Bloomington is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of Indiana. With a population of 79,107 people and 28 associated neighborhoods, Bloomington is the seventh largest community in Indiana. Bloomington real estate is some of the most expensive in Indiana, although Bloomington house values don't compare to the most expensive real estate in the U.S.Bloomington is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 86.34% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Bloomington is a city of professionals, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Bloomington who work in teaching (14.75%), food service (9.94%), and office and administrative support (8.77%). Also of interest is that Bloomington 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: 16.07% 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. In addition, Bloomington is a major college town that has a very high percentage of its residents over 18 years old who are college students. Naturally, collegiate life has a major influence on local Bloomington culture, lifestyle and entertainment options. Bloomington really pulses to the beat of the academic calendar. In Bloomington every fall, returning students reinvigorate the community, who you will notice are all over town, buying groceries, out with friends, and getting acquainted or re-acquainted with each other and Bloomington. One of the beneficial effects that colleges provide is that they tend to be lasting institutions that deliver direct economic benefits to the local economy in the form of such things as jobs for faculty and staff, and spending by students. Bloomington benefits directly from this. 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 18.54 minutes getting to work every day. Many people in Bloomington take advantage of public transportation to get around. In fact, for the size of the city, the number of people who use the bus to commute to work is quite high. This helps to fill a need among Bloomington citizens for affordable transportation.If knowledge is power, Bloomington is a pretty powerful place. 59.82% of the adults in Bloomington have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns. The per capita income in Bloomington in 2022 was $31,069, which is upper middle income relative to Indiana, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $124,276 for a family of four. However, Bloomington contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Bloomington also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 31.08% of its population below the federal poverty line.Bloomington is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Bloomington home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Bloomington residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Bloomington include German, English, Irish, Polish, and Italian. The most common language spoken in Bloomington is English. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese and Spanish.
