%), along with some German ancestry residents (2.0%), 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 (58.6% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (73.9%) 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 (21.9%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.