West Branch is a very small city located in the state of Iowa. With a population of 2,754 people and just one neighborhood, West Branch is the 218th largest community in Iowa. West Branch has seen a significant amount of newer housing growth in recent years. Quite often, new home construction is the result of new residents moving in who are middle class or wealthier, attracted by jobs, a healthy local economy, or other amenities as they leave nearby or far away areas for greener pastures. This seems to be the case in West Branch, where the median household income is $87,891.00.
West Branch real estate is some of the most expensive in Iowa, although West Branch house values don't compare to the most expensive real estate in the U.S.
Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, West Branch is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, West Branch is a city of sales and office workers, professionals, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in West Branch who work in sales jobs (14.29%), office and administrative support (12.44%), and teaching (8.39%).
Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 10.04% 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.
The overall crime rate in West Branch is one of the lowest in the US. This makes it one of the safer places to live in the country in terms of crime.
The percentage of people in West Branch who are college-educated is somewhat higher than the average US community of 21.84%: 28.65% of adults in West Branch have at least a bachelor's degree.
The per capita income in West Branch in 2022 was $35,101, which is middle income relative to Iowa and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $140,404 for a family of four. However, West Branch contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
The people who call West Branch home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of West Branch residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in West Branch include German, Irish, English, Czech, and Danish.
The most common language spoken in West Branch is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Spanish.
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.
This neighborhood has wide open spaces, few people, and lots of space to stretch out. If you like locations that fit that description, you may like this neighborhood. Based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis, with only 31 people per square mile living here, this neighborhood is less crowded than 92.6% of America.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Belgian and German ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 0.6% of this neighborhood's residents have Belgian ancestry and 33.3% have German ancestry.
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 West Branch are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 64.9% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 8.6% 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 53.5% of America'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, 28.5% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 26.0% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (25.9%), and 16.8% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 98.2% of households. Some people also speak Italian (2.5%).
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 West Branch, IA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (33.3%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (18.3%), and residents who report English roots (9.6%), and some of the residents are also of Mexican ancestry (3.4%), along with some French ancestry residents (2.9%), among others.
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 (38.4% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (80.4%) 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 (7.8%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.