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.
Median real estate price in the Town Center of Clearlake Oaks is $223,184, which is less expensive than 97.2% of California neighborhoods and 75.6% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
The average rental price in Clearlake Oaks Town Center is currently $1,911, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 91.5% of California neighborhoods.
Clearlake Oaks Town Center is a suburban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Clearlake Oaks, California.
Real estate in the Town Center of Clearlake Oaks, CA is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to medium sized (three or four bedroom) single-family homes and mobile homes. Most of the residential real estate is owner occupied. Many of the residences in the Town Center neighborhood are established but not old, having been built between 1970 and 1999. A number of residences were also built between 1940 and 1969.
Vacant apartments or homes are a major fact of life in Clearlake Oaks Town Center. The current real estate vacancy rate here is 36.7%. This is higher than the rate of vacancies in 97.1% of all U.S. neighborhoods. A relatively large percentage of housing here is seasonally occupied (27.1%). This can occur in vacation areas, and occasionally it is also found in neighborhoods that are primarily filled with college students, as some apartments could be vacant when school is not in session. If you live here year round, you may find that a number of buildings in your neighborhood are actually empty.
Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics
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.
Occupations
The Clearlake Oaks Town Center neighborhood has a greater proportion of government workers living in it than 99.5% 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.
Furthermore, it used to be that most Americans lived on the farm, or otherwise made their living from the land, the forests, or the sea. With global trade and an economy increasingly based on providing services to one another, fewer people farm, fish or harvest timber now than at any time in American history. But according to NeighborhoodScout's leading analysis, the Clearlake Oaks Town Center neighborhood stands apart from most American neighborhood due to the proportion of its residents still working in these fields. With 4.4% of the workforce so employed, this neighborhood has a greater concentration of such workers than 96.5% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Modes of Transportation
In the Clearlake Oaks Town Center 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 29.4% of residents here. This is a higher proportion of walking commuters than we found in 99.1% of American neighborhoods. Get ready to put on your walking shoes if you move here!
Also, our research revealed that more commuters here take the bus to work (12.1% ride the bus) than 96.3% 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.
People
Astoundingly, the Town Center neighborhood has one of the highest concentrations of divorcees living here than of any neighborhood, a higher concentration than NeighborhoodScout found in 98.0% of U.S. neighborhoods. This may be because people living here divorce more often than others, or that divorced people move here after they become divorced. If you are divorced, you will be in good company in this particular Clearlake Oaks neighborhood.
Real Estate
Vacant homes and apartments are a significant characteristic of this neighborhood. In fact, with 36.7% of the residential real estate vacant, the Clearlake Oaks Town Center neighborhood claims the distinction of having a higher vacancy rate than 97.1% of the neighborhoods in America. This can either be because much of the property is seasonally occupied, like in many vacation areas, or that much of the real estate is more permanently abandoned.
Diversity
Did you know that the Clearlake Oaks Town Center neighborhood has more Armenian and Scottish ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 5.7% of this neighborhood's residents have Armenian ancestry and 6.0% have Scottish 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 Town Center neighborhood in Clearlake Oaks are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 93.0% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 51.4% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 94.6% 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 Clearlake Oaks Town Center neighborhood, 32.7% of the working population is employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support 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 26.0% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions (23.0%), and 21.4% in executive, management, and professional occupations.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the Clearlake Oaks Town Center neighborhood is English, spoken by 91.2% of households.
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 Town Center neighborhood in Clearlake Oaks, CA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (17.2%). There are also a number of people of Mexican ancestry (16.3%), and residents who report Irish roots (11.2%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (8.4%), along with some Scottish ancestry residents (6.0%), among others.
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 Clearlake Oaks Town Center neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (53.6% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (40.1%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also hop out the door and walk to work to get to work (29.4%) and 12.1% 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.
