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.
Boerum Hill South median real estate price is $3,108,496, which is more expensive than 98.4% of the neighborhoods in New York and 99.6% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Boerum Hill South is currently $5,681, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 95.3% of the neighborhoods in New York.
Boerum Hill South is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Brooklyn, New York.
Boerum Hill South real estate is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to medium sized (three or four 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 Boerum Hill 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 2000 and the present.
Home and apartment vacancy rates are 9.3% in Boerum Hill South. NeighborhoodScout analysis shows that this rate is lower than 41.7% of the neighborhoods in the nation, approximately near the middle range for vacancies.
Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics
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 Brooklyn, the Boerum Hill South neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
People
Of note is NeighborhoodScout's research finding that the Boerum Hill South neighborhood has some of the lowest rates of children living in poverty of any neighborhood in the United States. In a nation where approximately 1 in 4 children are living in poverty, the Boerum Hill South community truly stands out from the rest in this regard.
Modes of Transportation
In the Boerum Hill South neighborhood, 52.3% of people ride the train to work each day. This is a very high percentage compared to most places. In fact, NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that this is a higher level of train ridership than in 99.5% of the neighborhoods in America.
Also, more people in Boerum Hill South choose to walk to work each day (15.8%) 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.
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 Boerum Hill South neighborhood have a highly unusual car ownership. 62.1% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 99.3% 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 63,977 people per square mile, it is more densely populated than 99.0% 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 Boerum Hill South neighborhood is one of the most walkable neighborhoods in America.
In addition, the real estate in the Boerum Hill South neighborhood really stands out in the way it looks for a unique reason: this neighborhood has a higher proportion of apartment complexes or high-rise apartments than nearly every neighborhood in the country. Most neighborhoods are a mixture of real estate and housing types, but here it is almost entirely dominated by big apartment buildings and complexes. In fact, 73.9% of the real estate here is classified as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments, which is more than is found in 95.7% of American neighborhoods.
Occupations
The Boerum Hill South neighborhood has a higher proportion of its residents employed as executives, managers and professionals than 96.0% of the neighborhoods in America. In fact, 71.0% of the employed people here make a living as an executive, a manager, or other professional. With such a high concentration, this truly shapes the character of this neighborhood, and to a large degree defines what this neighborhood is about.
Furthermore, with 1.6% of employed workers living in the Boerum Hill South neighborhood active in the military, this neighborhood has the distinction of having a higher proportion of people in the military than 95.5% of American neighborhoods. This is a major shaper of the neighborhood's culture and character.
Diversity
Did you know that the Boerum Hill South neighborhood has more Jamaican and Swiss ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 10.9% of this neighborhood's residents have Jamaican ancestry and 2.8% have Swiss ancestry.
Boerum Hill South is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 4.2% 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 96.9% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 Boerum Hill South neighborhood in Brooklyn are wealthy, making it among the 15% highest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 85.2% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 0.0% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 100.0% of America'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 Boerum Hill South neighborhood, 71.0% 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 16.1% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (7.6%), and 5.2% in manufacturing and laborer 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 Boerum Hill South neighborhood is English, spoken by 75.1% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French.
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 Boerum Hill South neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Puerto Rican (16.1%). There are also a number of people of Jamaican ancestry (10.9%), and residents who report Irish roots (9.6%), and some of the residents are also of English ancestry (9.3%), along with some Asian ancestry residents (8.5%), among others. In addition, 14.7% 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 Boerum Hill South neighborhood spend between 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (38.4% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.
Here most residents (52.3%) take the train to get to work. In addition, quite a number also hop out the door and walk to work to get to work (15.8%) and 10.0% of residents also ride the bus for their daily commute. This neighborhood is distinguished by the high number of residents who take the train to work each day, which can be a very good way to get to work at a lower cost and with less pollution.
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.
