Afton is a tiny village located in the state of New York. With a population of 786 people and just one neighborhood, Afton is the 801st largest community in New York. Afton has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic villages.
Afton is a blue-collar town, with 44.86% of people working in blue-collar occupations, while the average in America is just 27.7%. Overall, Afton is a village of sales and office workers, transportation and shipping workers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Afton who work in office and administrative support (12.28%), sales jobs (8.02%), and teaching (4.26%).
One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 8.42% 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.
It is a fairly quiet village because there are relatively few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. (Children, for example, often can't help themselves from being noisy, and being parents ourselves, we know!) Afton has relatively few families with children living at home, and is quieter because of it. Renters and college students, for their own reasons, can also be noisy. Afton has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Afton than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Afton may be for you.
As is often the case in a small village, Afton doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.
The percentage of people in Afton with college degrees is quite a bit lower than the national average for cities and towns of 21.84%: just 12.70% of people over 25 have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.
The per capita income in Afton in 2022 was $26,237, which is low income relative to New York, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $104,948 for a family of four. However, Afton contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
The people who call Afton home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Afton residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Afton include English, Irish, German, Italian, and Lithuanian.
The most common language spoken in Afton 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.
NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research identifies the neighborhood as having one of the highest concentrations of people employed in manufacturing or as laborers of any neighborhood in America. In fact, despite the loss of manufacturing jobs nationally, this neighborhood has 46.7% of its working residents employed in such fields, which is a higher proportion than 97.9% of American neighborhoods.
If you're planning where to retire, the neighborhood in Afton is a great option to consider. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive retirement dream area analysis, it's peaceful and quiet, has above average safety ratings compared to other neighborhoods in NY, offers a wide range of housing options, and has already attracted an enviable mix of college educated seniors. This neighborhood ranks as better for retirement living than 86.8% of the neighborhoods in New York. If you are considering retiring to New York, this is a good neighborhood to look at.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Lithuanian and Danish ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 3.3% of this neighborhood's residents have Lithuanian ancestry and 2.8% have Danish 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 Afton are middle-income, making it a moderate income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 46.9% of the neighborhoods in America. With 20.8% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 70.0% 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, 46.7% of the working population is employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is executive, management, and professional occupations, with 28.0% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (17.4%), and 7.9% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 99.3% of households.
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 Afton, NY, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (23.4%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (20.4%), and residents who report Irish roots (15.2%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (9.3%), along with some French ancestry residents (4.9%), 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 between 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (33.7% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.
Here most residents (82.3%) 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 (11.6%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.