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Tafton, PA

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





Overview


Tafton is a very small town located in the state of Pennsylvania. With a population of 1,518 people and just one neighborhood, Tafton is the 737th largest community in Pennsylvania.

Occupations and Workforce

Tafton is a blue-collar town, with 39.91% of people working in blue-collar occupations, while the average in America is just 27.7%. Overall, Tafton is a town of transportation and shipping workers, sales and office workers, and construction workers and builders. There are especially a lot of people living in Tafton who work in office and administrative support (12.99%), food service (10.56%), and management occupations (9.51%).

A relatively large number of people in Tafton telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 9.59% 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

Another notable thing is that Tafton is an extremely popular vacation destination. A significant portion of the population is seasonal. During the vacation season, the town experiences a large influx of people who take up residence in second homes they own in the area. As the vacation season ends, the population drops again, leaving behind a substantially quieter and smaller town.

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.

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!) Tafton 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. Tafton has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Tafton than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Tafton may be for you.

Demographics

The citizens of Tafton are slightly less educated than the national average of 21.84% for the average city or town: 15.95% of adults in Tafton have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree

The per capita income in Tafton in 2022 was $34,994, which is middle income relative to Pennsylvania and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $139,976 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 Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Tafton include Irish, German, Italian, English, and Polish.

The most common language spoken in Tafton is English. Other important languages spoken here include Slavic languages 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.

People

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 looking for a great spot to raise a family, then look no further than the neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's analysis found that the combination of good quality public schools, above-average safety from crime, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family homes, help make this neighborhood among the top 10.3% of family-friendly neighborhoods across the state of Pennsylvania. In addition, there are a high proportion of other families with school-aged children living here, making it easy for parents and their children to socialize and develop a sense of community support. In addition, families here highly value education, as is reflected by the strength of the local schools, in part due to the educational attainment of the parents here, who vote in support of the public schools. In addition to being an excellent choice for families with school-aged children, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for active retirees.

Real Estate

Vacant homes and apartments are a significant characteristic of this neighborhood. In fact, with 46.9% of the residential real estate vacant, the neighborhood claims the distinction of having a higher vacancy rate than 98.5% 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.

Occupations

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 14.0% of its workforce, this neighborhood has a greater concentration of government workers than 96.4% of U.S. neighborhoods.

Diversity

Did you know that the neighborhood has more Austrian and Irish ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 1.5% of this neighborhood's residents have Austrian ancestry and 23.0% have Irish ancestry.

Migration / Stability

Some neighborhoods have more internal cohesiveness than others. While other neighborhoods feel like a collection of strangers who just happen to live near each other. Sometimes this comes down to not only the personalities of the people in a place, but how long people have been together in that neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research has revealed some interesting things about the rootedness of people in the neighborhood. More residents of the neighborhood live here today that also were living in this same neighborhood five years ago than is found in 96.8% 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.

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 Tafton are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 65.8% 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.

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, 39.9% 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 25.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (21.9%), and 14.0% in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions.

Languages

The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 96.0% of households.

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 Tafton, PA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (23.0%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (22.3%), and residents who report Italian roots (9.7%), and some of the residents are also of English ancestry (7.0%), along with some Polish ancestry residents (4.1%), 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 (35.2% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.

Here most residents (85.2%) 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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Neighborhood Setting
Economics & Demographics include:
Lifestyle & Special Character
Household Types
Commute To Work
Migration & Mobility
Race & Ethnic Diversity
Employment Industries & Occupations
Income & Unemployment Rate
Higher Education Attainment
Crime includes:
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Crimes Per Square Mile
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Violent Crime Comparison
Schools include:
School Ratings
Schools In District
Public School Test Scores
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