Community Types
Patchwork Nation consists of America’s 3,142 counties, divided into 11 community types on the basis of certain demographic characteristics, such as income level or racial composition. Learn which one best describes where you live.
Boom Towns
Eagle, CO
Midsize cities and smaller towns with well-balanced economies of affluence, education, and professional employment; growing ethnic diversity, some retired elderly with high incomes.
More about Boom Towns...
More about Eagle, CO...
Military Bastions
Hopkinsville, KY
High levels of employment in military or related government employment; often adjacent to major military installations, private military contractors, or have a history of military-dependent economies; middle income, transient, younger populations, with some trade and service workers in the local economy.
More about Military Bastions...
More about Hopkinsville, KY...
Campus and Careers
Ann Arbor, MI
High percentage of the population between 18-34, few retirees or elderly; includes university/college towns and locations with high employment in education and educational services; high levels of formal education; religious diversity, secularism.
More about Campus and Careers...
More about Ann Arbor, MI...
Minority Central
Baton Rouge, LA
Lower-income counties with large proportions of African-Americans and native Americans on Indian reservations; low population growth or steady population losses, high unemployment and poverty; low-end housing stock; African-American locales are concentrated within the Deep South.
More about Minority Central...
More about Baton Rouge, LA...
Emptying Nests
Clermont, FL
Middle-income, retirement age; and baby-boom populations; presence of evangelical and mainline Protestants, fewer Catholics, stable but not booming economies.
More about Emptying Nests...
More about Clermont, FL...
Monied 'Burbs
Los Alamos, NM
High-income counties, with high professional employment and formal education; high expenditures by consumers on new vehicles, luxury goods, property taxes, and charitable giving; midsize in terms of population and population density, primarily within metro areas; family age populations, low density housing; predominantly white, but with some Asian-American presence.
More about Monied 'Burbs...
More about Los Alamos, NM...
Evangelical Epicenters
Nixa, MO
Briskly growing small and midsize towns with family age populations; middle income with some affluent and poor; low incidence of mainline Protestant and Catholic churchgoers, higher incidence of evangelical adherents, particularly in the South and border states; Mormons in the West; some minority presence, chiefly blacks (in the South) and Latinos (in the West).
More about Evangelical Epicenters...
More about Nixa, MO...
Service Worker Centers
Lincoln City, OR
Midsize cities and smaller towns with very high percentages employed in trade and service businesses but not manufacturing or agriculture; many new residents, growing Latino populations; more Catholics and fewer Evangelicals or mainline Protestants.
More about Service Worker Centers...
More about Lincoln City, OR...
Immigration Nation
El Mirage, AZ
High percentages of Latinos and Asians; immigrants living in midsize to larger cities; moderately high levels of unemployment; Roman Catholic with sprinkling of religious diversity; lower income with moderate to high percentage in poverty.
More about Immigration Nation...
More about El Mirage, AZ...
Tractor Country
Sioux Center, IA
Predominantly white, smaller towns and more remote counties outside of metropolitan areas; low level of manufacturing employment, high levels of self-employment, employment in agriculture, as well as small-town retail and wholesale trade; Lutheran, Reformed, and mainline Protestant adherents predominate in the upper Midwest.
More about Tractor Country...
More about Sioux Center, IA...
Industrial Metropolis
Philadelphia, PA
Older Northeastern and Midwestern cities once dependent on manufacturing; diverse populations, including significant Jewish populations; some high-end residents in established historically wealthy neighborhoods, mixed with lower income populations.
More about Industrial Metropolis...
More about Philadelphia, PA...
