Refugio is a very small town located in the state of Texas. With a population of 2,757 people and just one neighborhood, Refugio is the 551st largest community in Texas.
Unlike some towns where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Refugio is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Refugio is a town of service providers, sales and office workers, and construction workers and builders. There are especially a lot of people living in Refugio who work in office and administrative support (16.24%), food service (13.39%), and healthcare suport services (11.71%).
Being a small town, Refugio does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
The citizens of Refugio have a very low rate of college education: just 7.95% of people over 25 have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree, compared to a national average of 21.84% for all cities.
The per capita income in Refugio in 2022 was $24,603, which is lower middle income relative to Texas and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $98,412 for a family of four. However, Refugio contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Refugio also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 30.69% of its population below the federal poverty line.
Refugio is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Refugio home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. People of Hispanic or Latino origin are the most prevalent group in Refugio, accounting for 57.29% of the town’s residents (people of Hispanic or Latino origin can be of any race). The greatest number of Refugio residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Refugio include German, Irish, Italian, English, and French.
The most common language spoken in Refugio is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Italian.
When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
Vacant homes and apartments are a significant characteristic of this neighborhood. In fact, with 32.6% of the residential real estate vacant, the neighborhood claims the distinction of having a higher vacancy rate than 95.7% of the neighborhoods in America. This can either be because much of the property is seasonally occupied, like in many vacation areas, or that much of the real estate is more permanently abandoned.
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 95.0% of the neighborhoods in America.
NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research revealed that 93.4% of the adult residents in the neighborhood do not have a 4-year college degree, which is a lower rate of college graduated adults than found in 95.6% of the neighborhoods in America.
In addition, there is an especially high percentage of incarcerated people (0.7%) living in the neighborhood.
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 Refugio are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 84.6% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 43.4% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 91.0% of U.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, 32.2% of the working population is employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations, with 28.8% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (26.6%), and 10.9% in executive, management, and professional occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 70.9% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (28.1%).
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 Refugio, TX, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Mexican (49.1%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (10.8%), and residents who report Irish roots (10.0%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (3.2%), along with some English 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 under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (53.9% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (77.5%) 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 (12.7%) and 7.5% 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.