Laporte is a tiny borough located in the state of Pennsylvania. With a population of 316 people and just one neighborhood, Laporte is the 1053rd largest community in Pennsylvania. Laporte has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic boroughs in the country.
Unlike some boroughs, Laporte isn’t mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Laporte are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Laporte is a borough of construction workers and builders, professionals, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Laporte who work in sales jobs (13.24%), teaching (11.76%), and business and financial occupations (11.76%).
A relatively large number of people in Laporte telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 12.90% 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 Laporte is an extremely popular destination for tourists and seasonal residents. So much of the population is seasonal such that the borough’s population swells significantly during the vacation season, and drops again when the season ends. Because of this, much of the local economy is centered around tourism; some businesses may be operated only during the high season. During the low season, year-round residents will notice that the city is a substantially quieter place to live.
The borough is relatively quiet, having a combination of lower population density and few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. For example, Laporte has relatively fewer families with younger children, and/or college students. Combined, this makes Laporte a pretty quiet place to live overall. If you like quiet, you will probably enjoy it here.
Residents of the borough have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 17.50 minutes getting to work every day.
As is often the case in a small borough, Laporte doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.
The overall education level of Laporte is somewhat higher than in the average US city of 21.84%: 25.30% of adults 25 and older in the borough have at least a bachelor's degree.
The per capita income in Laporte in 2022 was $31,618, which is lower middle income relative to Pennsylvania, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $126,472 for a family of four. However, Laporte contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
The people who call Laporte home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Laporte residents report their race to be White. Important ancestries of people in Laporte include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Welsh.
The most common language spoken in Laporte is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Polish.
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 Laporte, the neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
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.
Despite all of the residential real estate here in the neighborhood, NeighborhoodScout has discovered that much of it is vacant. In resort or second-home vacation areas, this naturally occurs because homes and apartments are seasonally occupied, and empty for a portion of the year. In non-vacation or resort areas, however, this can be an indicator of property abandonment or a weak real estate market. The vacancy rate here is 64.1%, which is higher than 99.5% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
In addition, unpopulated, and rural, the neighborhood is one of the least crowded neighborhoods in all of America. If you like open space, no traffic, and lots of room, this neighborhood may be just what you are looking for. According to NeighborhoodScout's leading research, this neighborhood is less densely populated than 96.7% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 98.7% of all American neighborhoods. This is truly a unique cultural characteristic of this neighborhood.
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 11.1% of residents here. This is a higher proportion of walking commuters than we found in 95.5% of American neighborhoods. Get ready to put on your walking shoes if you move here!
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Polish ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 11.2% of this neighborhood's residents have Polish ancestry.
is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 10.8% 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 98.2% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 Laporte are middle-income, making it a moderate income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 51.7% 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.
The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.
In the neighborhood, 34.3% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional 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 25.9% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (25.3%), and 10.9% in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions.
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 93.2% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Italian, Polish and Spanish.
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 Laporte, PA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (19.9%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (15.4%), and residents who report English roots (12.6%), and some of the residents are also of Polish ancestry (11.2%), along with some Italian ancestry residents (6.6%), 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 (43.6% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (63.4%) 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 (14.1%) and 11.1% of residents also hop out the door and walk to work 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.