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.
E 158th St / Melrose Ave median real estate price is $222,822, which is less expensive than 82.3% of New York neighborhoods and 74.7% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
The average rental price in E 158th St / Melrose Ave is currently $3,108, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 48.8% of New York neighborhoods.
E 158th St / Melrose Ave is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Bronx, New York.
E 158th St / Melrose Ave 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 E 158th St / Melrose Ave neighborhood are newer, built in 2000 or more recently. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.
In E 158th St / Melrose Ave, the current vacancy rate is 1.3%, which is a lower rate of vacancies than 90.2% of all neighborhoods in the U.S. This means that the housing supply in E 158th St / Melrose Ave 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.
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 95,951 people per square mile, it is more densely populated than 99.6% of America's neighborhoods.
In addition, renter-occupied real estate is dominant in the E 158th St / Melrose Ave neighborhood. The percentage of rental real estate here, according to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, is 95.3%, which is higher than 98.1% 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.
Furthermore, the real estate in the E 158th St / Melrose Ave neighborhood really stands out in the way it looks for a unique reason: this neighborhood has a higher proportion of apartment complexes or high-rise apartments than nearly every neighborhood in the country. Most neighborhoods are a mixture of real estate and housing types, but here it is almost entirely dominated by big apartment buildings and complexes. In fact, 78.2% of the real estate here is classified as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments, which is more than is found in 96.4% of American neighborhoods.
Modes of Transportation
Our research revealed that more commuters here take the bus to work (27.9% ride the bus) than 99.5% 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.
Also, if you like to ride the train to work, this neighborhood may be for you. NeighborhoodScout's research revealed that 40.5% of the E 158th St / Melrose Ave neighborhood's commuters ride the train to and from work each day, which is more than we found in 98.8% of America's neighborhoods.
Car Ownership
American households most often have a car, and regularly they have two or three. But households in the E 158th St / Melrose Ave neighborhood buck this trend. 53.3% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 98.9% 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 E 158th St / Melrose Ave neighborhood unfortunately have the distinction of having, on average, a longer commute than most any neighborhood in America. 12.3% 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 97.4% of all neighborhoods in America.
People
One of the unique characteristics of the E 158th St / Melrose Ave neighborhood revealed by analysis is that the per capita income of residents here is lower than that found in 96.8% of the neighborhoods in America.
In addition, neighborhoodScout's analysis shows that the E 158th St / Melrose Ave neighborhood has a greater concentration of residents currently enrolled in college than 96.2% of the neighborhoods in the U.S. With 12.6% of the population here attending college, this is very much a college-focused neighborhood.
Diversity
Did you know that the E 158th St / Melrose Ave neighborhood has more Dominican and Puerto Rican ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 17.4% of this neighborhood's residents have Dominican ancestry and 24.9% have Puerto Rican ancestry.
E 158th St / Melrose Ave is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 5.2% 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 98.7% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 E 158th St / Melrose Ave neighborhood in Bronx are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 96.8% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 45.7% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 92.2% 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 E 158th St / Melrose Ave neighborhood, 33.3% 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 24.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (22.1%), and 20.3% in executive, management, and professional 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 E 158th St / Melrose Ave neighborhood is Spanish, spoken by 57.0% of households. Other important languages spoken here include English and African languages.
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 E 158th St / Melrose Ave neighborhood in Bronx, NY, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Puerto Rican (24.9%). There are also a number of people of Dominican ancestry (17.4%), and residents who report Mexican roots (12.7%), and some of the residents are also of South American ancestry (8.4%), along with some Sub-Saharan African ancestry residents (4.5%), among others. In addition, 25.9% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
Getting to Work
Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in E 158th St / Melrose Ave neighborhood spend between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (39.7% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.
Here most residents (40.5%) take the train to get to work. In addition, quite a number also ride the bus to get to work (27.9%) and 19.3% of residents also drive alone in a private automobile 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.
