Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza median real estate price is $344,963, which is more expensive than 64.4% of the neighborhoods in Illinois and 48.1% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza is currently $3,935, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 97.5% of the neighborhoods in Illinois.
Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Evanston, Illinois.
Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza 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 Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza neighborhood are newer, built in 2000 or more recently. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.
Vacant apartments or homes are a major fact of life in Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza. The current real estate vacancy rate here is 16.9%. This is higher than the rate of vacancies in 81.8% 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.
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 Evanston, the Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
Real Estate
One of the really unique and interesting things about the look and setting of the Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza neighborhood is that it is almost entirely dominated by large apartment buildings, such as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments. 97.8% 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 99.6% of all neighborhoods in America.
In addition, if you like crowded places, then you will probably enjoy the the Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza neighborhood. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive data analysis, this neighborhood is more densely populated than 96.2% of neighborhoods in the U.S., with 25,691 people per square mile living here.
Furthermore, the Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza 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 85.3% 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.
People
The rate of college educated adults in the Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza neighborhood is a unique characteristic of the neighborhood. 88.6% of adults here have received at least a 4-year bachelor's degree, compared to the average neighborhood in America, which has 34.3% of the adults with a bachelor's degree. The rate here is higher than NeighborhoodScout found in 99.6% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
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: 49.7%. This is a higher percent living alone than we found in 95.4% 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.
Also, if you're looking for an active nightlife with lots of opportunities to flirt and find romance, then you probably won't have to go too far from the Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza neighborhood to find it. Only 4.9% of the neighborhoods in the country have a larger proportion of young, single professionals. The nightlife may not be reminiscent of a "Sex and the City" episode, but the people who live here find friendship, romance, fun, and socializing readily available.
Occupations
The Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza neighborhood has a higher proportion of its residents employed as executives, managers and professionals than 98.8% of the neighborhoods in America. In fact, 78.6% 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.
Modes of Transportation
More people in Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza choose to walk to work each day (16.6%) 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.
Also, if you like to ride the train to work, this neighborhood may be for you. NeighborhoodScout's research revealed that 13.8% of the Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza neighborhood's commuters ride the train to and from work each day, which is more than we found in 96.2% of America's neighborhoods.
Car Ownership
We Americans love our cars. Not only are they a necessity for most Americans due to the shape of our neighborhoods and the distances between where we live, work, shop, and go to school, but we also fancy them. As a result, most households in America have one, two, or three cars. But NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis shows that the Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza neighborhood has a highly unusual pattern of car ownership. 23.1% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 96.0% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Diversity
Did you know that the Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza neighborhood has more Ukrainian and Belgian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 3.9% of this neighborhood's residents have Ukrainian ancestry and 1.7% have Belgian ancestry.
Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 12.8% 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.
Migration / Stability
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 Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza neighborhood, a greater proportion of the residents living here today did not live here five years ago than is found in 98.8% of U.S. Neighborhoods. This neighborhood, more than almost any other in America, has new residents from other areas.
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 Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza neighborhood in Evanston are middle-income, making it a moderate income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 43.2% of the neighborhoods in America. With 16.4% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 62.7% 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 Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza neighborhood, 78.6% 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 14.7% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (6.7%).
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 Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza neighborhood is English, spoken by 74.8% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese and Spanish.
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 Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza neighborhood in Evanston, IL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Asian (25.1%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (10.7%), and residents who report Polish roots (9.3%), and some of the residents are also of Irish ancestry (6.9%), along with some Russian ancestry residents (5.6%), among others. In addition, 25.7% 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 Optima Horizons / Sherman Plaza neighborhood spend between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (33.2% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.
Here most residents (32.5%) 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 (16.6%) and 13.8% of residents also take the train 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.
