This is a small community in a single neighborhood.
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What do we mean by a neighborhood?
NeighborhoodScout® uses the official government designation for neighborhoods - the census tract.
Census tracts are small, relatively permanent subdivisions of a county that are defined by the U.S. Census Bureau in conjunction with local authorities all across the country to define real neighborhoods that are bounded to contain areas with homogeneous population characteristics (including economic status, lifestyle, and living conditions). Census tracts usually have 4,000 persons, but can range between 1,500 and 8,000 persons. This is the most fine-grained area for which detailed information is made available from the government, to protect the individual privacy of each of us. Because census tracts are based on population, they vary in size depending on the density of settlement. In urban areas, they are small, and in rural areas they can cover an entire small town or even a few small towns in very rural areas.
Since census tracts are subdivisions of a county, we did a spatial overlay of the census tracts onto city and town boundaries using a geographic information system to properly assign each census tract to its appropriate city or town. Then we named each census tract to the local colloquially recognized neighborhood name for that spot (e.g., Boston, MA (Dorchester). If there was not a name available, we named the census tract by the largest street intersection in the census tract (e.g., Worcester, MA (Lincoln St/Plantation St)
Why we don't use Zip Codes as neighborhoods
Zip codes were developed by the Postal Service for the purpose of delivering mail, but were never intended to define coherent neighborhoods. In addition, Zip Codes can have as many as 10 distinctly different census tracts contained within them. When distinct census tracts are blended together in a single Zip Code, the data reflects their average conditions and often gives a false sense of the area. The result is that potentially great matching neighborhoods can be missed, and erroneous matches can also be produced and delivered to you.
Using census tracts makes great matches possible, and helps people find the areas that are best for them and their families. Because we are committed to providing the highest possible quality and finding the neighborhoods that best meet your criteria, we use census tracts. And, as always, we show you the actual street map of the neighborhood so you know exactly where your best matching neighborhood is located.
What is a Condition Alert?
A condition alert is a condition in the neighborhood that triggers an alert. NeighborhoodScout contains condition alerts to highlight conditions that are extreme, whether good or bad. This helps answer crucial questions about the state of the neighborhood being evaluated, such as:
What are the risks of violent crime here?
Is the risk of home break-ins or other property crimes increasing?
Does real estate here hold its value?
Are the trends in local vacancies or unemployment concerning?
...and dozens more.
Information at a glance that you need to know to invest, appraise or finance a property.
Thomaston is a tiny town located in the state of Alabama. With a population of 318 people and just one neighborhood, Thomaston is the 360th largest community in Alabama.
Occupations and Workforce
Because occupations involving physical labor dominate the local economy, Thomaston is generally considered to be a blue-collar town. 60.43% of the Thomaston workforce is employed in blue-collar occupations, compared to the national average of 27.7%. Overall, Thomaston is a town of transportation and shipping workers, professionals, and production and manufacturing workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Thomaston who work in teaching (12.95%), office and administrative support (8.63%), and maintenance occupations (6.47%).
Setting & Lifestyle
Thomaston’s overall crime rate ranks among the lowest in the nation, making it a very safe place to live.
It is a fairly quiet town because there are relatively few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. (Children, for example, often can't help themselves from being noisy, and being parents ourselves, we know!) Thomaston has relatively few families with children living at home, and is quieter because of it. Renters and college students, for their own reasons, can also be noisy. Thomaston has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Thomaston than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Thomaston may be for you.
One downside of living in Thomaston is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Thomaston, the average commute to work is 32.86 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average.
Thomaston is a small town, and as such doesn't have a public transit system that people use to get to and from their jobs every day.
Demographics
In terms of college education, Thomaston is nearly on par with the US average for all cities of 21.84%: 17.85% of adults 25 and older in Thomaston have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.
The per capita income in Thomaston in 2022 was $30,833, which is upper middle income relative to Alabama, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $123,332 for a family of four. However, Thomaston contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Thomaston also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 30.64% of its population below the federal poverty line.
Thomaston is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Thomaston home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Thomaston residents report their race to be Black or African-American, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Thomaston include Irish, Welsh, German, Scots-Irish, and English.
The most common language spoken in Thomaston is English. Other important languages spoken here include French and Spanish.
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.
Real Estate
The neighborhood stands out for having the majority of its residential real estate made up of mobile homes. In fact, 53.7% of the occupied real estate here are mobile homes, which is a greater proportion than is found in 99.3% of the neighborhoods in the U.S. If you like mobile homes, this might be a great neighborhood in which to look for real estate.
In addition, unpopulated, and rural, the neighborhood is one of the least crowded neighborhoods in all of America. If you like open space, no traffic, and lots of room, this neighborhood may be just what you are looking for. According to NeighborhoodScout's leading research, this neighborhood is less densely populated than 97.7% of the neighborhoods in America. 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.
Furthermore, vacant homes and apartments are a significant characteristic of this neighborhood. In fact, with 36.8% of the residential real estate vacant, the neighborhood claims the distinction of having a higher vacancy rate than 97.1% of the neighborhoods in America. This can either be because much of the property is seasonally occupied, like in many vacation areas, or that much of the real estate is more permanently abandoned.
People
The neighborhood stands out for having an average per capita income lower than 98.1% of the neighborhoods in the United States. The neighborhood also has a greater percentage of children living in poverty (56.5%) than found in 96.2% of all U.S. neighborhoods. Children living in poverty is one of the challenges facing America, and the world, and in this neighborhood in particular, the problem can be considered acute.
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 7.9% of retiree-friendly neighborhoods in Alabama, 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 Alabama.
Diversity
Did you know that the neighborhood has more African ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 6.1% of this neighborhood's residents have African ancestry.
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 Thomaston are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 98.1% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 56.5% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 96.2% 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, 39.1% 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 20.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (19.5%), and 19.1% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 98.3% 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 Thomaston, AL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Sub-Saharan African (6.1%). There are also a number of people of African ancestry (6.1%), and residents who report Irish roots (2.6%), and some of the residents are also of English ancestry (1.6%), along with some Scots-Irish ancestry residents (1.2%), 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 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (38.9% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.
Here most residents (83.0%) 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 (17.0%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.
SCOUT’s patented match algorithm identifies the most similar neighborhoods to a subject location, and quantifies the similarity to the subject location. This allows analysts to identify the most similar neighborhoods in a local market area for appraisals, investments, and research.
The algorithm uses 273 neighborhood conditions, identifies the dominant dimensions underlying the conditions and calculates the similarity. This captures the true culture and character of locations, economic conditions, and trends.
The closer to 100% means the locations are nearly identical. 80% is a very good, but not excellent match, and so forth.
