Downtown Berkeley median real estate price is $1,089,729, which is more expensive than 65.1% of the neighborhoods in California and 91.9% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Downtown Berkeley is currently $2,888, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 65.6% of California neighborhoods.
Downtown Berkeley is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Berkeley, California.
Downtown Berkeley 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 single-family homes. Most of the residential real estate is renter occupied. Many of the residences in the Downtown Berkeley 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 2000 and the present.
Downtown Berkeley has a 13.1% vacancy rate, which is well above average compared to other U.S. neighborhoods (higher than 74.3% 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.
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.
The Downtown Berkeley neighborhood has a higher proportion of its residents employed as executives, managers and professionals than 99.9% of the neighborhoods in America. In fact, 89.8% of the employed people here make a living as an executive, a manager, or other professional. With such a high concentration, this truly shapes the character of this neighborhood, and to a large degree defines what this neighborhood is about.
Furthermore, the Downtown Berkeley neighborhood has a greater proportion of government workers living in it than 98.4% of the neighborhoods in America, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. This is a unique feature of this neighborhood, and one that shapes its character.
Renter-occupied real estate is dominant in the Downtown Berkeley neighborhood. The percentage of rental real estate here, according to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, is 100.0%, which is higher than 99.3% 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.
In addition, one of the really unique and interesting things about the look and setting of the Downtown Berkeley neighborhood is that it is almost entirely dominated by large apartment buildings, such as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments. 90.7% 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 98.3% of all neighborhoods in America.
Furthermore, the Downtown Berkeley 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 90.8% 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, if you like crowded places, then you will probably enjoy the the Downtown Berkeley neighborhood. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive data analysis, this neighborhood is more densely populated than 95.0% of neighborhoods in the U.S., with 20,380 people per square mile living here. Even if you drive or take transit to your place of employment, many people enjoy being able to walk in their neighborhood. What many people don't realize is that most of America's premier vacation locations are also very walkable. The Downtown Berkeley neighborhood is among the top 5% of American neighborhoods in terms of walkability.
In the Downtown Berkeley neighborhood, many people's commute means walking from the bedroom to the home office. NeighborhoodScout's analysis found that 40.6% of residents worked from home. This may not seem like a large number, but Scout's research shows that this is a higher percentage of people working from home than 99.1% of the neighborhoods in America. Often people who work from home are engaged in the creative or technological economy, such as is found in areas around Boston, and in Silicon Valley. Other times, people may be engaged in other businesses like trading stocks from home, or running a small beauty salon.
Also, more people in Downtown Berkeley choose to walk to work each day (21.8%) than almost any neighborhood in America. If you are attracted to the idea of being able to walk to work, this neighborhood could be a good choice.
Finally, if your dream is to be able to ride your bike to work each day, look no further than this unique neighborhood. With 4.4% of residents in the Downtown Berkeley neighborhood commuting on a bicycle to and from work daily, this neighborhood has more bicycle commuters than 97.7% of all neighborhoods in the U.S., according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis.
An extraordinary 40.0% of the residents of the Downtown Berkeley neighborhood are currently enrolled in college. This is such a large part of life in this neighborhood that the neighborhood changes a great deal with the change of semesters and is far quieter during the summer when many students are away.
In addition, the types of households in a neighborhood can tell a lot about the character and lifestyle of those living here. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood, above nearly every neighborhood in America, has a greater percentage of its residents living alone: 60.4%. This is a higher percent living alone than we found in 98.8% of all U.S. neighborhoods. Often residents who live alone are new arrivals to an area who are single, and often senior citizens who have lost a spouse.
American households most often have a car, and regularly they have two or three. But households in the Downtown Berkeley neighborhood buck this trend. 47.2% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 98.5% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Did you know that the Downtown Berkeley neighborhood has more Iranian and Asian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 2.9% of this neighborhood's residents have Iranian ancestry and 37.5% have Asian ancestry.
Downtown Berkeley is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 19.7% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Chinese at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 99.2% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 Downtown Berkeley neighborhood in Berkeley are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 63.0% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 38.4% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 88.4% 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 Downtown Berkeley neighborhood, 89.8% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions, with 17.8% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (5.8%), and 4.4% in clerical, assistant, and tech support 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 Downtown Berkeley neighborhood is English, spoken by 55.7% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese, Spanish, Langs. of India and Russian.
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 Downtown Berkeley neighborhood in Berkeley, CA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Asian (37.5%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (15.5%), and residents who report German roots (11.5%), and some of the residents are also of English ancestry (9.3%), along with some Mexican ancestry residents (8.9%), among others. In addition, 32.1% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
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 Downtown Berkeley neighborhood spend between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (37.0% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.
Here most residents (21.8%) 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 (17.6%) and 9.2% of residents also drive alone in a private automobile 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.
