Swannanoa is a somewhat small town located in the state of North Carolina. With a population of 5,021 people and just one neighborhood, Swannanoa is the 155th largest community in North Carolina.
Swannanoa is neither predominantly blue-collar nor white-collar, instead having a mixed workforce of both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Overall, Swannanoa is a town of managers, service providers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Swannanoa who work in management occupations (24.48%), food service (7.80%), and office and administrative support (7.46%).
One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 11.34% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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.
As is often the case in a small town, Swannanoa doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.
In terms of college education, Swannanoa is substantially better educated than the typical community in the nation, which has 21.84% of the adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree: 30.77% of adults in Swannanoa have a college degree.
The per capita income in Swannanoa in 2022 was $26,785, which is lower middle income relative to North Carolina and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $107,140 for a family of four. However, Swannanoa contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Swannanoa is a somewhat ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Swannanoa home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Swannanoa residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Swannanoa also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 10.56% of the town’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Swannanoa include English, German, Irish, Polish, and Scots-Irish.
The most common language spoken in Swannanoa is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Italian.
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.
One of the really interesting characteristics about the neighborhood is that, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research, it is an excellent choice in which to reside for college students. Due to its popularity among college students who already choose to live here, its walkability, and its above average safety from crime, the neighborhood is ideal for prospective or already-enrolled college students. Between semesters and during school breaks, you'll notice that the excitement here fluctuates with the college seasons. Despite the excitement however, parents of college-age children can rest easy knowing that this neighborhood has an above average safety rating. For each of these reasons, the neighborhood is rated among the top 2.8% of college-friendly places to live in the state of North Carolina.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more English ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 32.3% of this neighborhood's residents have English ancestry.
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 Swannanoa are middle-income, making it a moderate income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 47.3% of the neighborhoods in America. With 31.8% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 83.5% 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, 35.1% 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 33.7% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (17.5%), and 13.3% in clerical, assistant, and tech support 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 92.7% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish, Italian 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 Swannanoa, NC, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as English (32.3%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (11.0%), and residents who report Irish roots (6.8%), and some of the residents are also of Mexican ancestry (6.2%), along with some Polish ancestry residents (2.5%), among others.
How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (45.6% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (84.6%) 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.