Westover is a tiny borough located in the state of Pennsylvania. With a population of 351 people and just one neighborhood, Westover is the 1035th largest community in Pennsylvania. Much of the housing stock in Westover was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic boroughs in the country.
Because occupations involving physical labor dominate the local economy, Westover is generally considered to be a blue-collar town. 36.57% of the Westover workforce is employed in blue-collar occupations, compared to the national average of 27.7%. Overall, Westover is a borough of service providers, transportation and shipping workers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Westover who work in personal care services (16.42%), sales jobs (7.46%), and healthcare (7.46%).
Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 17.91% 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.
It is a fairly quiet borough 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!) Westover 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. Westover has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Westover than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Westover may be for you.
One downside of living in Westover, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 40.32 minutes every day commuting to work.
As is often the case in a small borough, Westover doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.
In Westover, just 9.96% of people over 25 hold a college degree, which is very low compared to the rest of the nation, whereas the average among all cities is 21.84%.
The per capita income in Westover in 2022 was $25,500, which is low income relative to Pennsylvania, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $102,000 for a family of four. However, Westover contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Westover is a somewhat ethnically-diverse borough. The people who call Westover home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Westover residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Westover also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 12.15% of the borough’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Westover include German, Irish, Polish, Italian, and English.
The most common language spoken in Westover is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian 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.
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. 9.6% 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 95.0% of all neighborhoods in America.
More people work in manufacturing and as laborers here in the neighborhood than in 95.0% of the neighborhoods in America. Despite the loss of manufacturing jobs across the nation, this neighborhood remains a place where, compared to other parts of the country, you will find many laborers and manufacturers.
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 25 people per square mile living here, this neighborhood is less crowded than 93.6% of America.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Dutch ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 6.5% of this neighborhood's residents have Dutch ancestry.
is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 11.6% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak German/Yiddish at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 99.6% 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 Westover are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 78.5% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 17.7% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 65.1% of U.S. neighborhoods.
A neighborhood is far different if it is dominated by enlisted military personnel rather than people who earn their living by farming. It is also different if most of the neighbors are clerical support or managers. What is wonderful is the sheer diversity of neighborhoods, allowing you to find the type that fits your lifestyle and aspirations.
In the neighborhood, 41.6% of the working population is employed in manufacturing and laborer 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 25.8% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in executive, management, and professional occupations (16.9%), and 12.7% 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 87.3% of households. Other important languages spoken here include German/Yiddish, 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 Westover, PA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (19.7%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (8.5%), and residents who report Dutch roots (6.5%), and some of the residents are also of English ancestry (5.9%), along with some Italian ancestry residents (5.7%), 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 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (30.8% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods. However, there is also a significant group of residents (9.6%) who commute over an hour in each direction.
Here most residents (78.4%) 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 (11.1%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.