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Real Estate Prices & Overview

Chinatown South median real estate price is $2,421,975, which is more expensive than 96.6% of the neighborhoods in California and 99.3% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.

The average rental price in Chinatown South is currently $1,567, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 95.2% of California neighborhoods.

Chinatown South is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in San Francisco, California.

Chinatown South real estate is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to large (four, five or more bedroom) apartment complexes/high-rise apartments and small apartment buildings. Most of the residential real estate is renter occupied. Many of the residences in the Chinatown South neighborhood are relatively historic, built no later than 1939, and in some cases, quite a bit earlier. A number of residences were also built between 1940 and 1969.

Chinatown South has a 10.9% vacancy rate, which is well above average compared to other U.S. neighborhoods (higher than 65.2% of American neighborhoods). Most vacant housing here is vacant year round. This could either signal that there is a weak demand for real estate in the neighborhood or that large amount of new housing has been built and not yet occupied. Either way, if you live here, you may find many of the homes or apartments are empty.

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.

Car Ownership

Most American households own a car or other vehicle. Many own two cars or perhaps three. In the United States, it is useful to have an automobile not only for commuting, but also for shopping and getting to other services one needs. But NeighborhoodScout's analysis revealed that households in the Chinatown South neighborhood have a highly unusual car ownership. 73.4% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 99.7% of U.S. neighborhoods.

Real Estate

What you'll find when you visit or move to this neighborhood is one of the most crowded neighborhoods in all of America. With an incredible 72,758 people per square mile, it is more densely populated than 99.2% of America's neighborhoods. Being a walkable neighborhood can help increase property values for the simple reason that people enjoy it and value it. To put it plainly, despite our love affair with the automobile, American's enjoy taking to the streets, sidewalks, paths, and courtyards of a place to get a coffee, relax, and take in the sights and sounds. And, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive and first quantitative walkable score index, the Chinatown South neighborhood is one of the most walkable neighborhoods in America.

In addition, renter-occupied real estate is dominant in the Chinatown South neighborhood. The percentage of rental real estate here, according to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, is 98.5%, which is higher than 98.9% of the neighborhoods in America. If you were to buy and live in the property you bought here, you would be almost alone in doing so.

Furthermore, the Chinatown South neighborhood is very unique in that it has one of the highest proportions of one, two, or no bedroom real estate of any neighborhood in America. Most neighborhoods have a mixture of home or apartment sizes from small to large, but here the concentration of studios and other small living spaces is at near-record heights. With 92.6% of the real estate here of this small size, this most assuredly is a notable feature that makes this neighborhood unique, along with just a handful of other neighborhoods in the U.S. that share this characteristic.

Also of note, one of the really unique and interesting things about the look and setting of the Chinatown South neighborhood is that it is almost entirely dominated by large apartment buildings, such as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments. 82.4% of the residential real estate here is classified as such. This puts this neighborhood on the map as having a higher proportion of large apartment buildings than 97.1% of all neighborhoods in America.

Finally, do you watch 'This Old House' on Public Television? Do you love the idea of fixing up a Colonial or Victorian era home, complete with the charm of yesteryear? Do you like to stroll or drive streets lined with gracious older residences? If you found yourself nodding yes to any of these questions, you are going to be interested in this unique neighborhood. The Chinatown South neighborhood stands out on a national scale for the sheer concentration of historic residences it contains: 65.3% of the residential real estate here was built from 1939 or earlier, some much earlier. This is a greater concentration of historic homes than 97.7% of the neighborhoods in the United States.

Modes of Transportation

Our research revealed that more commuters here take the bus to work (31.0% ride the bus) than 99.7% of all American neighborhoods. If you like the idea of leaving your car and home and hopping the bus to work, this might be a good neighborhood for you to consider.

Also, in the Chinatown South 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 38.6% of residents here. This is a higher proportion of walking commuters than we found in 99.5% of American neighborhoods. Get ready to put on your walking shoes if you move here!

Diversity

Did you know that the Chinatown South neighborhood has more Asian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 81.2% of this neighborhood's residents have Asian ancestry.

Chinatown South is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 73.0% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Chinese at home. This is a higher percentage than 100.0% of all U.S. neighborhoods.

Migration / Stability

Do you like to be surrounded by people from all over the country or world, with different perspectives and life experiences? Or do you instead prefer to be in a neighborhood where most residents have lived there for a long time, creating a sense of cohesiveness? NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that this neighborhood stands out among American neighborhoods for the uniqueness of the mobility of its residents. What is interesting to note, is that the Chinatown South neighborhood has a greater percentage of residents born in another country (72.6%) than are found in 99.8% of all U.S. neighborhoods.

The Neighbors

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 Chinatown South neighborhood in San Francisco are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 89.1% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 41.5% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 89.9% of U.S. neighborhoods.

What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.

In the Chinatown South neighborhood, 36.3% 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 29.5% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (18.3%), and 15.9% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.

Languages

The most common language spoken in the Chinatown South neighborhood is Chinese, spoken by 73.0% of households. Some people also speak English (20.6%).

Ethnicity / Ancestry

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 Chinatown South neighborhood in San Francisco, CA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Asian (81.2%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (3.4%), and residents who report South American roots (1.6%), and some of the residents are also of German ancestry (1.1%), along with some Irish ancestry residents (1.1%), among others. In addition, 72.6% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.

Getting to Work

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 Chinatown South neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (36.2% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.

Here most residents (38.6%) hop out the door and walk to work to get to work. In addition, quite a number also ride the bus to get to work (31.0%) and 5.8% of residents also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors for their daily commute. This is a special neighborhood for the number of people who walk to work. Combining exercise, low cost, and reduced pollution, plus the chance to see your neighbors, walking to work is fairly uncommon in America but likely to increase as people try to reduce their dependence on automobiles, and this neighborhood offers that opportunity today.


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