What do we mean by a neighborhood?
NeighborhoodScout® uses the official government designation for neighborhoods - the census tract.
Census tracts are small, relatively permanent subdivisions of a county that are defined by the U.S. Census Bureau in conjunction with local authorities all across the country to define real neighborhoods that are bounded to contain areas with homogeneous population characteristics (including economic status, lifestyle, and living conditions). Census tracts usually have 4,000 persons, but can range between 1,500 and 8,000 persons. This is the most fine-grained area for which detailed information is made available from the government, to protect the individual privacy of each of us. Because census tracts are based on population, they vary in size depending on the density of settlement. In urban areas, they are small, and in rural areas they can cover an entire small town or even a few small towns in very rural areas.
Since census tracts are subdivisions of a county, we did a spatial overlay of the census tracts onto city and town boundaries using a geographic information system to properly assign each census tract to its appropriate city or town. Then we named each census tract to the local colloquially recognized neighborhood name for that spot (e.g., Boston, MA (Dorchester). If there was not a name available, we named the census tract by the largest street intersection in the census tract (e.g., Worcester, MA (Lincoln St/Plantation St)
Why we don't use Zip Codes as neighborhoods
Zip codes were developed by the Postal Service for the purpose of delivering mail, but were never intended to define coherent neighborhoods. In addition, Zip Codes can have as many as 10 distinctly different census tracts contained within them. When distinct census tracts are blended together in a single Zip Code, the data reflects their average conditions and often gives a false sense of the area. The result is that potentially great matching neighborhoods can be missed, and erroneous matches can also be produced and delivered to you.
Using census tracts makes great matches possible, and helps people find the areas that are best for them and their families. Because we are committed to providing the highest possible quality and finding the neighborhoods that best meet your criteria, we use census tracts. And, as always, we show you the actual street map of the neighborhood so you know exactly where your best matching neighborhood is located.
What is a Condition Alert?
A condition alert is a condition in the neighborhood that triggers an alert. NeighborhoodScout contains condition alerts to highlight conditions that are extreme, whether good or bad. This helps answer crucial questions about the state of the neighborhood being evaluated, such as:
What are the risks of violent crime here?
Is the risk of home break-ins or other property crimes increasing?
Does real estate here hold its value?
Are the trends in local vacancies or unemployment concerning?
...and dozens more.
Information at a glance that you need to know to invest, appraise or finance a property.
Mount Bowdoin median real estate price is $767,996, which is more expensive than 56.8% of the neighborhoods in Massachusetts and 82.3% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Mount Bowdoin is currently $3,041, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 53.0% of Massachusetts neighborhoods.
Mount Bowdoin is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Boston, Massachusetts.
Mount Bowdoin real estate is primarily made up of medium sized (three or four bedroom) to small (studio to two bedroom) small apartment buildings and single-family homes. Most of the residential real estate is renter occupied. Many of the residences in the Mount Bowdoin 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 1970 and 1999.
Mount Bowdoin has a 11.0% vacancy rate, which is well above average compared to other U.S. neighborhoods (higher than 67.0% 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
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.
Real Estate
Three-deckers, duplexes, old Victorian homes cut up into apartments. Independent stores on the corner selling pizza. These are some of the hallmarks of neighborhoods with lots of small 2, 3, and 4 unit apartment buildings. The Mount Bowdoin neighborhood really stands out in this regard, however, as it is dominated by such small apartment buildings more than nearly any other neighborhood in America. This is a stunning visual and lifestyle example of this type of neighborhood. In fact, 60.5% of the real estate here are small 2, 3, or 4 unit apartment buildings, which is a higher proportion than found in 99.3% of America's neighborhoods.
In addition, if you like crowded places, then you will probably enjoy the the Mount Bowdoin neighborhood. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive data analysis, this neighborhood is more densely populated than 95.6% of neighborhoods in the U.S., with 22,988 people per square mile living here. 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 Mount Bowdoin neighborhood is one of the most walkable neighborhoods in America.
Modes of Transportation
More people ride the bus in this neighborhood each day to get to work than 98.5% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Also, if you like to ride the train to work, this neighborhood may be for you. NeighborhoodScout's research revealed that 9.2% of the Mount Bowdoin neighborhood's commuters ride the train to and from work each day, which is more than we found in 95.1% of America's neighborhoods.
People
Single parenting is hard. But you don't have to tell the Mount Bowdoin neighborhood about it; they already know. 21.8% of this neighborhood's households are run by single mothers, which is a higher concentration than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.9% of American neighborhoods. Further NeighborhoodScout research showed strong statistical correlations among high rates of children living in single parent households, and neighborhood crime, particularly violent crime, neighborhood poverty, and, importantly, the percentage of low weight births and rates of infant mortality.
Diversity
Did you know that the Mount Bowdoin neighborhood has more Dominican and Jamaican ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 26.1% of this neighborhood's residents have Dominican ancestry and 7.5% have Jamaican ancestry.
Mount Bowdoin is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 9.2% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak French at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 99.0% of the neighborhoods in America.
The Neighbors
How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.
The neighbors in the Mount Bowdoin neighborhood in Boston are middle-income, making it a moderate income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 48.6% of the neighborhoods in America. With 12.9% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 56.7% 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 Mount Bowdoin neighborhood, 29.6% 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 executive, management, and professional occupations, with 29.0% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (21.0%), and 20.5% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
Languages
The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the Mount Bowdoin neighborhood is English, spoken by 56.5% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish, French, Portuguese and African languages.
Ethnicity / Ancestry
Boston's Beacon Hill blue-blood streets, Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish enclaves, Los Angeles' Persian neighborhoods. Each has its own culture derived primarily from the ancestries and culture of the residents who call these neighborhoods home. Likewise, each neighborhood in America has its own culture – some more unique than others – based on lifestyle, occupations, the types of households – and importantly – on the ethnicities and ancestries of the people who live in the neighborhood. Understanding where people came from, who their grandparents or great-grandparents were, can help you understand how a neighborhood is today.
In the Mount Bowdoin neighborhood in Boston, MA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Dominican (26.1%). There are also a number of people of Sub-Saharan African ancestry (10.3%), and residents who report Jamaican roots (7.5%), and some of the residents are also of Puerto Rican ancestry (4.8%), along with some Haitian ancestry residents (2.3%), among others. In addition, 41.5% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
Getting to Work
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 Mount Bowdoin neighborhood spend between 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (34.5% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.
Here most residents (50.5%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also ride the bus to get to work (18.6%) and 9.2% of residents also take the train 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.
SCOUT’s patented match algorithm identifies the most similar neighborhoods to a subject location, and quantifies the similarity to the subject location. This allows analysts to identify the most similar neighborhoods in a local market area for appraisals, investments, and research.
The algorithm uses 273 neighborhood conditions, identifies the dominant dimensions underlying the conditions and calculates the similarity. This captures the true culture and character of locations, economic conditions, and trends.
The closer to 100% means the locations are nearly identical. 80% is a very good, but not excellent match, and so forth.
