Harvard Square / Harvard University median real estate price is $1,975,848, which is more expensive than 97.2% of the neighborhoods in Massachusetts and 98.2% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Harvard Square / Harvard University is currently $4,454, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 85.7% of the neighborhoods in Massachusetts.
Harvard Square / Harvard University is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Harvard Square / Harvard University 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 Harvard Square / Harvard University 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 1940 and 1969.
Harvard Square / Harvard University has a 14.2% vacancy rate, which is well above average compared to other U.S. neighborhoods (higher than 77.2% 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.
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.
Of note is NeighborhoodScout's research finding that the Harvard Square / Harvard University 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 Harvard Square / Harvard University community truly stands out from the rest in this regard.
In addition, the rate of college educated adults in the Harvard Square / Harvard University neighborhood is a unique characteristic of the neighborhood. 89.0% of adults here have received at least a 4-year bachelor's degree, compared to the average neighborhood in America, which has 35.0% 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 the Harvard Square / Harvard University 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 34.3% of residents here. This is a higher proportion of walking commuters than we found in 99.4% of American neighborhoods. Get ready to put on your walking shoes if you move here!
Also, if your dream is to be able to ride your bike to work each day, look no further than this unique neighborhood. With 6.4% of residents in the Harvard Square / Harvard University neighborhood commuting on a bicycle to and from work daily, this neighborhood has more bicycle commuters than 98.9% of all neighborhoods in the U.S., according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis.
Finally, if you like to ride the train to work, this neighborhood may be for you. NeighborhoodScout's research revealed that 9.9% of the Harvard Square / Harvard University neighborhood's commuters ride the train to and from work each day, which is more than we found in 95.4% of America's neighborhoods.
If you like crowded places, then you will probably enjoy the the Harvard Square / Harvard University neighborhood. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive data analysis, this neighborhood is more densely populated than 96.5% of neighborhoods in the U.S., with 27,225 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 Harvard Square / Harvard University neighborhood is among the top 5% of American neighborhoods in terms of walkability.
In addition, renter-occupied real estate is dominant in the Harvard Square / Harvard University neighborhood. The percentage of rental real estate here, according to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, is 86.1%, which is higher than 95.7% 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.
Furthermore, do you watch 'This Old House' on Public Television? Do you love the idea of fixing up a Colonial or Victorian era home, complete with the charm of yesteryear? Do you like to stroll or drive streets lined with gracious older residences? If you found yourself nodding yes to any of these questions, you are going to be interested in this unique neighborhood. The Harvard Square / Harvard University neighborhood stands out on a national scale for the sheer concentration of historic residences it contains: 64.0% of the residential real estate here was built from 1939 or earlier, some much earlier. This is a greater concentration of historic homes than 97.5% of the neighborhoods in the United States.
American households most often have a car, and regularly they have two or three. But households in the Harvard Square / Harvard University neighborhood buck this trend. 33.6% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.5% of U.S. neighborhoods.
The Harvard Square / Harvard University neighborhood has a higher proportion of its residents employed as executives, managers and professionals than 97.4% of the neighborhoods in America. In fact, 74.8% 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.
Some neighborhoods have more internal cohesiveness than others. While other neighborhoods feel like a collection of strangers who just happen to live near each other. Sometimes this comes down to not only the personalities of the people in a place, but how long people have been together in that neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research has revealed some interesting things about the rootedness of people in the Harvard Square / Harvard University neighborhood. In the Harvard Square / Harvard University neighborhood, a greater proportion of the residents living here today did not live here five years ago than is found in 98.0% of U.S. Neighborhoods. This neighborhood, more than almost any other in America, has new residents from other areas.
Did you know that the Harvard Square / Harvard University neighborhood has more Armenian and Belgian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 0.8% of this neighborhood's residents have Armenian ancestry and 0.5% have Belgian ancestry.
Harvard Square / Harvard University is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 2.4% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Korean at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 96.8% 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 Harvard Square / Harvard University neighborhood in Cambridge are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 78.5% of the neighborhoods in America. 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 Harvard Square / Harvard University neighborhood, 74.8% 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 14.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (7.4%), and 3.6% 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 Harvard Square / Harvard University neighborhood is English, spoken by 68.3% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish, Chinese and Korean.
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 Harvard Square / Harvard University neighborhood in Cambridge, MA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Asian (23.8%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (10.0%), and residents who report English roots (9.4%), and some of the residents are also of Irish ancestry (7.1%), along with some Italian ancestry residents (6.4%), among others. In addition, 24.0% 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 Harvard Square / Harvard University neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (35.1% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (34.3%) 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 (17.1%) and 9.9% 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.
