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Northfield, MA

This is a small community in a single neighborhood. As throughout the site, some neighborhood-level data are reserved for subscribers.





Overview


Northfield is a very small town located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 2,872 people and just one neighborhood, Northfield is the 293rd largest community in Massachusetts. Northfield has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic towns in the country.

Occupations and Workforce

Northfield is neither predominantly blue-collar nor white-collar, instead having a mixed workforce of both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Overall, Northfield is a town of professionals, sales and office workers, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Northfield who work in teaching (12.33%), sales jobs (11.51%), and management occupations (9.74%).

Also of interest is that Northfield 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 Northfield telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 15.60% 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.

Setting & Lifestyle

Because of many things, Northfield is a great place for families with children to consider. First of all, many other families with children live here, making Northfield a place where both parents and children are more likely to develop social ties with other families, as well as find family-oriented services and community. The town’s good public school district and large population of college-educated adults provide an environment conducive to academic values. With regard to real estate, Northfield has a high rate of owner-occupied single family homes, which tends to reflect stability in the local community. Finally, Northfield’s overall crime rate ranks among the lowest in the country, making it one of the safest places to raise a family.

Being a small town, Northfield does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.

Demographics

The citizens of Northfield are among the most well-educated in the nation: 45.09% of adults in Northfield have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree, whereas the average US city has 21.84% holding at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Northfield in 2022 was $47,383, which is lower middle income relative to Massachusetts, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $189,532 for a family of four. However, Northfield contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

The people who call Northfield home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Northfield residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Northfield include English, Irish, German, French, and Italian.

The most common language spoken in Northfield is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Italian.

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

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.

Occupations

It used to be that most Americans lived on the farm, or otherwise made their living from the land, the forests, or the sea. With global trade and an economy increasingly based on providing services to one another, fewer people farm, fish or harvest timber now than at any time in American history. But according to NeighborhoodScout's leading analysis, the neighborhood stands apart from most American neighborhood due to the proportion of its residents still working in these fields. With 5.5% of the workforce so employed, this neighborhood has a greater concentration of such workers than 97.3% of U.S. neighborhoods.

People

If you're planning where to retire, the neighborhood in Northfield is a great option to consider. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive retirement dream area analysis, it's peaceful and quiet, has above average safety ratings compared to other neighborhoods in MA, offers a wide range of housing options, and has already attracted an enviable mix of college educated seniors. This neighborhood ranks as better for retirement living than 85.2% of the neighborhoods in Massachusetts. If you are considering retiring to Massachusetts, this is a good neighborhood to look at.

Diversity

Did you know that the neighborhood has more Lithuanian and French ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 2.5% of this neighborhood's residents have Lithuanian ancestry and 12.2% have French ancestry.

The Neighbors

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 Northfield are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 72.4% of the neighborhoods in America. With 13.1% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 56.3% of U.S. neighborhoods.

What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.

In the neighborhood, 44.8% 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 21.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (15.7%), and 12.8% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.

Languages

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 93.8% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Italian.

Ethnicity / Ancestry

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 Northfield, MA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as English (25.8%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (13.3%), and residents who report German roots (12.9%), and some of the residents are also of French ancestry (12.2%), along with some Italian ancestry residents (7.3%), among others.

Getting to Work

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 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (47.9% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.

Here most residents (73.0%) 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 (9.5%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.


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Economics & Demographics include:
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Crime includes:
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Schools include:
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