Tafton is a very small town located in the state of Pennsylvania. With a population of 1,520 people and just one neighborhood, Tafton is the 737th largest community in Pennsylvania.
When you are in Tafton, you'll notice that it is more blue-collar than most other communities in America. 39.65% of Tafton’s employed work in blue-collar jobs, while America averages only 27.7% that do. Overall, Tafton is a town of sales and office workers, transportation and shipping workers, and construction workers and builders. There are especially a lot of people living in Tafton who work in office and administrative support (14.39%), food service (9.73%), and management occupations (7.87%).
Another notable thing is that Tafton is a major vacation destination. Much of the town’s population is seasonal: many people own second homes and only live there part-time, during the vacation season. The effect on the local economy is that many of the businesses are dependent on tourist dollars, and may operate only during the high season. As the vacation season ends, Tafton’s population drops significantly, such that year-round residents will notice that the city is a much quieter place to live.
Because of many things, Tafton 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, Tafton really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Tafton 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 town 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, Tafton has relatively fewer families with younger children, and/or college students. Combined, this makes Tafton a pretty quiet place to live overall. If you like quiet, you will probably enjoy it here.
In terms of college education, Tafton is nearly on par with the US average for all cities of 21.84%: 18.80% of adults 25 and older in Tafton have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.
The per capita income in Tafton in 2022 was $34,767, which is middle income relative to Pennsylvania and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $139,068 for a family of four. However, Tafton contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
The people who call Tafton home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Tafton residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Tafton include Irish, German, English, Italian, and French.
The most common language spoken in Tafton is English. Other important languages spoken here include Slavic languages and Italian.
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.
Of note is NeighborhoodScout's research finding that the neighborhood has some of the lowest rates of children living in poverty of any neighborhood in the United States. In a nation where approximately 1 in 4 children are living in poverty, the community truly stands out from the rest in this regard.
In addition, 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 5.6% of retiree-friendly neighborhoods in Pennsylvania, 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 Pennsylvania. In addition to being an excellent choice for active retirees, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for families with school-aged children.
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 48.3%, which is higher than 98.5% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
In addition, 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.
While most Americans do drive to work alone each day, the neighborhood stands out by having 91.5% of commuters doing so, which is a higher proportion of people driving alone to work than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.8% of all American neighborhoods.
The government often provides some of the more stable jobs in the economy. From local, to state, to federal government workers, the government can also be a major employer. What NeighborhoodScout's analysis revealed, is that the neighborhood in particular stands out when compared nationally for the proportion of its working residents who are employed by the government. At 14.2% of its workforce, this neighborhood has a greater concentration of government workers than 96.5% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Croatian and Lithuanian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 3.9% of this neighborhood's residents have Croatian ancestry and 2.6% have Lithuanian ancestry.
The freedom of moving to new places versus the comfort of home. How much and how often people move not only can create diverse and worldly neighborhoods, but simultaneously it can produce a loss of intimacy with one's surroundings and a lack of connectedness to one's neighbors. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research has identified this neighborhood as unique with regard to the transience of its populace. More residents of the neighborhood live here today that also were living in this same neighborhood five years ago than is found in 97.3% of U.S. neighborhoods. This neighborhood is really made up of people who know each other, don't move often, and have lived here in this very neighborhood for quite a while.
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 Tafton are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 64.5% of U.S. neighborhoods. In addition, 0.0% 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 100.0% of America'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, 39.6% of the working population is employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is executive, management, and professional occupations, with 23.4% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (22.6%), and 14.4% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 97.0% 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 Tafton, PA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (24.3%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (21.8%), and residents who report English roots (7.8%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (7.4%), along with some French ancestry residents (5.8%), 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 (39.8% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (91.5%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.