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.
7th Street median real estate price is $227,155, which is more expensive than 36.5% of the neighborhoods in Pennsylvania and 26.2% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in 7th Street is currently $2,094, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 68.6% of the neighborhoods in Pennsylvania.
7th Street is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
7th Street real estate is primarily made up of medium sized (three or four bedroom) to large (four, five or more bedroom) townhomes and single-family homes. Most of the residential real estate is occupied by a mixture of owners and renters. Many of the residences in the 7th Street 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.
Real estate vacancies in 7th Street are 5.8%, which is lower than one will find in 61.1% of American neighborhoods. Demand for real estate in 7th Street is above average for the U.S., and may signal some demand for either price increases or new construction of residential product for this neighborhood.
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
NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research identifies the 7th Street neighborhood as having one of the highest concentrations of people employed in manufacturing or as laborers of any neighborhood in America. In fact, despite the loss of manufacturing jobs nationally, this neighborhood has 55.0% of its working residents employed in such fields, which is a higher proportion than 99.6% of American neighborhoods.
Modes of Transportation
In the 7th Street neighborhood, carpooling is still a popular way to get to and from work. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that 34.6% of commuters carpool here, which is more than in 99.5% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
Real Estate
Many people dream of living along a street lined with row houses or other attached homes. Such places do often have an abundance of charm. If you are one of these people, the 7th Street neighborhood could be your paradise. With 65.9% of the homes and real estate here classified as rowhouses or other attached homes, this neighborhood brims with opportunity to find the right place for you. Only 0.5% of U.S. neighborhoods have more row houses than this neighborhood, making it one of the most interesting things about this special neighborhood.
In addition, if you like crowded places, then you will probably enjoy the the 7th Street neighborhood. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive data analysis, this neighborhood is more densely populated than 96.7% of neighborhoods in the U.S., with 28,618 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 7th Street neighborhood is among the top 5% of American neighborhoods in terms of walkability.
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 7th Street neighborhood stands out on a national scale for the sheer concentration of historic residences it contains: 69.1% of the residential real estate here was built from 1939 or earlier, some much earlier. This is a greater concentration of historic homes than 98.4% of the neighborhoods in the United States.
Diversity
Did you know that the 7th Street neighborhood has more Dominican and Puerto Rican ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 28.3% of this neighborhood's residents have Dominican ancestry and 29.4% have Puerto Rican ancestry.
7th Street is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 60.1% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Spanish at home. This is a higher percentage than 95.7% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
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 7th Street neighborhood in Allentown are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 68.9% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 12.9% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 56.0% of U.S. neighborhoods.
A neighborhood is far different if it is dominated by enlisted military personnel rather than people who earn their living by farming. It is also different if most of the neighbors are clerical support or managers. What is wonderful is the sheer diversity of neighborhoods, allowing you to find the type that fits your lifestyle and aspirations.
In the 7th Street neighborhood, 55.0% of the working population is employed in manufacturing and laborer 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 19.6% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in executive, management, and professional occupations (14.5%), and 10.9% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the 7th Street neighborhood is Spanish, spoken by 60.1% of households. Some people also speak English (38.3%).
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 7th Street neighborhood in Allentown, PA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Puerto Rican (29.4%). There are also a number of people of Dominican ancestry (28.3%), and residents who report Sub-Saharan African roots (3.7%), and some of the residents are also of African ancestry (3.7%), along with some German ancestry residents (2.9%), among others. In addition, 26.8% 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 7th Street neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (67.6% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (56.7%) 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 (34.6%) and 5.4% 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.
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.
