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.
Woodhaven / The Hills of Matchaponix median real estate price is $714,447, which is more expensive than 76.8% of the neighborhoods in New Jersey and 83.0% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Woodhaven / The Hills of Matchaponix is currently $2,887, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 58.4% of New Jersey neighborhoods.
Woodhaven / The Hills of Matchaponix is a rural neighborhood (based on population density) located in Old Bridge, New Jersey.
Woodhaven / The Hills of Matchaponix real estate is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to medium sized (three or four bedroom) single-family homes and small apartment buildings. Most of the residential real estate is occupied by a mixture of owners and renters. Many of the residences in the Woodhaven / The Hills of Matchaponix neighborhood are newer, built in 2000 or more recently. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.
In Woodhaven / The Hills of Matchaponix, the current vacancy rate is 2.9%, which is a lower rate of vacancies than 80.8% of all neighborhoods in the U.S. This means that the housing supply in Woodhaven / The Hills of Matchaponix is very tight compared to the demand for property here.
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.
Length of Commute
Regardless of the means by which residents commute, this neighborhood has a length of commute that is notable. Long commutes can be brutal. They take time, money, and energy, leaving less of you for yourself and your family. The residents of the Woodhaven / The Hills of Matchaponix neighborhood unfortunately have the distinction of having, on average, a longer commute than most any neighborhood in America. 12.8% of commuters here travel more than one hour just one-way to work. That is more than two hours per day. This percentage with two-hour + round-trip commutes is higher than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.6% of all neighborhoods in America.
Modes of Transportation
More people ride the bus in this neighborhood each day to get to work than 95.5% of U.S. neighborhoods.
People
If you're planning where to retire, the Woodhaven / The Hills of Matchaponix neighborhood in Old Bridge is a great option to consider. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive retirement dream area analysis, it's peaceful and quiet, has above average safety ratings compared to other neighborhoods in NJ, offers a wide range of housing options, and has already attracted an enviable mix of college educated seniors. This neighborhood ranks as better for retirement living than 88.5% of the neighborhoods in New Jersey. If you are considering retiring to New Jersey, this is a good neighborhood to look at.
Diversity
Did you know that the Woodhaven / The Hills of Matchaponix neighborhood has more Ukrainian and Portuguese ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 2.3% of this neighborhood's residents have Ukrainian ancestry and 2.9% have Portuguese ancestry.
Woodhaven / The Hills of Matchaponix is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 2.2% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Russian at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 98.8% 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 Woodhaven / The Hills of Matchaponix neighborhood in Old Bridge are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 80.1% of the neighborhoods in America. With 12.3% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 54.5% 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 Woodhaven / The Hills of Matchaponix neighborhood, 40.3% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 23.6% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (21.0%), and 15.1% 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 Woodhaven / The Hills of Matchaponix neighborhood is English, spoken by 75.0% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Langs. of India, Spanish, Polish and Russian.
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 Woodhaven / The Hills of Matchaponix neighborhood in Old Bridge, NJ, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Asian (16.0%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (15.0%), and residents who report Italian roots (14.6%), and some of the residents are also of German ancestry (8.1%), along with some Puerto Rican ancestry residents (7.7%), among others. In addition, 20.3% 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 Woodhaven / The Hills of Matchaponix neighborhood spend between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (30.7% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.
Here most residents (62.7%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also ride the bus to get to work (11.2%) and 9.2% of residents also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors 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.
