Downtown Berkeley South median real estate price is $1,100,232, which is more expensive than 65.6% of the neighborhoods in California and 92.1% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Downtown Berkeley South is currently $3,298, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 49.4% of California neighborhoods.
Downtown Berkeley South is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Berkeley, California.
Downtown Berkeley 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 Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood are older, well-established, built between 1940 and 1969. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.
Vacant apartments or homes are a major fact of life in Downtown Berkeley South. The current real estate vacancy rate here is 29.2%. This is higher than the rate of vacancies in 94.8% 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.
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.
Of note is NeighborhoodScout's research finding that the Downtown Berkeley 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 Downtown Berkeley South community truly stands out from the rest in this regard.
In addition, an extraordinary 46.1% of the residents of the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood are currently enrolled in college. This is such a large part of life in this neighborhood that the neighborhood changes a great deal with the change of semesters and is far quieter during the summer when many students are away.
In the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood, walking to work is a real option for many. In fact, NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research reveals walking to and from work is the chosen way to commute for 35.0% of residents here. This is a higher proportion of walking commuters than we found in 99.4% of American neighborhoods. Get ready to put on your walking shoes if you move here!
Also, in the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood, 15.8% 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 96.8% of the neighborhoods in America.
The Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood is very unique in that it has one of the highest proportions of one, two, or no bedroom real estate of any neighborhood in America. Most neighborhoods have a mixture of home or apartment sizes from small to large, but here the concentration of studios and other small living spaces is at near-record heights. With 96.3% of the real estate here of this small size, this most assuredly is a notable feature that makes this neighborhood unique, along with just a handful of other neighborhoods in the U.S. that share this characteristic.
In addition, renter-occupied real estate is dominant in the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood. The percentage of rental real estate here, according to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, is 98.6%, which is higher than 98.9% of the neighborhoods in America. If you were to buy and live in the property you bought here, you would be almost alone in doing so.
Furthermore, the real estate in the Downtown Berkeley 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, 88.8% of the real estate here is classified as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments, which is more than is found in 98.0% of American neighborhoods.
Also of note, the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood is very densely populated compared to most U.S. neighborhoods. In fact, with 37,864 persons per square mile in the neighborhood, it is more packed with people than 97.8% of the nation's neighborhoods.
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 Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood have a highly unusual car ownership. 43.7% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 98.3% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Did you know that the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood has more Asian and Romanian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 54.1% of this neighborhood's residents have Asian ancestry and 2.3% have Romanian ancestry.
Downtown Berkeley South is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 27.1% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Chinese at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 99.5% of the neighborhoods in America.
Do you like to be surrounded by people from all over the country or world, with different perspectives and life experiences? Or do you instead prefer to be in a neighborhood where most residents have lived there for a long time, creating a sense of cohesiveness? NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that this neighborhood stands out among American neighborhoods for the uniqueness of the mobility of its residents. In the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood, a greater proportion of the residents living here today did not live here five years ago than is found in 98.7% of U.S. Neighborhoods. This neighborhood, more than almost any other in America, has new residents from other areas. What is also interesting to note, is that the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood has a greater percentage of residents born in another country (44.0%) than are found in 95.6% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
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 Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood in Berkeley are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 90.6% of U.S. neighborhoods. 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 Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood, 66.0% 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 15.8% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (9.6%), and 8.7% 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 Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood is English, spoken by 51.5% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese, Langs. of India, Tagalog (the first language of the Philippine region) and Russian.
Ethnicity / Ancestry
Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.
In the Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood in Berkeley, CA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Asian (54.1%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (5.6%), and residents who report Polish roots (4.9%), and some of the residents are also of Irish ancestry (4.1%), along with some German ancestry residents (3.7%), among others. In addition, 44.0% 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 Downtown Berkeley South neighborhood spend between 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (40.2% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.
Here most residents (35.0%) hop out the door and walk to work to get to work. In addition, quite a number also drive alone in a private automobile to get to work (18.7%) and 15.8% of residents also take the train for their daily commute. This is a special neighborhood for the number of people who walk to work. Combining exercise, low cost, and reduced pollution, plus the chance to see your neighbors, walking to work is fairly uncommon in America but likely to increase as people try to reduce their dependence on automobiles, and this neighborhood offers that opportunity today.
