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Real Estate Prices & Overview

Downtown Santa Monica median real estate price is $2,375,924, which is more expensive than 94.5% of the neighborhoods in California and 99.0% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.

The average rental price in Downtown Santa Monica is currently $4,456, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 82.6% of the neighborhoods in California.

Downtown Santa Monica is an urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Santa Monica, California. This is a coastal neighborhood (i.e., is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet).

Downtown Santa Monica 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 Downtown Santa Monica neighborhood are newer, built in 2000 or more recently. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.

Downtown Santa Monica has a 12.8% 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.

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 Santa Monica, the Downtown Santa Monica neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.

Real Estate

Downtown Santa Monica is a neighborhood that is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet. Many times, such places have amenities that bring locals and visitors to the waterfront for recreational activities or to check out the scenery. In some densely populated areas that are less financially well-off, the neighborhood waterfront can be relatively industrial and less open to recreation. In addition to being coastal, Downtown Santa Monica is a very nautical neighborhood, meaning that it is somewhat historic, walkable, densely populated and on the water. This gives the neighborhood a very nautical feel, with some seaside and shipping feel, which some may really enjoy the sights and sounds of.

In addition, the Downtown Santa Monica 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 98.0% 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.

Furthermore, one of the really unique and interesting things about the look and setting of the Downtown Santa Monica neighborhood is that it is almost entirely dominated by large apartment buildings, such as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments. 95.2% 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 99.0% of all neighborhoods in America.

Also of note, 98.1% of the real estate in the Downtown Santa Monica neighborhood is occupied by renters, which is nearly the highest rate of renter occupancy of any neighborhood in America.

People

One of the most interesting things about the Downtown Santa Monica neighborhood is that it has a greater concentration of residents who live alone than most all neighborhoods in America. With 58.9% of the households here made up of people living alone, NeighborhoodScout's research reveals that this is a larger proportion of people living alone than in 98.4% of the neighborhoods in America.

In addition, do you like to read, write, and learn? Are you curious about the world? If so, this neighborhood may be a good fit for you. NeighborhoodScout's research revealed that a full 78.7% of the adults living in the Downtown Santa Monica neighborhood have earned at least a bachelor's degree. This is a higher rate than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.1% of U.S. neighborhoods. In this way, this neighborhood truly stands out.

Also, a unique characteristic about the people in the Downtown Santa Monica neighborhood is that a majority of them are young, single professionals. In fact, there are more young, single professionals in this one community than 96.3% of neighborhoods in the U.S. Here you'll find an active nightlife nearby with lots of opportunities to flirt and find romance.

Modes of Transportation

A unique way of commuting is simply not to. And in the Downtown Santa Monica neighborhood, analysis shows that 35.2% of the residents work from home, avoiding a commute altogether. This may not seem like a large number, but it is a higher proportion of people working from home than is found in 96.1% of the neighborhoods in the United States. One thing NeighborhoodScout's research reveals is that the wealthier and/or more isolated the neighborhood, the greater the proportion of residents who choose to work from home.

Occupations

The Downtown Santa Monica neighborhood has a higher proportion of its residents employed as executives, managers and professionals than 95.2% of the neighborhoods in America. In fact, 70.7% 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.

Diversity

Did you know that the Downtown Santa Monica neighborhood has more Iranian and Ukrainian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 2.7% of this neighborhood's residents have Iranian ancestry and 3.3% have Ukrainian ancestry.

Downtown Santa Monica is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 4.4% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Russian at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 99.7% 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 Downtown Santa Monica neighborhood in Santa Monica are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 76.6% of the neighborhoods in America. With 44.2% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 91.8% 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 Downtown Santa Monica neighborhood, 70.7% 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 18.9% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (9.9%).

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 Santa Monica neighborhood is English, spoken by 66.5% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Arabic.

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 Santa Monica neighborhood in Santa Monica, CA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Asian (11.1%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (7.6%), and residents who report English roots (7.0%), and some of the residents are also of Mexican ancestry (5.7%), along with some Arab ancestry residents (5.1%), among others. In addition, 34.9% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.

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 Downtown Santa Monica neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (41.0% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.

Here most residents (51.9%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (6.6%) and 5.2% of residents also hop out the door and walk to work 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.


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