Elsah is a tiny village located in the state of Illinois. With a population of 518 people and just one neighborhood, Elsah is the 745th largest community in Illinois. Much of the housing stock in Elsah was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic villages in the country.
Elsah is a decidedly white-collar village, with fully 95.00% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Elsah is a village of service providers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Elsah who work in food service (27.33%), office and administrative support (15.33%), and personal care services (8.00%).
Of important note, Elsah is also a village of artists. Elsah has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Elsah’s character.
A relatively large number of people in Elsah telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 16.54% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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.
Another notable thing is that Elsah is a major vacation destination. Much of the village’s population is seasonal: many people own second homes and only live there part-time, during the vacation season. The effect on the local economy is that many of the businesses are dependent on tourist dollars, and may operate only during the high season. As the vacation season ends, Elsah’s population drops significantly, such that year-round residents will notice that the city is a much quieter place to live.
Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Elsah spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 12.31 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the village are less than they would otherwise be.
Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Elsah, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Elsah is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 61.45% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 21.84%.
The per capita income in Elsah in 2022 was $10,278, which is low income relative to Illinois and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $41,112 for a family of four. However, Elsah contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Elsah is an extremely ethnically-diverse village. The people who call Elsah home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Elsah residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Elsah include English, German, Russian, Irish, and Kenyan.
In addition, Elsah has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (15.73%).
The most common language spoken in Elsah is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Korean.
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 Elsah, the neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
In a nation where 1 out of every 4 children lives in poverty, the neighborhood stands out as being ranked among the lowest 0.0% of neighborhoods affected by this global issue.
In addition, an extraordinary 18.8% of the residents of the neighborhood are currently enrolled in college. This is such a large part of life in this neighborhood that the neighborhood changes a great deal with the change of semesters and is far quieter during the summer when many students are away.
Also, with a nice mix of college students, safety from crime, and decent walkability, the neighborhood rates highly as a college student friendly place to live, and one that college students and their parents may want to consider. NeighborhoodScout's analysis shows that it rates more highly for a good place for college students to live than 88.8% of the neighborhoods in IL. This often also means that the area has certain amenities and services geared towards college students, from undergraduates to graduate students.
In the neighborhood, walking to work is a real option for many. In fact, NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research reveals walking to and from work is the chosen way to commute for 12.1% of residents here. This is a higher proportion of walking commuters than we found in 96.1% of American neighborhoods. Get ready to put on your walking shoes if you move here!
Did you know that the neighborhood has more German and Scottish ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 35.9% of this neighborhood's residents have German ancestry and 4.8% have Scottish ancestry.
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 Elsah are middle-income, making it a moderate income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 58.7% of the neighborhoods in America. 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.
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, 32.6% 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 32.1% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (17.5%), and 16.1% in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 94.8% of households. Some people also speak Italian (3.3%).
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 Elsah, IL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (35.9%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (12.9%), and residents who report Irish roots (8.3%), and some of the residents are also of Scottish ancestry (4.8%), along with some Italian ancestry residents (2.7%), 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 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (35.2% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (69.2%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also hop out the door and walk to work to get to work (12.1%) and 8.8% of residents also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors 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.