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Rifton, NY

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





Overview


Rifton is a tiny town located in the state of New York. With a population of 481 people and just one neighborhood, Rifton is the 890th largest community in New York. Rifton has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic towns in the country.

Occupations and Workforce

Unlike some towns where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Rifton is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Rifton is a town of sales and office workers, production and manufacturing workers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Rifton who work in sales jobs (40.94%), teaching (19.46%), and business and financial occupations (15.44%).

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 25.50% 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.

Setting & Lifestyle

Rifton’s overall crime rate ranks among the lowest in the nation, making it a very safe 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!) Rifton 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. Rifton has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Rifton than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Rifton may be for you.

One downside of living in Rifton is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Rifton, the average commute to work is 31.28 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average.

As is often the case in a small town, Rifton doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.

Demographics

The percentage of people in Rifton who are college-educated is somewhat higher than the average US community of 21.84%: 27.49% of adults in Rifton have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Rifton in 2022 was $54,498, which is upper middle income relative to New York, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $217,992 for a family of four. However, Rifton contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Rifton also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 44.59% of its population below the federal poverty line.

Rifton is a very ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Rifton home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Rifton residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Rifton include Polish, Irish, Italian, German, and Haitian.

The most common language spoken in Rifton is English. Other important languages spoken here include German/Yiddish and Italian.

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

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.

People

If you are planning to retire in New York, 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 New York, 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 99.7% of neighborhoods in NY. If a New York retirement is in your future, this neighborhood should be one of the places you visit. In addition to being an excellent choice for active retirees, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for first-time home buyers.

Diversity

Did you know that the neighborhood has more Jamaican and Russian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 7.5% of this neighborhood's residents have Jamaican ancestry and 3.8% have Russian ancestry.

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 Rifton are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 60.6% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 3.5% 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 69.1% 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, 39.9% 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 22.6% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (19.6%), and 17.7% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.

Languages

The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 95.8% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (2.1%).

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 Rifton, NY, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (16.1%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (13.7%), and residents who report Polish roots (9.6%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (9.3%), along with some Jamaican ancestry residents (7.5%), among others. In addition, 11.9% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.

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 between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (45.0% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.

Here most residents (70.1%) 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 (8.2%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.


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