Southside West median real estate price is $2,594,721, which is more expensive than 96.1% of the neighborhoods in California and 99.3% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Southside West is currently $2,794, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 65.3% of California neighborhoods.
Southside West is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Berkeley, California.
Southside West 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 Southside West 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 1970 and 1999.
Vacant apartments or homes are a major fact of life in Southside West. The current real estate vacancy rate here is 20.9%. This is higher than the rate of vacancies in 89.5% 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.
When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
The Southside West neighborhood stands out for having an average per capita income lower than 96.9% of the neighborhoods in the United States. Also of note is NeighborhoodScout's research finding that the Southside West neighborhood has some of the lowest rates of children living in poverty of any neighborhood in the United States. In a nation where approximately 1 in 4 children are living in poverty, the Southside West community truly stands out from the rest in this regard.
In addition, neighborhoodScout's analysis shows that the Southside West neighborhood has a greater concentration of residents currently enrolled in college than 99.7% of the neighborhoods in the U.S. With 80.9% of the population here attending college, this is very much a college-focused neighborhood.
Also, the Southside West neighborhood stands out within California for its college student friendly environment. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that this neighborhood is home to a number of college students, is relatively walkable, and above average in safety. In combination, this makes it stand out for a good place for college students to consider. Because a number of college students live here, this neighborhood may be close to a college campus and offer certain amenities nearby geared towards the student body. While it's not an environment for everyone, ambitious scholars can enjoy seasonal excitement between semesters and school breaks, and parents can rest easy knowing that the area has an above average safety rating. For each of these reasons, the neighborhood is rated among the top 8.2% of college-friendly places to live in CA.
In the Southside West 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 35.6% 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!
American households most often have a car, and regularly they have two or three. But households in the Southside West neighborhood buck this trend. 66.0% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 99.4% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Renter-occupied real estate is dominant in the Southside West neighborhood. The percentage of rental real estate here, according to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, is 99.6%, which is higher than 99.2% 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, 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 71,284 people per square mile, it is more densely populated than 99.2% 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 Southside West neighborhood is one of the most walkable neighborhoods in America.
Furthermore, the real estate in the Southside West 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, 90.3% of the real estate here is classified as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments, which is more than is found in 98.2% of American neighborhoods.
Also of note, the Southside West 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 84.1% 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.
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. In the Southside West neighborhood, a greater proportion of the residents living here today did not live here five years ago than is found in 99.5% of U.S. Neighborhoods. This neighborhood, more than almost any other in America, has new residents from other areas.
Did you know that the Southside West neighborhood has more Armenian and Asian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 1.2% of this neighborhood's residents have Armenian ancestry and 37.5% have Asian ancestry.
Southside West is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 13.3% 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 98.5% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 Southside West neighborhood in Berkeley are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 96.9% of U.S. neighborhoods. In addition, 0.0% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 100.0% of America'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 Southside West neighborhood, 52.4% 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 23.8% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (18.7%), and 5.0% in manufacturing and laborer 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 Southside West neighborhood is English, spoken by 48.7% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish, Chinese, Langs. of India and Korean.
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 Southside West neighborhood in Berkeley, CA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Asian (37.5%). There are also a number of people of Mexican ancestry (14.8%), and residents who report German roots (5.0%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (3.3%), along with some South American ancestry residents (2.5%), among others. In addition, 21.9% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
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 Southside West neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (41.3% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (35.6%) hop out the door and walk to work to get to work. In addition, quite a number also drive alone in a private automobile to get to work (13.2%) and 7.4% of residents also take the train 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.
