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Little Compton, RI

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





Overview


Little Compton is a very small coastal town (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Rhode Island. With a population of 3,589 people and just one neighborhood, Little Compton is the 38th largest community in Rhode Island.

Little Compton home prices are not only among the most expensive in Rhode Island, but Little Compton real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

Occupations and Workforce

Little Compton is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 89.51% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Little Compton is a town of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Little Compton who work in management occupations (18.41%), sales jobs (10.21%), and teaching (8.42%).

Of important note, Little Compton is also a town of artists. Little Compton has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Little Compton’s character.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 14.05% 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.

Setting & Lifestyle

Another notable thing is that Little Compton is an extremely popular destination for tourists and seasonal residents. So much of the population is seasonal such that the town’s population swells significantly during the vacation season, and drops again when the season ends. Because of this, much of the local economy is centered around tourism; some businesses may be operated only during the high season. During the low season, year-round residents will notice that the city is a substantially quieter place to live.

Because of many things, Little Compton 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, Little Compton really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Little Compton 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.

Little Compton is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery.

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

Demographics

Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Little Compton, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Little Compton is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 62.82% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 21.84%.

The per capita income in Little Compton in 2022 was $99,744, which is wealthy relative to Rhode Island and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $398,976 for a family of four.

The people who call Little Compton home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Little Compton residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Little Compton include Irish, English, Portuguese, French, and German.

The most common language spoken in Little Compton is English. Other important languages spoken here include Portuguese and Chinese.

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

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.

Real Estate

Do you like a coastal setting? If so, this neighborhood may be to your liking. The neighborhood is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet. Often such coastal places have amenities and recreational activities on the waterfront that are attractive to residents and visitors alike. In addition to being coastal, is a very nautical neighborhood, meaning that it is somewhat historic, walkable, densely populated and on the water. This gives the neighborhood a very nautical feel, with some seaside and shipping feel, which some may really enjoy the sights and sounds of.

In addition, 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 37.7%, which is higher than 97.1% of all U.S. neighborhoods.

People

If you are planning to retire in Rhode Island, this neighborhood should be on your must-see list. For many reasons, may be considered a retiree's dream neighborhood. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis and metrics, it's peaceful and quiet, has above average safety from crime compared to other neighborhoods in Rhode Island, while also offering a diverse range of housing options. This, along with the vibrant mix of very educated seniors and other age groups who choose to live here, makes the neighborhood more retiree-friendly than 97.2% of neighborhoods in RI. If a Rhode Island retirement is in your future, this neighborhood should be one of the places you visit. In addition to being an excellent choice for active retirees, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for urban sophisticates, highly educated executives and families with school-aged children.

Diversity

Did you know that the neighborhood has more Portuguese and French ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 19.6% of this neighborhood's residents have Portuguese ancestry and 11.4% have French ancestry.

is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 1.8% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Portuguese at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 97.3% of the neighborhoods in America.

The Neighbors

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 Little Compton are wealthy, making it among the 15% highest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 91.0% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 2.3% 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 74.2% 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, 57.9% 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 22.4% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (9.7%), and 9.2% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.

Languages

The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 98.1% of households.

Ethnicity / Ancestry

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 Little Compton, RI, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (22.3%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (21.9%), and residents who report Portuguese roots (19.6%), and some of the residents are also of French ancestry (11.4%), along with some German ancestry residents (8.6%), 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 under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (33.1% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.

Here most residents (76.5%) 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.


Real Estate includes:
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Economics & Demographics include:
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Commute To Work
Migration & Mobility
Race & Ethnic Diversity
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Higher Education Attainment
Crime includes:
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Crimes Per Square Mile
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Schools include:
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