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.
W 25th St / S California Ave median real estate price is $268,921, which is more expensive than 43.0% of the neighborhoods in Illinois and 32.2% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in W 25th St / S California Ave is currently $1,702, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 61.4% of Illinois neighborhoods.
W 25th St / S California Ave is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Chicago, Illinois.
W 25th St / S California Ave 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 W 25th St / S California Ave 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.
Home and apartment vacancy rates are 9.2% in W 25th St / S California Ave. NeighborhoodScout analysis shows that this rate is lower than 40.5% of the neighborhoods in the nation, approximately near the middle range for vacancies.
Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics
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.
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 W 25th St / S California Ave 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, 52.7% 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, if you like crowded places, then you will probably enjoy the the W 25th St / S California Ave neighborhood. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive data analysis, this neighborhood is more densely populated than 96.7% of neighborhoods in the U.S., with 28,457 people per square mile living here. Even if you drive or take transit to your place of employment, many people enjoy being able to walk in their neighborhood. What many people don't realize is that most of America's premier vacation locations are also very walkable. The W 25th St / S California Ave neighborhood is among the top 5% of American neighborhoods in terms of walkability.
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 55.7% of the residential real estate in the W 25th St / S California Ave neighborhood built no later than 1939, and some built considerably earlier, this neighborhood has a greater concentration of historic residences than 95.5% of all neighborhoods in America. In this regard, this neighborhood truly stands out as special.
Modes of Transportation
If your dream is to be able to ride your bike to work each day, look no further than this unique neighborhood. With 4.9% of residents in the W 25th St / S California Ave neighborhood commuting on a bicycle to and from work daily, this neighborhood has more bicycle commuters than 98.1% of all neighborhoods in the U.S., according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis.
Also, our research revealed that more commuters here take the bus to work (12.5% ride the bus) than 96.5% 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.
Diversity
Did you know that the W 25th St / S California Ave neighborhood has more Mexican and Austrian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 82.3% of this neighborhood's residents have Mexican ancestry and 1.9% have Austrian ancestry.
W 25th St / S California Ave is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 78.4% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Spanish at home. This is a higher percentage than 98.5% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
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 W 25th St / S California Ave 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 88.3% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 14.6% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 60.2% of U.S. neighborhoods.
The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.
In the W 25th St / S California Ave neighborhood, 40.2% of the working population is employed in manufacturing and laborer 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 30.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in executive, management, and professional occupations (22.5%), and 5.5% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the W 25th St / S California Ave neighborhood is Spanish, spoken by 78.4% of households. Some people also speak English (21.6%).
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 W 25th St / S California Ave neighborhood in Chicago, IL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Mexican (82.3%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (5.1%), and residents who report Italian roots (3.8%), and some of the residents are also of Austrian ancestry (1.9%), along with some French ancestry residents (1.4%), among others. In addition, 33.3% 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 W 25th St / S California Ave neighborhood spend between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (30.6% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.
Here most residents (65.3%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also ride the bus to get to work (12.5%) and 7.4% of residents also take the train 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.
