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.
United Center North median real estate price is $593,082, which is more expensive than 86.4% of the neighborhoods in Illinois and 71.8% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in United Center North is currently $2,308, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 65.6% of the neighborhoods in Illinois.
United Center North is an urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Chicago, Illinois.
United Center North 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 United Center North neighborhood are newer, built in 2000 or more recently. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.
Real estate vacancies in United Center North are 5.2%, which is lower than one will find in 63.7% of American neighborhoods. Demand for real estate in United Center North is above average for the U.S., and may signal some demand for either price increases or new construction of residential product for this neighborhood.
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 Chicago, the United Center North neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
Real Estate
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 United Center North 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, 52.6% of the real estate here are small 2, 3, or 4 unit apartment buildings, which is a higher proportion than found in 98.7% of America's neighborhoods.
In addition, renter-occupied real estate is dominant in the United Center North neighborhood. The percentage of rental real estate here, according to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, is 85.2%, which is higher than 95.4% 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.
Modes of Transportation
Our research revealed that more commuters here take the bus to work (19.4% ride the bus) than 98.7% of all American neighborhoods. If you like the idea of leaving your car and home and hopping the bus to work, this might be a good neighborhood for you to consider.
Also, if your dream is to be able to ride your bike to work each day, look no further than this unique neighborhood. With 3.8% of residents in the United Center North neighborhood commuting on a bicycle to and from work daily, this neighborhood has more bicycle commuters than 97.1% of all neighborhoods in the U.S., according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis.
Car Ownership
American households most often have a car, and regularly they have two or three. But households in the United Center North neighborhood buck this trend. 24.8% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 96.3% of U.S. neighborhoods.
People
One of the most interesting things about the United Center North neighborhood is that it has a greater concentration of residents who live alone than most all neighborhoods in America. With 50.0% of the households here made up of people living alone, NeighborhoodScout's research reveals that this is a larger proportion of people living alone than in 95.4% of the neighborhoods in America.
In addition, the United Center North neighborhood stands out for having an average per capita income lower than 95.3% of the neighborhoods in the United States.
Diversity
Did you know that the United Center North neighborhood has more Haitian and African ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 9.0% of this neighborhood's residents have Haitian ancestry and 8.5% have African ancestry.
United Center North is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 0.7% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Mon-Khmer, which is the dominant language of Cambodia, at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 98.3% 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 United Center North neighborhood in Chicago are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 95.3% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 36.6% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 87.2% 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 United Center North neighborhood, 43.9% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations, with 27.5% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (18.5%), and 10.2% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the United Center North neighborhood is English, spoken by 82.7% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (8.7%).
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 United Center North neighborhood in Chicago, IL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Sub-Saharan African (11.6%). There are also a number of people of Haitian ancestry (9.0%), and residents who report African roots (8.5%), and some of the residents are also of Mexican ancestry (6.0%), along with some Asian ancestry residents (5.7%), among others.
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 United Center North neighborhood spend between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (29.7% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.
Here most residents (55.5%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also ride the bus to get to work (19.4%) . 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.
