Keene is a medium-sized city located in the state of New Hampshire. With a population of 22,774 people and five associated neighborhoods, Keene is the 12th largest community in New Hampshire. Keene has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Keene is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Keene is a city of professionals, sales and office workers, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Keene who work in sales jobs (10.38%), teaching (10.20%), and office and administrative support (9.69%). Also of interest is that Keene has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. Of important note, Keene is also a city of artists. Keene has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Keene’s character. One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 14.06% 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.In addition, Keene is a college town. There are a lot of students in Keene attending college, and as a result Keene provides a number of services, amenities and opportunities geared to the needs and activities of students. One of the benefits of Keene is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 16.96 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.Keene is one of the most well-educated cities in the nation. 44.07% of adults in Keene have at least a bachelor's degree. Compare that to the average community in America, which has just 21.84% with a bachelor's degree or higher. The per capita income in Keene in 2022 was $37,968, which is lower middle income relative to New Hampshire, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $151,872 for a family of four. However, Keene contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. The people who call Keene home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Keene residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Keene include Irish, English, Italian, French, and German. The most common language spoken in Keene is English. Other important languages spoken here include French and Spanish.
