Mason City is a very small city located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 1,981 people and just one neighborhood, Mason City is the 570th largest community in Illinois. Much of the housing stock in Mason City was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.
Mason City is neither predominantly blue-collar nor white-collar, instead having a mixed workforce of both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Overall, Mason City is a city of service providers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Mason City who work in office and administrative support (11.41%), teaching (8.92%), and healthcare suport services (7.47%).
The education level of Mason City citizens, measured as those with bachelor's degrees or advanced degrees, is similar to the national average for all American cities and towns. 17.29% of adults 25 and older in Mason City have a college degree.
The per capita income in Mason City in 2022 was $29,545, which is lower middle income relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $118,180 for a family of four. However, Mason City contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
The people who call Mason City home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Mason City residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Mason City include German, English, Irish, Polish, and French.
The most common language spoken in Mason City is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and French.
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.
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 Mason City are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 63.9% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 20.5% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 69.6% 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, 32.1% 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 26.9% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (21.3%), and 18.0% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 97.8% of households. Some people also speak Italian (4.0%).
Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.
In the neighborhood in Mason City, IL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (26.6%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (16.4%), and residents who report Irish roots (14.7%), and some of the residents are also of Polish ancestry (3.9%), along with some French ancestry residents (3.3%), 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 (36.8% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (78.1%) 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 (11.6%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.