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.
Watertower Improvement / North Sunland Gardens median real estate price is $397,248, which is more expensive than 40.5% of the neighborhoods in Arizona and 53.6% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Watertower Improvement / North Sunland Gardens is currently $2,061, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 64.5% of Arizona neighborhoods.
Watertower Improvement / North Sunland Gardens is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Mesa, Arizona.
Watertower Improvement / North Sunland Gardens real estate is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to medium sized (three or four bedroom) single-family homes and small apartment buildings. Most of the residential real estate is occupied by a mixture of owners and renters. Many of the residences in the Watertower Improvement / North Sunland Gardens neighborhood are older, well-established, built between 1940 and 1969. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.
Real estate vacancies in Watertower Improvement / North Sunland Gardens are 5.8%, which is lower than one will find in 60.0% of American neighborhoods. Demand for real estate in Watertower Improvement / North Sunland Gardens is above average for the U.S., and may signal some demand for either price increases or new construction of residential product for this neighborhood.
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
In the Watertower Improvement / North Sunland Gardens neighborhood, carpooling is still a popular way to get to and from work. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that 28.9% of commuters carpool here, which is more than in 98.5% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
People
The Watertower Improvement / North Sunland Gardens neighborhood is unique for having just 2.8% of adults here having earned a bachelor's degree. This is a lower rate of college graduates than NeighborhoodScout found in 98.4% of America's neighborhoods.
In addition, watertower Improvement / North Sunland Gardens has the amazing distinction of housing more same sex couples living together than 97.9% of neighborhoods in the U.S. If you are seeking such a neighborhood, NeighborhoodScout's analysis shows that this is one place that you should consider.
Also, of note, 58.6% of the children in this area live in poverty; an extraordinarily high percentage compared to other neighborhoods in the nation. In a nation where approximately one in four children grows up in poverty, this neighborhood stands out for the depth of the problem manifested here.
Occupations
There are more people living in the Watertower Improvement / North Sunland Gardens neighborhood employed as sales and service workers (61.9%) than almost any neighborhood in the country. From fast-food service workers to major sales accounts, sales and service workers make up the largest proportion of our national employment picture. But despite that size and importance nationally, this neighborhood still stands out as unique due to the dominance of people living here who work in such occupations.
Car Ownership
We Americans love our cars. Not only are they a necessity for most Americans due to the shape of our neighborhoods and the distances between where we live, work, shop, and go to school, but we also fancy them. As a result, most households in America have one, two, or three cars. But NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis shows that the Watertower Improvement / North Sunland Gardens neighborhood has a highly unusual pattern of car ownership. Residents of this neighborhood must really love automobiles. NeighborhoodScout's Analysis reveals that 33.1% of the households here have four, five, or more cars. That is more cars per household than in 95.0% of the neighborhoods in the nation.
Diversity
Did you know that the Watertower Improvement / North Sunland Gardens neighborhood has more Mexican ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 71.6% of this neighborhood's residents have Mexican ancestry.
Watertower Improvement / North Sunland Gardens is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 63.3% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Spanish at home. This is a higher percentage than 96.4% 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 Watertower Improvement / North Sunland Gardens neighborhood in Mesa are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 82.2% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 58.6% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 96.7% of U.S. neighborhoods.
A neighborhood is far different if it is dominated by enlisted military personnel rather than people who earn their living by farming. It is also different if most of the neighbors are clerical support or managers. What is wonderful is the sheer diversity of neighborhoods, allowing you to find the type that fits your lifestyle and aspirations.
In the Watertower Improvement / North Sunland Gardens neighborhood, 38.1% of the working population is employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 36.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in executive, management, and professional occupations (14.7%), and 11.0% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the Watertower Improvement / North Sunland Gardens neighborhood is Spanish, spoken by 63.3% of households. Some people also speak English (35.9%).
Ethnicity / Ancestry
Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.
In the Watertower Improvement / North Sunland Gardens neighborhood in Mesa, AZ, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Mexican (71.6%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (7.2%), and residents who report Irish roots (5.0%), and some of the residents are also of German ancestry (3.7%), along with some Italian ancestry residents (1.9%), among others. In addition, 30.7% 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 Watertower Improvement / North Sunland Gardens neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (39.8% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (61.5%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (28.9%) . 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.
