Wickham's population is divided roughly between three groups. The first is the population of the Old Town. Most of these families have lived in the town since before Ikibomot changed the face of the area. These are old Yankee families, some of whose roots in the area go back nearly four centuries. While many of them are less than completely happy with the changes brought about by the corporation's presence, they accept it as necessary to keep the area's economy healthy. With typical Yankee shrewdness, some of the old natives have already turned the presence of the newcomers to a quite profitable situation for themselves.
The second group is the Ikibomot community, including the company's scientists, executives, and specialists. These tend to be a cohesive group, many of them having moved here with their families from other parts of the United States, Europe or Japan, and finding comfort in the familiarity of their fellow Ikibomot employees. The students at the high school belong to this group to some extent, although they do mingle with the townspeople. Wickham has its own high school, and there is a rivalry (often friendly, but sometimes not) between the Ikibomot and Wickham High students.
The third, and most numerous, segment of Wickham's population is the residents of the New Town who make up the ordinary citizenship. These are the people holding the mundane, rank-and-file jobs at Ikibomot, and those who work in the New Town's stores and service jobs, providing the needs of the community. Most of these people moved to Wickham from other New England locations when the Ikibomot facility precipitated the town's new economic boom. Although many of them draw their paychecks from Ikibomot, these people think of themselves as just another American town more than they identify with either Ikibomot or historic Wickham.