Terra Alta is a very small town located in the state of West Virginia. With a population of 1,413 people and just one neighborhood, Terra Alta is the 135th largest community in West Virginia. Much of the housing stock in Terra Alta was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic towns in the country.
Unlike some towns, Terra Alta isn’t mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Terra Alta are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Terra Alta is a town of service providers, sales and office workers, and construction workers and builders. There are especially a lot of people living in Terra Alta who work in food service (14.15%), office and administrative support (11.71%), and healthcare suport services (6.34%).
In terms of college education, Terra Alta ranks among the least educated cities in the nation, as only 5.65% of people over 25 have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.
The per capita income in Terra Alta in 2022 was $20,520, which is lower middle income relative to West Virginia, and low income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $82,080 for a family of four. However, Terra Alta contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Terra Alta is a somewhat ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Terra Alta home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Terra Alta residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Terra Alta include German, Irish, Scottish, English, and Italian.
The most common language spoken in Terra Alta is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian 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.
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 96.4% of all American neighborhoods. This is truly a unique cultural characteristic of this neighborhood.
Significantly, 6.3% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Italian at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 95.1% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 Terra Alta are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 84.8% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 42.9% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 90.7% 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, 30.2% 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 27.6% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (19.4%), and 18.3% in executive, management, and professional occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 100.0% of households. Some people also speak Italian (6.3%).
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 Terra Alta, WV, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (30.4%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (17.3%), and residents who report Scottish roots (2.2%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (1.9%), along with some English ancestry residents (1.4%), among others.
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 (37.8% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (71.0%) 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 (19.1%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.