Portland Southwest median real estate price is $805,943, which is more expensive than 92.0% of the neighborhoods in Maine and 83.1% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Portland Southwest is currently $2,673, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 93.3% of the neighborhoods in Maine.
Portland Southwest is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Portland, Maine.
Portland Southwest real estate is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to medium sized (three or four bedroom) small apartment buildings and apartment complexes/high-rise apartments. Most of the residential real estate is renter occupied. Many of the residences in the Portland Southwest 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.
Portland Southwest has a 11.0% vacancy rate, which is well above average compared to other U.S. neighborhoods (higher than 67.0% of American neighborhoods). A relatively large percentage of housing here is seasonally occupied (8.0%), which can occur in some markets dominated by colleges or vacation homes. If you live here year round, you will find many of the homes or apartments are empty for all or a portion of the year.
Many things matter about a neighborhood, but the first thing most people notice is the way a neighborhood looks and its particular character. For example, one might notice whether the buildings all date from a certain time period or whether shop signs are in multiple languages. This particular neighborhood in Portland, the Portland Southwest neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
The first thing that you'll notice if you moved to this neighborhood is that an astounding 3.9% of the households are same sex couples. According to NeighborhoodScout's analysis, this is a higher proportion of same sex households than in 99.7% of the neighborhoods in America. This is one indicator that this neighborhood is likely a gay-friendly neighborhood. So if you are looking for such a neighborhood, the Portland Southwest neighborhood should definitely be on your list of places to consider.
In addition, with a nice mix of college students, safety from crime, and decent walkability, the Portland Southwest neighborhood rates highly as a college student friendly place to live, and one that college students and their parents may want to consider. NeighborhoodScout's analysis shows that it rates more highly for a good place for college students to live than 89.8% of the neighborhoods in ME. This often also means that the area has certain amenities and services geared towards college students, from undergraduates to graduate students. In addition to being an excellent choice for college students, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for urban sophisticates and young, single professionals.
More people in Portland Southwest choose to walk to work each day (25.8%) than almost any neighborhood in America. If you are attracted to the idea of being able to walk to work, this neighborhood could be a good choice.
Also, if your dream is to be able to ride your bike to work each day, look no further than this unique neighborhood. With 5.0% of residents in the Portland Southwest neighborhood commuting on a bicycle to and from work daily, this neighborhood has more bicycle commuters than 98.3% of all neighborhoods in the U.S., according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis.
Finally, in the Portland Southwest neighborhood, many people's commute means walking from the bedroom to the home office. NeighborhoodScout's analysis found that 32.4% of residents worked from home. This may not seem like a large number, but Scout's research shows that this is a higher percentage of people working from home than 96.3% of the neighborhoods in America. Often people who work from home are engaged in the creative or technological economy, such as is found in areas around Boston, and in Silicon Valley. Other times, people may be engaged in other businesses like trading stocks from home, or running a small beauty salon.
If you like crowded places, then you will probably enjoy the the Portland Southwest neighborhood. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive data analysis, this neighborhood is more densely populated than 95.2% of neighborhoods in the U.S., with 21,361 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 Portland Southwest neighborhood is one of the most walkable neighborhoods in America.
In addition, 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 Portland Southwest 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, 46.8% of the real estate here are small 2, 3, or 4 unit apartment buildings, which is a higher proportion than found in 98.1% of America's neighborhoods.
Furthermore, if you find historic homes and neighborhoods attractive, you love the details, the history, and the charm, then you are sure to be interested in this neighborhood. With 69.6% of the residential real estate in the Portland Southwest neighborhood built no later than 1939, and some built considerably earlier, this neighborhood has a greater concentration of historic residences than 98.6% of all neighborhoods in America. In this regard, this neighborhood truly stands out as special.
Did you know that the Portland Southwest neighborhood has more Sub-Saharan African and French Canadian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 22.5% of this neighborhood's residents have Sub-Saharan African ancestry and 5.5% have French Canadian ancestry.
Portland Southwest is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 6.7% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak African languages at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 99.2% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 Portland Southwest neighborhood in Portland are middle-income, making it a moderate income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 58.6% of the neighborhoods in America. With 33.8% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 85.1% 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 Portland Southwest neighborhood, 63.5% 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 25.3% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (7.2%), and 3.9% 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 Portland Southwest neighborhood is English, spoken by 84.0% of households. Other important languages spoken here include African languages and Italian.
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 Portland Southwest neighborhood in Portland, ME, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Sub-Saharan African (22.5%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (13.1%), and residents who report Irish roots (12.7%), and some of the residents are also of German ancestry (10.5%), along with some Asian ancestry residents (7.2%), among others. In addition, 18.2% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
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 Portland Southwest neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (48.8% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (35.9%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also hop out the door and walk to work to get to work (25.8%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.
