Occidental is a very small town located in the state of California. With a population of 1,132 people and just one neighborhood, Occidental is the 740th largest community in California.
Occidental home prices are not only among the most expensive in California, but Occidental real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.
Occidental is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 93.89% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Occidental is a town of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Occidental who work in computer science and math (20.42%), business and financial occupations (19.61%), and management occupations (16.56%).
Also of interest is that Occidental has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 59.90% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. 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.
Occidental is a good choice for families with children because of several factors. Many other families with children live here, making it a place where both parents and children are more likely to develop social ties with other families. The town’s good public school district and large population of college-educated adults provide an environment conducive to academic success. Many people own their own single-family homes, providing areas for children to play and stability in the community. Finally, Occidental’s overall crime rate is lower than average for the country.
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, Occidental has relatively fewer families with younger children, and/or college students. Combined, this makes Occidental a pretty quiet place to live overall. If you like quiet, you will probably enjoy it here.
One downside of living in Occidental, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 36.73 minutes every day commuting to work.
If knowledge is power, Occidental is a pretty powerful place. 67.20% of the adults in Occidental have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns.
The per capita income in Occidental in 2022 was $93,698, which is wealthy relative to California and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $374,792 for a family of four.
Occidental is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Occidental home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Occidental residents report their race to be White, followed by Native Hawaiian. Important ancestries of people in Occidental include German, English, Hungarian, Irish, and Dutch.
The most common language spoken in Occidental is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Polish.
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.
If you are planning to retire in California, 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 California, 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 99.9% of neighborhoods in CA. If a California retirement is in your future, this neighborhood should be one of the places you visit.
A unique way of commuting is simply not to. And in the neighborhood, analysis shows that 48.4% of the residents work from home, avoiding a commute altogether. This may not seem like a large number, but it is a higher proportion of people working from home than is found in 99.8% of the neighborhoods in the United States. One thing NeighborhoodScout's research reveals is that the wealthier and/or more isolated the neighborhood, the greater the proportion of residents who choose to work from home.
Regardless of the means by which residents commute, this neighborhood has a length of commute that is notable. Long commutes can be brutal. They take time, money, and energy, leaving less of you for yourself and your family. The residents of the neighborhood unfortunately have the distinction of having, on average, a longer commute than most any neighborhood in America. 13.2% of commuters here travel more than one hour just one-way to work. That is more than two hours per day. This percentage with two-hour + round-trip commutes is higher than NeighborhoodScout found in 98.0% of all neighborhoods in America.
Vacant homes and apartments are a significant characteristic of this neighborhood. In fact, with 39.5% of the residential real estate vacant, the neighborhood claims the distinction of having a higher vacancy rate than 97.6% 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.
The neighborhood has a higher proportion of its residents employed as executives, managers and professionals than 97.2% of the neighborhoods in America. In fact, 74.3% of the employed people here make a living as an executive, a manager, or other professional. With such a high concentration, this truly shapes the character of this neighborhood, and to a large degree defines what this neighborhood is about.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Croatian and Hungarian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 5.2% of this neighborhood's residents have Croatian ancestry and 6.5% have Hungarian ancestry.
is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 1.2% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Russian at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 96.7% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 Occidental are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 78.3% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 8.3% 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 54.4% of America's neighborhoods.
What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.
In the neighborhood, 74.3% 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 12.1% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (7.2%), and 6.4% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.
The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 88.2% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Polish.
Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.
In the neighborhood in Occidental, CA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (17.2%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (11.5%), and residents who report Irish roots (9.4%), and some of the residents are also of Mexican ancestry (6.7%), along with some Hungarian ancestry residents (6.5%), among others. In addition, 10.6% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
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 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (31.7% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans. However, there is also a significant group of residents (13.2%) who commute over an hour in each direction.
Here most residents (42.3%) 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.