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Real Estate Prices & Overview

Highlands South median real estate price is $353,080, which is more expensive than 64.4% of the neighborhoods in Pennsylvania and 47.7% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.

The average rental price in Highlands South is currently $1,674, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 53.7% of Pennsylvania neighborhoods.

Highlands South is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in State College, Pennsylvania.

Highlands South 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 Highlands South neighborhood are established but not old, having been built between 1970 and 1999. A number of residences were also built between 1940 and 1969.

Vacant apartments or homes are a major fact of life in Highlands South. The current real estate vacancy rate here is 17.1%. This is higher than the rate of vacancies in 82.3% 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.

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.

People

The Highlands South neighborhood stands out for having an average per capita income lower than 96.3% of the neighborhoods in the United States. Also of note is NeighborhoodScout's research finding that the Highlands South 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 Highlands South community truly stands out from the rest in this regard.

In addition, an extraordinary 64.0% of the residents of the Highlands South neighborhood are currently enrolled in college. This is such a large part of life in this neighborhood that the neighborhood changes a great deal with the change of semesters and is far quieter during the summer when many students are away.

Also, one of the really interesting characteristics about the Highlands South neighborhood is that, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research, it is an excellent choice in which to reside for college students. Due to its popularity among college students who already choose to live here, its walkability, and its above average safety from crime, the neighborhood is ideal for prospective or already-enrolled college students. Between semesters and during school breaks, you'll notice that the excitement here fluctuates with the college seasons. Despite the excitement however, parents of college-age children can rest easy knowing that this neighborhood has an above average safety rating. For each of these reasons, the neighborhood is rated among the top 2.3% of college-friendly places to live in the state of Pennsylvania.

Finally, there is an especially high percentage of incarcerated people (1.1%) living in the Highlands South neighborhood.

Modes of Transportation

In the Highlands South 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 39.5% of residents here. This is a higher proportion of walking commuters than we found in 99.6% of American neighborhoods. Get ready to put on your walking shoes if you move here!

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 Highlands South neighborhood has a highly unusual pattern of car ownership. 22.5% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 95.9% of U.S. neighborhoods.

Real Estate

85.0% of the real estate in the Highlands South neighborhood is occupied by renters, which is nearly the highest rate of renter occupancy of any neighborhood in America.

Migration / Stability

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 Highlands South neighborhood. In the Highlands South neighborhood, a greater proportion of the residents living here today did not live here five years ago than is found in 99.7% of U.S. Neighborhoods. This neighborhood, more than almost any other in America, has new residents from other areas.

Diversity

Did you know that the Highlands South neighborhood has more Iranian and Canadian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 2.8% of this neighborhood's residents have Iranian ancestry and 1.1% have Canadian ancestry.

Highlands South is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 1.0% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Persian at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 97.7% 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 Highlands South neighborhood in State College are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 96.3% of U.S. neighborhoods. 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 Highlands South neighborhood, 59.1% 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 30.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (6.0%), and 4.7% in clerical, assistant, and tech support 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 Highlands South neighborhood is English, spoken by 88.5% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Spanish.

Ethnicity / Ancestry

Boston's Beacon Hill blue-blood streets, Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish enclaves, Los Angeles' Persian neighborhoods. Each has its own culture derived primarily from the ancestries and culture of the residents who call these neighborhoods home. Likewise, each neighborhood in America has its own culture – some more unique than others – based on lifestyle, occupations, the types of households – and importantly – on the ethnicities and ancestries of the people who live in the neighborhood. Understanding where people came from, who their grandparents or great-grandparents were, can help you understand how a neighborhood is today.

In the Highlands South neighborhood in State College, PA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (11.3%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (9.2%), and residents who report Italian roots (7.2%), and some of the residents are also of English ancestry (6.5%), along with some Asian ancestry residents (6.4%), among others. In addition, 12.5% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.

Getting to Work

Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in Highlands South neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (47.8% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.

Here most residents (39.5%) 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 (29.7%) and 8.4% of residents also ride the bus 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.


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