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Real Estate Prices & Overview

Merrimac St / Portland St median real estate price is $995,908, which is more expensive than 79.4% of the neighborhoods in Massachusetts and 90.6% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.

The average rental price in Merrimac St / Portland St is currently $7,102, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 99.7% of the neighborhoods in Massachusetts.

Merrimac St / Portland St is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Boston, Massachusetts.

Merrimac St / Portland St real estate is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to large (four, five or more 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 Merrimac St / Portland St neighborhood are newer, built in 2000 or more recently. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.

Vacant apartments or homes are a major fact of life in Merrimac St / Portland St. The current real estate vacancy rate here is 27.8%. This is higher than the rate of vacancies in 93.6% 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.

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 Boston, the Merrimac St / Portland St neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.

People

Wealth makes most things in life easier, and a few things harder. If you are wealthy and enjoy keeping up with the Jones', this neighborhood will interest you. In fact, according to NeighborhoodScout's research, the Merrimac St / Portland St neighborhood is wealthier than 97.6% of the neighborhoods in the United States. Residents here are truly in a unique situation even when compared to other Americans, based on the sheer amount of wealth concentrated here. Even in times of economic downturn, residents of this neighborhood, as a group, suffered less and recovered more quickly. This is indeed a stand-out characteristic of this neighborhood. As one would expect in a considerably wealthy neighborhood such as this, Merrimac St / Portland St also has one of the lowest ratings of child poverty in the nation.

In addition, the rate of college educated adults in the Merrimac St / Portland St neighborhood is a unique characteristic of the neighborhood. 81.4% of adults here have received at least a 4-year bachelor's degree, compared to the average neighborhood in America, which has 34.3% of the adults with a bachelor's degree. The rate here is higher than NeighborhoodScout found in 98.2% of all U.S. neighborhoods.

Also, if you're looking for an active nightlife with lots of opportunities to flirt and find romance, then you probably won't have to go too far from the Merrimac St / Portland St neighborhood to find it. Only 2.1% of the neighborhoods in the country have a larger proportion of young, single professionals. The nightlife may not be reminiscent of a "Sex and the City" episode, but the people who live here find friendship, romance, fun, and socializing readily available. In addition to being an excellent choice for young, single professionals, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for urban sophisticates.

Real Estate

The Merrimac St / Portland St 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 99.2% 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, the real estate in the Merrimac St / Portland St 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, 96.6% of the real estate here is classified as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments, which is more than is found in 99.3% of American neighborhoods.

Furthermore, if you like the look and ambience of new homes and newly built neighborhoods, you will love the Merrimac St / Portland St neighborhood. A whopping 93.5% of the homes and other residential real estate here were built after 1999, which is a higher proportion of new homes then you will find in 99.2% of the neighborhoods in the U.S. Everything here just feels new. In fact, the concentration of newer homes here is so great that they completely dominate the landscape. In most neighborhoods, there is a mixture of ages of residential real estate, but here it is almost completely built during one time frame: 2000 through today.

Also of note, renter-occupied real estate is dominant in the Merrimac St / Portland St neighborhood. The percentage of rental real estate here, according to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, is 93.8%, which is higher than 97.8% 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.

Finally, the Merrimac St / Portland St neighborhood is very densely populated compared to most U.S. neighborhoods. In fact, with 34,032 persons per square mile in the neighborhood, it is more packed with people than 97.4% of the nation's neighborhoods.

Occupations

The Merrimac St / Portland St neighborhood has a higher proportion of its residents employed as executives, managers and professionals than 99.1% of the neighborhoods in America. In fact, 80.2% 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.

Modes of Transportation

More people in Merrimac St / Portland St choose to walk to work each day (21.2%) 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.

Also, in the Merrimac St / Portland St neighborhood, many people's commute means walking from the bedroom to the home office. NeighborhoodScout's analysis found that 32.6% of residents worked from home. This may not seem like a large number, but Scout's research shows that this is a higher percentage of people working from home than 98.0% of the neighborhoods in America. Often people who work from home are engaged in the creative or technological economy, such as is found in areas around Boston, and in Silicon Valley. Other times, people may be engaged in other businesses like trading stocks from home, or running a small beauty salon.

Finally, in the Merrimac St / Portland St neighborhood, 17.0% 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.

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 Merrimac St / Portland St neighborhood have a highly unusual car ownership. 37.6% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.9% of U.S. neighborhoods.

Diversity

Did you know that the Merrimac St / Portland St neighborhood has more Portuguese and Brazilian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 4.6% of this neighborhood's residents have Portuguese ancestry and 1.8% have Brazilian ancestry.

Merrimac St / Portland St is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 2.4% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Japanese at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 99.2% of the neighborhoods in America.

Migration / Stability

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 Merrimac St / Portland St neighborhood, a greater proportion of the residents living here today did not live here five years ago than is found in 97.0% of U.S. Neighborhoods. This neighborhood, more than almost any other in America, has new residents from other areas.

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 Merrimac St / Portland St neighborhood in Boston 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 97.6% 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.

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 Merrimac St / Portland St neighborhood, 80.2% 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 12.0% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (6.3%).

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 Merrimac St / Portland St neighborhood is English, spoken by 78.2% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese.

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 Merrimac St / Portland St neighborhood in Boston, MA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (22.8%). There are also a number of people of Italian ancestry (21.4%), and residents who report English roots (14.4%), and some of the residents are also of German ancestry (5.2%), along with some Portuguese ancestry residents (4.6%), among others. In addition, 16.3% 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 Merrimac St / Portland St neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (36.7% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.

Here most residents (27.3%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also hop out the door and walk to work to get to work (21.2%) and 17.0% 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.


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