Watseka is a very small city located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 4,510 people and just one neighborhood, Watseka is the 359th largest community in Illinois.
Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Watseka is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Watseka is a city of transportation and shipping workers, managers, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Watseka who work in management occupations (17.84%), maintenance occupations (8.94%), and sales jobs (7.96%).
The percentage of adults in Watseka with college degrees is slightly lower than the national average of 21.84% for all communities. 13.36% of adults in Watseka have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.
The per capita income in Watseka in 2022 was $26,131, which is low income relative to Illinois, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $104,524 for a family of four. However, Watseka contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Watseka is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Watseka home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Watseka residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Watseka include German, Irish, French, Hungarian, and Dutch.
The most common language spoken in Watseka is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Polish.
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.
Of note is NeighborhoodScout's research finding that the neighborhood has some of the lowest rates of children living in poverty of any neighborhood in the United States. In a nation where approximately 1 in 4 children are living in poverty, the community truly stands out from the rest in this regard.
In addition, astoundingly, the neighborhood has one of the highest concentrations of divorcees living here than of any neighborhood, a higher concentration than NeighborhoodScout found in 99.2% of U.S. neighborhoods. This may be because people living here divorce more often than others, or that divorced people move here after they become divorced. If you are divorced, you will be in good company in this particular Watseka neighborhood.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Hungarian and Dutch ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 6.8% of this neighborhood's residents have Hungarian ancestry and 6.3% have Dutch 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 Watseka are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 91.8% of U.S. neighborhoods. In addition, 0.0% 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 100.0% of America'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, 33.1% 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 29.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (23.8%), and 13.2% 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 93.0% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Italian.
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 Watseka, IL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (42.3%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (11.8%), and residents who report Hungarian roots (6.8%), and some of the residents are also of French ancestry (6.4%), along with some Dutch ancestry residents (6.3%), 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 under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (53.5% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (83.1%) 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 (12.5%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.