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.
Contra Costa Centre median real estate price is $823,000, which is more expensive than 43.4% of the neighborhoods in California and 83.9% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Contra Costa Centre is currently $4,017, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 73.8% of the neighborhoods in California.
Contra Costa Centre is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Walnut Creek, California.
Contra Costa Centre 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 townhomes. Most of the residential real estate is renter occupied. Many of the residences in the Contra Costa Centre neighborhood are established but not old, having been built between 1970 and 1999. A number of residences were also built between 2000 and the present.
In Contra Costa Centre, the current vacancy rate is 0.0%, which is a lower rate of vacancies than 100.0% of all neighborhoods in the U.S. This means that the housing supply in Contra Costa Centre is very tight compared to the demand for property here.
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 Walnut Creek, the Contra Costa Centre neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
Real Estate
Renter-occupied real estate is dominant in the Contra Costa Centre neighborhood. The percentage of rental real estate here, according to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, is 91.4%, which is higher than 97.2% 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. This neighborhood has the distinction of having one of the lowest real estate vacancy rates of any neighborhood in America. With just 0.0% of the real estate vacant, this indicates an exceptionally strong demand for real estate in the Contra Costa Centre neighborhood, and/or an issue with creating enough supply for the demand. This could have the effect of increasing real estate prices, increasing supply to meet demand, or both.
In addition, the Contra Costa Centre 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 98.3% 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.
Furthermore, one of the really unique and interesting things about the look and setting of the Contra Costa Centre neighborhood is that it is almost entirely dominated by large apartment buildings, such as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments. 93.1% of the residential real estate here is classified as such. This puts this neighborhood on the map as having a higher proportion of large apartment buildings than 98.7% of all neighborhoods in America.
Modes of Transportation
In the Contra Costa Centre neighborhood, 21.3% 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 97.3% of the neighborhoods in America.
People
Do you like to read, write, and learn? Are you curious about the world? If so, this neighborhood may be a good fit for you. NeighborhoodScout's research revealed that a full 75.2% of the adults living in the Contra Costa Centre neighborhood have earned at least a bachelor's degree. This is a higher rate than NeighborhoodScout found in 96.2% of U.S. neighborhoods. In this way, this neighborhood truly stands out.
In addition, 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 Contra Costa Centre neighborhood to find it. Only 4.5% 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.
Diversity
Did you know that the Contra Costa Centre neighborhood has more Iranian and Russian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 9.1% of this neighborhood's residents have Iranian ancestry and 7.1% have Russian ancestry.
Contra Costa Centre is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 5.2% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Langs. of India at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 97.4% of the neighborhoods in America.
The Neighbors
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 Contra Costa Centre neighborhood in Walnut Creek are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 81.8% of the neighborhoods in America. With 33.8% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 84.6% 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 Contra Costa Centre neighborhood, 64.4% 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 20.5% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (8.7%), and 8.2% in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions.
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 Contra Costa Centre neighborhood is English, spoken by 57.4% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Langs. of India and Spanish.
Ethnicity / Ancestry
Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
In the Contra Costa Centre neighborhood in Walnut Creek, CA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Asian (26.2%). There are also a number of people of Irania ancestry (9.1%), and residents who report German roots (9.0%), and some of the residents are also of Russian ancestry (7.1%), along with some Mexican ancestry residents (6.2%), among others. In addition, 41.8% 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 Contra Costa Centre neighborhood spend between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (35.0% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.
Here most residents (43.5%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also take the train to get to work (21.3%) and 9.1% of residents also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors 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.
