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.
Pitkin Ave / Watkins St median real estate price is $660,508, which is more expensive than 50.6% of the neighborhoods in New York and 78.5% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Pitkin Ave / Watkins St is currently $2,890, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 53.4% of New York neighborhoods.
Pitkin Ave / Watkins St is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Brooklyn, New York.
Pitkin Ave / Watkins St 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 small apartment buildings. Most of the residential real estate is renter occupied. Many of the residences in the Pitkin Ave / Watkins St neighborhood are older, well-established, built between 1940 and 1969. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.
Home and apartment vacancy rates are 6.1% in Pitkin Ave / Watkins St. NeighborhoodScout analysis shows that this rate is lower than 59.2% 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 Brooklyn, the Pitkin Ave / Watkins St neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
Car Ownership
American households most often have a car, and regularly they have two or three. But households in the Pitkin Ave / Watkins St neighborhood buck this trend. 80.5% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 99.9% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Length of Commute
Regardless of the means by which residents commute, this neighborhood has a length of commute that is notable. Long commutes can be brutal. They take time, money, and energy, leaving less of you for yourself and your family. The residents of the Pitkin Ave / Watkins St neighborhood unfortunately have the distinction of having, on average, a longer commute than most any neighborhood in America. 22.0% 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 99.7% of all neighborhoods in America.
People
Single parenting is hard. But you don't have to tell the Pitkin Ave / Watkins St neighborhood about it; they already know. 29.6% of this neighborhood's households are run by single mothers, which is a higher concentration than NeighborhoodScout found in 99.5% 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, one of the unique characteristics of the Pitkin Ave / Watkins St neighborhood revealed by analysis is that the per capita income of residents here is lower than that found in 98.4% of the neighborhoods in America.
Also, the Pitkin Ave / Watkins St neighborhood is unique for having just 6.9% of adults here having earned a bachelor's degree. This is a lower rate of college graduates than NeighborhoodScout found in 95.3% of America's neighborhoods.
Modes of Transportation
If you like to ride the train to work, this neighborhood may be for you. NeighborhoodScout's research revealed that 46.7% of the Pitkin Ave / Watkins St neighborhood's commuters ride the train to and from work each day, which is more than we found in 99.2% of America's neighborhoods.
Also, our research revealed that more commuters here take the bus to work (15.3% ride the bus) than 97.4% of all American neighborhoods. If you like the idea of leaving your car and home and hopping the bus to work, this might be a good neighborhood for you to consider.
Real Estate
98.9% of the real estate in the Pitkin Ave / Watkins St neighborhood is occupied by renters, which is nearly the highest rate of renter occupancy of any neighborhood in America.
In addition, the Pitkin Ave / Watkins St neighborhood is very densely populated compared to most U.S. neighborhoods. In fact, with 59,965 persons per square mile in the neighborhood, it is more packed with people than 98.8% of the nation's neighborhoods.
Furthermore, one of the really unique and interesting things about the look and setting of the Pitkin Ave / Watkins St neighborhood is that it is almost entirely dominated by large apartment buildings, such as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments. 86.7% 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 97.7% of all neighborhoods in America.
Diversity
Did you know that the Pitkin Ave / Watkins St neighborhood has more Dominican and Haitian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 12.7% of this neighborhood's residents have Dominican ancestry and 4.8% have Haitian 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 Pitkin Ave / Watkins St neighborhood in Brooklyn are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 98.4% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 37.0% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 87.2% 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 Pitkin Ave / Watkins St neighborhood, 45.9% of the working population is employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support 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 22.5% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (16.2%), and 15.3% in executive, management, and professional occupations.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the Pitkin Ave / Watkins St neighborhood is English, spoken by 76.1% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (22.2%).
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 Pitkin Ave / Watkins St neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Dominican (12.7%). There are also a number of people of Puerto Rican ancestry (9.4%), and residents who report Sub-Saharan African roots (9.0%), and some of the residents are also of Haitian ancestry (4.8%), along with some Mexican ancestry residents (2.7%), among others. In addition, 12.3% 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 Pitkin Ave / Watkins St neighborhood spend between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (35.9% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.
Here most residents (46.7%) take the train to get to work. In addition, quite a number also ride the bus to get to work (15.3%) and 13.4% of residents also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors for their daily commute. This neighborhood is distinguished by the high number of residents who take the train to work each day, which can be a very good way to get to work at a lower cost and with less pollution.
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.
