Median real estate price in the City Center of Philadelphia is $1,370,370, which is more expensive than 99.7% of the neighborhoods in Pennsylvania and 95.9% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Philadelphia City Center is currently $3,357, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 95.5% of the neighborhoods in Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia City Center is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Real estate in the City Center of Philadelphia, PA 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 occupied by a mixture of owners and renters. Many of the residences in the City Center neighborhood are newer, built in 2000 or more recently. A number of residences were also built before 1940.
Philadelphia City Center has a 12.4% vacancy rate, which is well above average compared to other U.S. neighborhoods (higher than 73.1% 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.
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 Philadelphia, the City Center neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
In a nation where 1 out of every 4 children lives in poverty, the Philadelphia City Center neighborhood stands out as being ranked among the lowest 0.0% of neighborhoods affected by this global issue.
In addition, the rate of college educated adults in the Philadelphia City Center neighborhood is a unique characteristic of the neighborhood. 90.4% of adults here have received at least a 4-year bachelor's degree, compared to the average neighborhood in America, which has 35.7% of the adults with a bachelor's degree. The rate here is higher than NeighborhoodScout found in 99.7% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
Also, think about the people you know personally. How many of them would purchase box seats to opening night at the symphony? How many of them regularly attend gallery openings, or are the first to reserve tickets to opening night at the ballet? If they're like most of us, they don't do any of these things. But if you're among an exclusive crowd of wealthy and refined patrons of the arts, then you'll feel right at home in the Philadelphia City Center neighborhood: a neighborhood in which more "urban sophisticates" live than 98.6% of neighborhoods across the U.S. Here, your neighbors are defined as having urbane tastes in literature, music, live theatre and the arts. They are wealthy, educated, travel in style, and live a big city lifestyle whether or not they live in or near a big city. In addition to being an excellent choice for urban sophisticates, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for highly educated executives.
Finally, one of the most interesting things about the Philadelphia City Center neighborhood is that it has a greater concentration of residents who live alone than most all neighborhoods in America. With 56.3% 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 97.8% of the neighborhoods in America.
In the Philadelphia City Center neighborhood, many people's commute means walking from the bedroom to the home office. NeighborhoodScout's analysis found that 49.0% of residents worked from home. This may not seem like a large number, but Scout's research shows that this is a higher percentage of people working from home than 99.7% of the neighborhoods in America. Often people who work from home are engaged in the creative or technological economy, such as is found in areas around Boston, and in Silicon Valley. Other times, people may be engaged in other businesses like trading stocks from home, or running a small beauty salon.
Also, in the Philadelphia City 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 18.8% of residents here. This is a higher proportion of walking commuters than we found in 98.0% of American neighborhoods. Get ready to put on your walking shoes if you move here!
Finally, if you like to ride the train to work, this neighborhood may be for you. NeighborhoodScout's research revealed that 9.0% of the Philadelphia City Center neighborhood's commuters ride the train to and from work each day, which is more than we found in 95.3% of America's neighborhoods.
The real estate in the Philadelphia City Center neighborhood really stands out in the way it looks for a unique reason: this neighborhood has a higher proportion of apartment complexes or high-rise apartments than nearly every neighborhood in the country. Most neighborhoods are a mixture of real estate and housing types, but here it is almost entirely dominated by big apartment buildings and complexes. In fact, 93.5% of the real estate here is classified as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments, which is more than is found in 98.7% of American neighborhoods.
In addition, if you like crowded places, then you will probably enjoy the the Philadelphia City Center neighborhood. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive data analysis, this neighborhood is more densely populated than 95.2% of neighborhoods in the U.S., with 21,129 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 Philadelphia City Center neighborhood is among the top 5% of American neighborhoods in terms of walkability.
Furthermore, the Philadelphia City Center 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 84.4% 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.
The Philadelphia City Center neighborhood has a higher proportion of its residents employed as executives, managers and professionals than 98.7% of the neighborhoods in America. In fact, 79.3% 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.
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 Philadelphia City Center neighborhood has a highly unusual pattern of car ownership. 26.2% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 96.5% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Did you know that the Philadelphia City Center neighborhood has more Eastern European and Dutch ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 12.2% of this neighborhood's residents have Eastern European ancestry and 9.5% have Dutch ancestry.
Philadelphia City Center is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 3.7% 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 98.3% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 City Center neighborhood in Philadelphia are wealthy, making it among the 15% highest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 94.9% 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.
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 Philadelphia City Center neighborhood, 79.3% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations, with 11.7% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (7.1%), and 3.8% in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions.
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 Philadelphia City Center neighborhood is English, spoken by 79.0% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Korean, Spanish, Arabic and German/Yiddish.
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 City Center neighborhood in Philadelphia, PA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as English (13.3%). There are also a number of people of Eastern European ancestry (12.2%), and residents who report Asian roots (11.0%), and some of the residents are also of Irish ancestry (11.0%), along with some Dutch ancestry residents (9.5%), among others. In addition, 18.4% 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 Philadelphia City Center neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (39.1% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (18.8%) hop out the door and walk to work to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (11.4%) and 10.2% of residents also drive alone in a private automobile 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.
