Marfa is a very small city located in the state of Texas. With a population of 1,725 people and just one neighborhood, Marfa is the 678th largest community in Texas.
Because occupations involving physical labor dominate the local economy, Marfa is generally considered to be a blue-collar town. 44.46% of the Marfa workforce is employed in blue-collar occupations, compared to the national average of 27.7%. Overall, Marfa is a city of professionals, construction workers and builders, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Marfa who work in teaching (10.08%), legal occupations (9.92%), and art, media, and design (8.54%).
Of important note, Marfa is also a city of artists. Marfa has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Marfa’s character.
Also of interest is that Marfa has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 9.77% 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.
Overall, Marfa’s crime rate is one of the lowest in the nation, which makes a great place to live if safety is an important concern.
Residents will find that the city is relatively quiet. This is because it is not over-populated, and it has fewer college students, renters, and young children - all of whom can be noisy at times. So, if you're looking for a relatively peaceful place to live, Marfa is worth considering.
Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 9.87 minutes getting to work every day.
Being a small city, Marfa does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
The education level of Marfa citizens is substantially higher than the typical US community, as 29.34% of adults in Marfa have at least a bachelor's degree.
The per capita income in Marfa in 2022 was $36,682, which is upper middle income relative to Texas and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $146,728 for a family of four. However, Marfa contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Marfa is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Marfa home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. People of Hispanic or Latino origin are the most prevalent group in Marfa, accounting for 51.84% of the city’s residents (people of Hispanic or Latino origin can be of any race). The greatest number of Marfa residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Marfa include Italian, English, Polish, German, and British.
In addition, Marfa has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (18.82%).
The most common language spoken in Marfa is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Italian.
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 Marfa, the neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
Length of Commute
Whether walking, biking, riding, or driving, the length of one's commute is an important factor for one's quality of life. The neighborhood stands out for its commute length, according to NeighborhoodScout's analysis. Residents of the neighborhood have the pleasure of having one of the shortest commutes to work of any neighborhood in America. 90.0% of the residents have a commute time from home to work (one way) of less than fifteen minutes. This is a higher proportion of residents enjoying a short trip to work than NeighborhoodScout found in 99.9% of U.S. neighborhoods. Less time commuting means more time for other things in life.
Modes of Transportation
If your dream is to be able to ride your bike to work each day, look no further than this unique neighborhood. With 12.0% of residents in the neighborhood commuting on a bicycle to and from work daily, this neighborhood has more bicycle commuters than 99.8% of all neighborhoods in the U.S., according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis.
People
If you are planning to retire in Texas, 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 Texas, 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 TX. If a Texas retirement is in your future, this neighborhood should be one of the places you visit.
In addition, one of the unique characteristics of the neighborhood revealed by analysis is that the per capita income of residents here is lower than that found in 96.1% of the neighborhoods in America. The neighborhood also has a greater percentage of children living in poverty (71.9%) than found in 98.7% of all U.S. neighborhoods. Children living in poverty is one of the challenges facing America, and the world, and in this neighborhood in particular, the problem can be considered acute.
Also, one of the most interesting things about the neighborhood is that it has a greater concentration of residents who live alone than most all neighborhoods in America. With 56.8% of the households here made up of people living alone, NeighborhoodScout's research reveals that this is a larger proportion of people living alone than in 98.2% of the neighborhoods in America.
Real Estate
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 1 people per square mile living here, this neighborhood is less crowded than 99.4% of America. One of the notable things about is that it is one of the quietest neighborhoods in America, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis and quantitative rating of quietness. When you are here, you will find it to be very quiet. If quiet and peaceful are your cup of tea, you may have found a great place for you.
Occupations
Each year, fewer and fewer Americans make their living as farmers, foresters, or fishers. But the neighborhood truly stands out among U.S. neighborhoods. According to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, this neighborhood has a greater proportion of farmers, foresters, or fishers than 98.5% of all American neighborhoods. This is truly a unique cultural characteristic of this neighborhood.
Furthermore, the government often provides some of the more stable jobs in the economy. From local, to state, to federal government workers, the government can also be a major employer. What NeighborhoodScout's analysis revealed, is that the neighborhood in particular stands out when compared nationally for the proportion of its working residents who are employed by the government. At 16.2% of its workforce, this neighborhood has a greater concentration of government workers than 97.7% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Diversity
Did you know that the neighborhood has more British and Lithuanian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 4.6% of this neighborhood's residents have British ancestry and 2.0% have Lithuanian 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 Marfa are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 96.1% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 71.9% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 98.7% 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 executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 35.0% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions (16.2%), and 10.8% in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 53.8% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (46.1%).
Ethnicity / Ancestry
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 Marfa, TX, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Mexican (52.5%). There are also a number of people of Italian ancestry (12.7%), and residents who report English roots (11.3%), and some of the residents are also of Polish ancestry (11.2%), along with some German ancestry residents (5.4%), among others. In addition, 24.7% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
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 under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (90.0% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (63.6%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also bicycle to get to work (12.0%) and 7.9% of residents also hop out the door and walk to work 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.
