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.
Emma median real estate price is $655,169, which is more expensive than 98.2% of the neighborhoods in Indiana and 77.7% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Emma is currently $1,548, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 41.8% of Indiana neighborhoods.
Emma is a remote neighborhood (based on population density) located in Topeka, Indiana.
Emma real estate is primarily made up of large (four, five or more bedroom) to medium sized (three or four bedroom) single-family homes and townhomes. Most of the residential real estate is owner occupied. Many of the residences in the Emma neighborhood are newer, built in 2000 or more recently. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.
In Emma, the current vacancy rate is 1.9%, which is a lower rate of vacancies than 87.3% of all neighborhoods in the U.S. This means that the housing supply in Emma is very tight compared to the demand for property here.
Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics
The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.
Modes of Transportation
Our research shows that more people carpool to work here in the Emma (60.8%) than in 100.0% of the neighborhoods in America.
Also, would you like to be able to ride your bike to work? If you are attracted to the idea of getting a little exercise of the two-wheeled type while reducing your carbon footprint, bicycling to work might be the answer. But which neighborhood you live in can make this either impossible, or alternatively, a great and realistic option. NeighborhoodScout's analysis revealed that the Emma neighborhood is a fantastic option for bicycle commuters, as 16.5% of commuters here do ride their bikes to and from work on a daily basis. This is a higher amount than we found in 99.9% of the neighborhoods in America.
Occupations
More people work in manufacturing and as laborers here in the Emma neighborhood than in 99.9% of the neighborhoods in America. Despite the loss of manufacturing jobs across the nation, this neighborhood remains a place where, compared to other parts of the country, you will find many laborers and manufacturers.
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 Emma neighborhood have a highly unusual car ownership. 64.8% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 99.4% of U.S. neighborhoods.
People
The Emma neighborhood is unique for having just 5.7% of adults here having earned a bachelor's degree. This is a lower rate of college graduates than NeighborhoodScout found in 96.5% of America's neighborhoods.
In addition, the Emma neighborhood is a great option for families, as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's research on this neighborhood. The combination of top public schools, low crime rates, and owner-occupied single family homes, make this neighborhood among the top 6.5% of family-friendly neighborhoods in the state of Indiana. Many other families also live here, making it easy to socialize and develop a sense of community. In addition, families here highly value education, as is reflected by the strength of the local schools.
Diversity
Did you know that the Emma neighborhood has more Swiss and German ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 7.6% of this neighborhood's residents have Swiss ancestry and 43.3% have German ancestry.
Emma is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 78.9% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak German/Yiddish at home. This is a higher percentage than 100.0% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
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 Emma neighborhood in Topeka are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 77.1% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 3.5% 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 69.8% 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 Emma neighborhood, 62.1% of the working population is employed in manufacturing and laborer 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 16.1% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in executive, management, and professional occupations (14.2%), and 5.9% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the Emma neighborhood is German/Yiddish, spoken by 78.9% of households. Some people also speak English (21.0%).
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 Emma neighborhood in Topeka, IN, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (43.3%). There are also a number of people of Swiss ancestry (7.6%), and residents who report English roots (3.9%).
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 Emma neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (42.6% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (60.8%) carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work. In addition, quite a number also bicycle to get to work (16.5%) and 11.1% of residents also drive alone in a private automobile for their daily commute. Despite relying on the automobile to get to work, residents of this neighborhood share the ride more than most neighborhoods, reducing traffic, pollution, and saving money.
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.
