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.
Ridgeland Oak Park Historic District median real estate price is $368,098, which is more expensive than 55.1% of the neighborhoods in Illinois and 43.6% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Ridgeland Oak Park Historic District is currently $2,234, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 64.9% of the neighborhoods in Illinois.
Ridgeland Oak Park Historic District is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Oak Park, Illinois.
Ridgeland Oak Park Historic District 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 occupied by a mixture of owners and renters. Many of the residences in the Ridgeland Oak Park Historic District 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 8.9% in Ridgeland Oak Park Historic District. NeighborhoodScout analysis shows that this rate is lower than 43.2% of the neighborhoods in the nation, approximately near the middle range for vacancies.
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 Oak Park, the Ridgeland Oak Park Historic District neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
People
One of the most interesting things about the Ridgeland Oak Park Historic District neighborhood is that it has a greater concentration of residents who live alone than most all neighborhoods in America. With 55.8% of the households here made up of people living alone, NeighborhoodScout's research reveals that this is a larger proportion of people living alone than in 97.9% of the neighborhoods in America.
In addition, some neighborhoods have residents that are more educated than others. But in this neighborhood there is a dramatic difference. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that 38.8% of the adults here have earned a Masters degree, medical degree, Ph.D. or law degree. This is a higher rate of people with a graduate degree than is found in 96.6% of U.S. neighborhoods, where the average American neighborhood has 13.4% of its adults with a graduate degree. If you are highly educated, you may have much in common with many of your neighbors here.
Modes of Transportation
If you like to ride the train to work, this neighborhood may be for you. NeighborhoodScout's research revealed that 13.1% of the Ridgeland Oak Park Historic District neighborhood's commuters ride the train to and from work each day, which is more than we found in 96.0% of America's neighborhoods.
Real Estate
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 Ridgeland Oak Park Historic District neighborhood is among the top 5% of American neighborhoods in terms of walkability.
In addition, the real estate in the Ridgeland Oak Park Historic District 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, 69.7% of the real estate here is classified as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments, which is more than is found in 95.0% of American neighborhoods.
Diversity
Did you know that the Ridgeland Oak Park Historic District neighborhood has more Lithuanian and Brazilian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 2.0% of this neighborhood's residents have Lithuanian ancestry and 1.6% have Brazilian ancestry.
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 Ridgeland Oak Park Historic District neighborhood in Oak Park are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 67.5% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 3.6% 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 69.5% of America'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 Ridgeland Oak Park Historic District neighborhood, 64.8% 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 13.8% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (12.0%), and 9.4% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the Ridgeland Oak Park Historic District neighborhood is English, spoken by 83.3% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (6.7%).
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 Ridgeland Oak Park Historic District neighborhood in Oak Park, IL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (21.4%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (20.5%), and residents who report English roots (13.1%), and some of the residents are also of Asian ancestry (6.1%), along with some Mexican ancestry residents (5.2%), among others. In addition, 11.2% 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 Ridgeland Oak Park Historic District neighborhood spend between 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (37.9% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.
Here most residents (55.9%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also take the train to get to work (13.1%) and 7.7% 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.
