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.
Van Siclen Ave / Blake Ave median real estate price is $938,611, which is more expensive than 71.1% of the neighborhoods in New York and 89.1% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Van Siclen Ave / Blake Ave is currently $2,607, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 59.6% of New York neighborhoods.
Van Siclen Ave / Blake Ave is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Brooklyn, New York.
Van Siclen Ave / Blake Ave real estate is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to medium sized (three or four bedroom) small apartment buildings and townhomes. Most of the residential real estate is occupied by a mixture of owners and renters. Many of the residences in the Van Siclen Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood are established but not old, having been built between 1970 and 1999. A number of residences were also built between 1940 and 1969.
Real estate vacancies in Van Siclen Ave / Blake Ave are 5.6%, which is lower than one will find in 62.2% of American neighborhoods. Demand for real estate in Van Siclen Ave / Blake Ave 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
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.
Occupations
The government often provides some of the more stable jobs in the economy. From local, to state, to federal government workers, the government can also be a major employer. What NeighborhoodScout's analysis revealed, is that the Van Siclen Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood in particular stands out when compared nationally for the proportion of its working residents who are employed by the government. At 19.7% of its workforce, this neighborhood has a greater concentration of government workers than 98.9% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Modes of Transportation
In the Van Siclen Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood, 40.7% 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 98.9% of the neighborhoods in America.
Real Estate
The Van Siclen Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood is very densely populated compared to most U.S. neighborhoods. In fact, with 44,987 persons per square mile in the neighborhood, it is more packed with people than 98.2% of the nation's neighborhoods.
In addition, if you love row houses and attached homes, you will probably really like the Van Siclen Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood. The ambiance, the charm, of row houses is something special. And in sheer abundance of row houses, this neighborhood truly stands out. The real estate here has a higher proportion of row houses and attached homes than nearly any neighborhood in America. In fact, 32.6% of the residential real estate here is classified as row houses and attached homes.
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 Van Siclen Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood have a highly unusual car ownership. 29.2% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.1% of U.S. neighborhoods.
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 Van Siclen Ave / Blake Ave 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 Van Siclen Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood unfortunately have the distinction of having, on average, a longer commute than most any neighborhood in America. 11.0% 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 96.4% of all neighborhoods in America.
Diversity
Did you know that the Van Siclen Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood has more Dominican and Jamaican ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 18.1% of this neighborhood's residents have Dominican ancestry and 6.6% have Jamaican ancestry.
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 Van Siclen Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood in Brooklyn are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 69.7% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 14.3% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 58.8% 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 Van Siclen Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood, 33.2% of the working population is employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is executive, management, and professional occupations, with 25.0% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (22.7%), and 19.7% in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the Van Siclen Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood is English, spoken by 74.8% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (21.9%).
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 Van Siclen Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Dominican (18.1%). There are also a number of people of Puerto Rican ancestry (11.3%), and residents who report Jamaican roots (6.6%), and some of the residents are also of Haitian ancestry (2.7%), along with some Sub-Saharan African ancestry residents (1.6%), among others. In addition, 22.5% 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 Van Siclen Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood spend between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (52.3% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.
Here most residents (45.9%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also take the train to get to work (40.7%) and 6.3% of residents also hop out the door and walk to work 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.
