Overview of Ipswich, MA

The US census reports data for both Ipswich CDP (census designated place) and Ipswich town. Ipswich CDP exists within the town of Ipswich, I believe it represents the downtown portion of Ipswich town. This rather confusing situation makes it difficult to check for constancy across non-guaranteed data providers such as Wikipedia and city-data.com. City-data pulls all its data on Ipswich, MA from the CDP profiles. Wikipedia's largest article on Ipswich pulls from the larger town. So, as always, the data reported here is the best we can find on the web, but it isn't guaranteed by any means.

Geography: Ipswich is a low lying area which tapers into complex and a sandy shore-line on the East. The Ipswich river winds North-East (from the Bradly Palmer state park area) through the center of downtown, into marshlands and finally out to the ocean. Marshlands veined by tiny tributaries radiate out from the Ipswich River, the Eagle Hill river to the north of the Ipswich River and the intricate Castle Neck river system to the south. A few striking hills rise dramatically out from the otherwise flat marshy terrain.

Sources: Google maps, Ipswich town hall tax map, Wikipedia MA town highlight.

Physical population patterns: There are over 13,000 people living in Ipswich with a general population density of 400/sq. mile (source: citytowninfo.com, Wikipedia). The town appears to be most densely populated where Market St. (becomes Topsfield Rd.) meets Rt. 1A/133. This population cluster runs densely outward from the Ipswich river, especially outward the North/Northwestern bank. Another dense population cluster can be found North and East of downtown, just above the mouth of Ipswich River (Google Maps. Garnered from street information + satalite view).

About the Residents:

Ancestry:
The population is overwhelmingly composed of European Americans. Over a third trace their linage to the Britsh Isles (Irish: 21.5%, English: 18.2%). Significant portions identify their ancestry as Italian, Polish and French Canadia, Greek and German.

Religion:
According to Sperlings Best Places, "64.47% of the people in Ipswich, MA are religious, meaning they affiliate with a religion. 50.16% are Catholic; 5.18% are Protestant; 0.20% are LDS; 5.63% are another Christian faith; 3.00% in Ipswich, MA are Jewish; 0.03% are an eastern faith; 0.26% affilite with Islam." (source).

Economics:
CityTownInfo reports that in 1999 the median income of Ipswich (town) was $74,931 (Wikipedia reports this number also). City-info reported $40,482 for Ipswich, CPD for the year 2000. This striking difference suggests what is intuitive: the very rich live near the coast, outside the CPD, wheras the poor are mostly clustered in the downtown area (indeed, about 60% of the total population living below the poverty line are in the small CPD area).

7.1% (921) live at or below the poverty line (the average for the whole state is 9.9%). Over half of these poor live in or near the downtown CPD area. City-data gives us a detailed picture of this downtown subset. The majority of them are under 18 and do not work. I can only assume the majority belong to the single mothers (56% of total heads of poor households), two-parent households(39.5%), or single father(4.9%) households living at or below the threshold. These poor make up 12.8% of the CPD population(source).



Sources:
US Census Beareau
City-Data.com
CityTownInfo.com
Wikipedia
Ipswich Town Hall Website
Ipswichma.com