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Real Estate Prices & Overview

Chinatown median real estate price is $1,286,764, which is more expensive than 75.0% of the neighborhoods in New York and 90.8% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.

The average rental price in Chinatown is currently $2,735, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 57.1% of New York neighborhoods.

Chinatown is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in New York, New York.

Chinatown 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 Chinatown 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.

Vacant apartments or homes are a major fact of life in Chinatown. The current real estate vacancy rate here is 27.5%. This is higher than the rate of vacancies in 93.5% of all U.S. neighborhoods. In addition, most vacant housing here is vacant year round. This can sometimes be the case in neighborhoods dominated by new construction that is not yet occupied. But often neighborhoods with vacancy rates this high are places that can be plagued by a protracted vacancy problem. If you live here, you may find that a number of buildings in your neighborhood are actually empty.

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 New York, the Chinatown neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.

Real Estate

What you'll find when you visit or move to this neighborhood is one of the most crowded neighborhoods in all of America. With an incredible 91,171 people per square mile, it is more densely populated than 99.5% of America'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 Chinatown neighborhood is one of the most walkable neighborhoods in America.

In addition, one of the really unique and interesting things about the look and setting of the Chinatown neighborhood is that it is almost entirely dominated by large apartment buildings, such as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments. 95.1% 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 99.0% of all neighborhoods in America.

Furthermore, the Chinatown neighborhood is very unique in that it has one of the highest proportions of one, two, or no bedroom real estate of any neighborhood in America. Most neighborhoods have a mixture of home or apartment sizes from small to large, but here the concentration of studios and other small living spaces is at near-record heights. With 94.5% of the real estate here of this small size, this most assuredly is a notable feature that makes this neighborhood unique, along with just a handful of other neighborhoods in the U.S. that share this characteristic.

Also of note, renter-occupied real estate is dominant in the Chinatown neighborhood. The percentage of rental real estate here, according to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, is 84.7%, 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.

Finally, 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 Chinatown neighborhood stands out on a national scale for the sheer concentration of historic residences it contains: 74.1% of the residential real estate here was built from 1939 or earlier, some much earlier. This is a greater concentration of historic homes than 99.1% of the neighborhoods in the United States.

Modes of Transportation

In the Chinatown neighborhood, walking to work is a real option for many. In fact, NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research reveals walking to and from work is the chosen way to commute for 38.3% of residents here. This is a higher proportion of walking commuters than we found in 99.5% of American neighborhoods. Get ready to put on your walking shoes if you move here!

Also, in the Chinatown neighborhood, 33.6% of people ride the train to work each day. This is a very high percentage compared to most places. In fact, NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that this is a higher level of train ridership than in 98.4% of the neighborhoods in America.

Finally, if your dream is to be able to ride your bike to work each day, look no further than this unique neighborhood. With 3.7% of residents in the Chinatown neighborhood commuting on a bicycle to and from work daily, this neighborhood has more bicycle commuters than 97.0% of all neighborhoods in the U.S., according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis.

Car Ownership

American households most often have a car, and regularly they have two or three. But households in the Chinatown neighborhood buck this trend. 61.5% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 99.3% of U.S. neighborhoods.

Diversity

Did you know that the Chinatown neighborhood has more Asian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 81.3% of this neighborhood's residents have Asian ancestry.

Chinatown is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 57.7% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Chinese at home. This is a higher percentage than 99.9% of all U.S. neighborhoods.

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 Chinatown neighborhood has a greater percentage of residents born in another country (48.9%) than are found in 97.4% 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 Chinatown neighborhood in New York are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 100.0% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 24.3% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 74.7% of U.S. neighborhoods.

What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.

In the Chinatown neighborhood, 55.6% 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 21.8% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (15.7%), and 6.9% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.

Languages

The most common language spoken in the Chinatown neighborhood is Chinese, spoken by 57.7% of households. Some people also speak English (40.8%).

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 Chinatown neighborhood in New York, NY, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Asian (81.3%). There are also a number of people of Sub-Saharan African ancestry (4.5%), and residents who report French roots (2.9%), and some of the residents are also of German ancestry (2.1%), along with some English ancestry residents (1.9%), among others. In addition, 48.9% 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 Chinatown neighborhood spend between 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (33.1% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.

Here most residents (38.3%) hop out the door and walk to work to get to work. In addition, quite a number also take the train to get to work (33.6%) and 10.3% of residents also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors for their daily commute. This is a special neighborhood for the number of people who walk to work. Combining exercise, low cost, and reduced pollution, plus the chance to see your neighbors, walking to work is fairly uncommon in America but likely to increase as people try to reduce their dependence on automobiles, and this neighborhood offers that opportunity today.


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