Median real estate price in the Borough Center of Wilkinsburg is $98,448, which is less expensive than 92.1% of Pennsylvania neighborhoods and 94.0% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
The average rental price in Wilkinsburg Borough Center is currently $1,213, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 79.6% of Pennsylvania neighborhoods.
Wilkinsburg Borough Center is an urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania.
Real estate in the Borough Center of Wilkinsburg, PA is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to medium sized (three or four bedroom) small apartment buildings and single-family homes. Most of the residential real estate is renter occupied. Many of the residences in the Borough Center 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.
Vacant apartments or homes are a major fact of life in Wilkinsburg Borough Center. The current real estate vacancy rate here is 33.7%. This is higher than the rate of vacancies in 96.0% of all U.S. neighborhoods. In addition, most vacant housing here is vacant year round. This can sometimes be the case in neighborhoods dominated by new construction that is not yet occupied. But often neighborhoods with vacancy rates this high are places that can be plagued by a protracted vacancy problem. If you live here, you may find that a number of buildings in your neighborhood are actually empty.
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.
Modes of Transportation
More people ride the bus in this neighborhood each day to get to work than 99.7% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Also, our research shows that more people carpool to work here in the Wilkinsburg Borough Center (24.2%) than in 96.6% of the neighborhoods in America.
Length of Commute
Whether walking, biking, riding, or driving, the length of one's commute is an important factor for one's quality of life. The Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood stands out for its commute length, according to NeighborhoodScout's analysis. Long commutes can be brutal. They take time, money, and energy, leaving less of you for yourself and your family. The residents of the Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood unfortunately have the distinction of having, on average, a longer commute than most any neighborhood in America. 15.8% 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 98.8% of all neighborhoods in America.
Occupations
There are more people living in the Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood employed as sales and service workers (57.7%) than almost any neighborhood in the country. From fast-food service workers to major sales accounts, sales and service workers make up the largest proportion of our national employment picture. But despite that size and importance nationally, this neighborhood still stands out as unique due to the dominance of people living here who work in such occupations.
Real Estate
Corner bodegas, stores on the first floor and apartments above, former grand Victorian residences converted into apartments, three-deckers built shoulder-to-shoulder, duplexes. Such building types define the real estate of neighborhoods dominated by small 2, 3, and 4 unit apartment buildings. Many are in older core neighborhoods of Eastern and Midwestern cities, or historic town centers in their hinterlands. If you wax romantic about the look and feel of such neighborhoods, with fresh pizza, falafel and an independent florist at the corner, then you might find the Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood worth a close look. This neighborhood is an absolutely outstanding example of the dominance of small 2, 3, and 4 unit apartment buildings compared to neighborhoods across the nation, as they make up a substantial portion of this neighborhood's real estate stock. In fact, no less than 42.5% of the real estate here is made up of such dwellings, which is higher than 97.5% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
In addition, vacant homes and apartments are a significant characteristic of this neighborhood. In fact, with 33.7% of the residential real estate vacant, the Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood claims the distinction of having a higher vacancy rate than 96.0% of the neighborhoods in America. This can either be because much of the property is seasonally occupied, like in many vacation areas, or that much of the real estate is more permanently abandoned.
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 60.9% of the residential real estate in the Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood built no later than 1939, and some built considerably earlier, this neighborhood has a greater concentration of historic residences than 96.7% of all neighborhoods in America. In this regard, this neighborhood truly stands out as special.
Car Ownership
American households most often have a car, and regularly they have two or three. But households in the Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood buck this trend. 29.0% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.0% of U.S. neighborhoods.
People
There is an especially high percentage of incarcerated people (0.8%) living in the Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood.
Diversity
Did you know that the Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood has more Sub-Saharan African and African ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 13.7% of this neighborhood's residents have Sub-Saharan African ancestry and 7.8% have African ancestry.
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 Borough Center neighborhood in Wilkinsburg are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 90.0% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 40.8% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 89.5% of U.S. neighborhoods.
A neighborhood is far different if it is dominated by enlisted military personnel rather than people who earn their living by farming. It is also different if most of the neighbors are clerical support or managers. What is wonderful is the sheer diversity of neighborhoods, allowing you to find the type that fits your lifestyle and aspirations.
In the Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood, 42.3% 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 26.6% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (16.7%), and 14.4% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood is English, spoken by 97.9% of households.
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 Borough Center neighborhood in Wilkinsburg, PA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Sub-Saharan African (13.7%). There are also a number of people of African ancestry (7.8%), and residents who report German roots (5.7%), and some of the residents are also of Irish ancestry (4.1%), along with some English ancestry residents (4.0%), among others.
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 Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (39.9% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans. However, there is also a significant group of residents (15.8%) who commute over an hour in each direction.
Here most residents (30.9%) ride the bus to get to work. In addition, quite a number also drive alone in a private automobile to get to work (30.2%) and 24.2% of residents also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors for their daily commute. The bus provides a valuable service in the Borough Center neighborhood of Wilkinsburg by getting a lot of residents to and from work daily, reducing the costs of commuting and reducing some congestion on the roads as well.
