Thornton is a very small village located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 2,297 people and just one neighborhood, Thornton is the 539th largest community in Illinois.
When you are in Thornton, you'll notice that it is more blue-collar than most other communities in America. 40.97% of Thornton’s employed work in blue-collar jobs, while America averages only 27.7% that do. Overall, Thornton is a village of transportation and shipping workers, professionals, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Thornton who work in office and administrative support (7.73%), healthcare (7.19%), and sales jobs (5.75%).
Of important note, Thornton is also a village of artists. Thornton has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Thornton’s character.
It is a fairly quiet village 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!) Thornton 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. Thornton has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Thornton than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Thornton may be for you.
The education level of Thornton citizens is a little higher than the average for US cities and towns: 22.54% of adults in Thornton have at least a bachelor's degree.
The per capita income in Thornton in 2022 was $32,796, which is middle income relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $131,184 for a family of four. However, Thornton contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Thornton is an extremely ethnically-diverse village. The people who call Thornton home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Thornton residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Thornton also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 17.80% of the village’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Thornton include German, Irish, Polish, Italian, and English.
The most common language spoken in Thornton is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Polish.
Many things matter about a neighborhood, but the first thing most people notice is the way a neighborhood looks and its particular character. For example, one might notice whether the buildings all date from a certain time period or whether shop signs are in multiple languages. This particular neighborhood in Thornton, the neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
For many reasons, is rated by NeighborhoodScout as one of the top 0.5% of ideal neighborhoods for first-time home buyers in the state of Illinois. Homes here are priced below median housing values in the state, yet the neighborhood has a track record according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive neighborhood home appreciation rates of above average real estate appreciation over the last five years compared to other IL neighborhoods, protecting your investment in your first home, while simultaneously making it less risky for your lender. Not only does this neighborhood stand out for combining price and home value stability or increases, it also is a neighborhood with a high quality resident population according exclusive data, meaning this is likely a good place to buy, live, and enjoy. While many first time home buyers focus purely on low cost and convenient location, which can risk your investment in your first home and put you in a less than desirable neighborhood, this neighborhood is a true standout for a lot of reasons, and definitely worth a look if you are a first time home buyer.
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 Thornton are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 72.8% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 11.5% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 52.8% of U.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, 38.4% 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 31.5% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (17.6%), and 12.5% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 88.5% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (9.9%).
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 Thornton, IL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Mexican (12.4%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (11.7%), and residents who report Irish roots (11.1%), and some of the residents are also of Polish ancestry (9.5%), along with some Sub-Saharan African ancestry residents (6.6%), 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 (30.2% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (75.8%) 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 (13.2%) and 5.6% of residents also take the train for their daily commute. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.