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.
Vermont Ave / Blake Ave median real estate price is $778,965, which is more expensive than 59.8% of the neighborhoods in New York and 83.3% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Vermont Ave / Blake Ave is currently $3,124, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 48.2% of New York neighborhoods.
Vermont Ave / Blake Ave is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Brooklyn, New York.
Vermont Ave / Blake Ave real estate is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to medium sized (three or four bedroom) small apartment buildings and apartment complexes/high-rise apartments. Most of the residential real estate is occupied by a mixture of owners and renters. Many of the residences in the Vermont Ave / Blake Ave 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.
Vermont Ave / Blake Ave has a 13.0% vacancy rate, which is well above average compared to other U.S. neighborhoods (higher than 72.7% of American neighborhoods). Most vacant housing here is vacant year round. This could either signal that there is a weak demand for real estate in the neighborhood or that large amount of new housing has been built and not yet occupied. Either way, if you live here, you may find many of the homes or apartments are empty.
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
If you like to ride the train to work, this neighborhood may be for you. NeighborhoodScout's research revealed that 59.4% of the Vermont Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood's commuters ride the train to and from work each day, which is more than we found in 99.8% of America's neighborhoods.
Also, more people ride the bus in this neighborhood each day to get to work than 97.1% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Real Estate
Three-deckers, duplexes, old Victorian homes cut up into apartments. Independent stores on the corner selling pizza. These are some of the hallmarks of neighborhoods with lots of small 2, 3, and 4 unit apartment buildings. The Vermont Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood really stands out in this regard, however, as it is dominated by such small apartment buildings more than nearly any other neighborhood in America. This is a stunning visual and lifestyle example of this type of neighborhood. In fact, 65.4% of the real estate here are small 2, 3, or 4 unit apartment buildings, which is a higher proportion than found in 99.5% of America's neighborhoods.
In addition, the Vermont Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood is very densely populated compared to most U.S. neighborhoods. In fact, with 54,480 persons per square mile in the neighborhood, it is more packed with people than 98.6% of the nation's neighborhoods. Being a walkable neighborhood can help increase property values for the simple reason that people enjoy it and value it. To put it plainly, despite our love affair with the automobile, American's enjoy taking to the streets, sidewalks, paths, and courtyards of a place to get a coffee, relax, and take in the sights and sounds. And, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive and first quantitative walkable score index, the Vermont Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood is one of the most walkable neighborhoods in America.
Furthermore, do you watch 'This Old House' on Public Television? Do you love the idea of fixing up a Colonial or Victorian era home, complete with the charm of yesteryear? Do you like to stroll or drive streets lined with gracious older residences? If you found yourself nodding yes to any of these questions, you are going to be interested in this unique neighborhood. The Vermont Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood stands out on a national scale for the sheer concentration of historic residences it contains: 58.1% of the residential real estate here was built from 1939 or earlier, some much earlier. This is a greater concentration of historic homes than 96.0% of the neighborhoods in the United States.
Car Ownership
American households most often have a car, and regularly they have two or three. But households in the Vermont Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood buck this trend. 50.2% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 98.7% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Diversity
Did you know that the Vermont Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood has more Jamaican and Dominican ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 13.5% of this neighborhood's residents have Jamaican ancestry and 5.6% have Dominican ancestry.
Vermont Ave / Blake Ave is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 2.2% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak African languages at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 95.6% of the neighborhoods in America.
Migration / Stability
The freedom of moving to new places versus the comfort of home. How much and how often people move not only can create diverse and worldly neighborhoods, but simultaneously it can produce a loss of intimacy with one's surroundings and a lack of connectedness to one's neighbors. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research has identified this neighborhood as unique with regard to the transience of its populace. What is interesting to note, is that the Vermont Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood has a greater percentage of residents born in another country (44.2%) than are found in 95.8% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
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 Vermont Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood in Brooklyn are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 62.7% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 14.2% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 58.5% 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 Vermont Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood, 36.3% 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 28.6% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in executive, management, and professional occupations (17.7%), and 17.3% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.
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 Vermont Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood is English, spoken by 67.2% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and African languages.
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 Vermont Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Jamaican (13.5%). There are also a number of people of Puerto Rican ancestry (6.2%), and residents who report Dominican roots (5.6%), and some of the residents are also of Sub-Saharan African ancestry (2.8%), along with some African ancestry residents (2.8%), among others. In addition, 44.2% 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 Vermont Ave / Blake Ave neighborhood spend between 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (45.6% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.
Here most residents (59.4%) take the train to get to work. In addition, quite a number also drive alone in a private automobile to get to work (20.7%) and 14.6% of residents also ride the bus 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.
