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.
Hillvale Commons median real estate price is $220,649, which is less expensive than 74.7% of Georgia neighborhoods and 75.1% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
The average rental price in Hillvale Commons is currently $2,194, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 49.2% of Georgia neighborhoods.
Hillvale Commons is an urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Stonecrest, Georgia.
Hillvale Commons 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 single-family homes. Most of the residential real estate is renter occupied. Many of the residences in the Hillvale Commons 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 Hillvale Commons, the current vacancy rate is 1.3%, which is a lower rate of vacancies than 90.3% of all neighborhoods in the U.S. This means that the housing supply in Hillvale Commons 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 Stonecrest, the Hillvale Commons neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
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 Hillvale Commons neighborhood have a highly unusual car ownership. 40.2% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 98.1% of U.S. neighborhoods.
People
Single parenting is hard. But you don't have to tell the Hillvale Commons neighborhood about it; they already know. 21.3% of this neighborhood's households are run by single mothers, which is a higher concentration than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.6% of American neighborhoods. Further NeighborhoodScout research showed strong statistical correlations among high rates of children living in single parent households, and neighborhood crime, particularly violent crime, neighborhood poverty, and, importantly, the percentage of low weight births and rates of infant mortality.
In addition, neighborhoodScout's analysis shows that the Hillvale Commons neighborhood has a greater concentration of residents currently enrolled in college than 95.9% of the neighborhoods in the U.S. With 12.0% of the population here attending college, this is very much a college-focused neighborhood.
Modes of Transportation
In the Hillvale Commons neighborhood, carpooling is still a popular way to get to and from work. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that 25.2% of commuters carpool here, which is more than in 97.2% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
Occupations
From major sales accounts to fast-food workers, sales and service employees are often the backbone of the local economy. In the Hillvale Commons neighborhood, they truly stand out. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis identifies this neighborhood as having a higher percentage of sales and service workers than 96.9% of all American neighborhoods.
Real Estate
Renter-occupied real estate is dominant in the Hillvale Commons neighborhood. The percentage of rental real estate here, according to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, is 84.6%, which is higher than 95.3% 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.
Diversity
Did you know that the Hillvale Commons neighborhood has more Jamaican ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 6.2% of this neighborhood's residents 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 Hillvale Commons neighborhood in Stonecrest are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 64.4% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 27.5% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 78.5% of U.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 Hillvale Commons neighborhood, 40.8% of the working population is employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 22.8% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (19.4%), and 17.0% in executive, management, and professional occupations.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the Hillvale Commons neighborhood is English, spoken by 96.1% of households.
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 Hillvale Commons neighborhood in Stonecrest, GA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Jamaican (6.2%). There are also a number of people of Sub-Saharan African ancestry (5.9%), and residents who report African roots (3.0%), and some of the residents are also of Mexican ancestry (1.1%).
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 Hillvale Commons neighborhood spend between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (33.7% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.
Here most residents (65.5%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (25.2%) and 5.5% of residents also ride the bus 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.
