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.
109th Ave / 172nd St median real estate price is $769,536, which is more expensive than 56.7% of the neighborhoods in New York and 82.6% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in 109th Ave / 172nd St is currently $2,917, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 50.7% of New York neighborhoods.
109th Ave / 172nd St is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Queens, New York.
109th Ave / 172nd St real estate is primarily made up of medium sized (three or four bedroom) to small (studio to two bedroom) small apartment buildings and single-family homes. Most of the residential real estate is occupied by a mixture of owners and renters. Many of the residences in the 109th Ave / 172nd St neighborhood are older, well-established, built between 1940 and 1969. A number of residences were also built before 1940.
Home and apartment vacancy rates are 6.4% in 109th Ave / 172nd St. NeighborhoodScout analysis shows that this rate is lower than 56.1% 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 Queens, the 109th Ave / 172nd St neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
Length of Commute
Whether walking, biking, riding, or driving, the length of one's commute is an important factor for one's quality of life. The 109th Ave / 172nd St neighborhood stands out for its commute length, according to NeighborhoodScout's analysis. Long commutes can be brutal. They take time, money, and energy, leaving less of you for yourself and your family. The residents of the 109th Ave / 172nd St neighborhood unfortunately have the distinction of having, on average, a longer commute than most any neighborhood in America. 25.4% 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 99.9% of all neighborhoods in America.
Modes of Transportation
More people ride the bus in this neighborhood each day to get to work than 98.6% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Also, in the 109th Ave / 172nd St neighborhood, 26.4% 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 98.0% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 109th Ave / 172nd St 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, 37.9% of the real estate here are small 2, 3, or 4 unit apartment buildings, which is a higher proportion than found in 96.7% of America's neighborhoods.
In addition, if you like crowded places, then you will probably enjoy the the 109th Ave / 172nd St neighborhood. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive data analysis, this neighborhood is more densely populated than 96.0% of neighborhoods in the U.S., with 24,772 people per square mile living here. 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 109th Ave / 172nd St neighborhood is one of the most walkable neighborhoods in America.
Diversity
Did you know that the 109th Ave / 172nd St neighborhood has more Jamaican and African ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 10.5% of this neighborhood's residents have Jamaican ancestry and 7.6% have African 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 109th Ave / 172nd St neighborhood in Queens are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 66.7% of the neighborhoods in America. With 11.9% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 54.6% 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 109th Ave / 172nd St neighborhood, 31.8% 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 28.8% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (20.5%), and 18.9% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the 109th Ave / 172nd St neighborhood is English, spoken by 86.5% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (2.7%).
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 109th Ave / 172nd St neighborhood in Queens, NY, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Jamaican (10.5%). There are also a number of people of Sub-Saharan African ancestry (9.0%), and residents who report Asian roots (8.2%), and some of the residents are also of African ancestry (7.6%), along with some Dominican ancestry residents (1.7%), among others. In addition, 39.4% 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 109th Ave / 172nd St neighborhood spend between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (29.1% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.
Here most residents (37.6%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also take the train to get to work (26.4%) and 19.3% of residents also ride the bus for their daily commute. 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.
