Median real estate price in the Borough Center of Wilkinsburg is $172,201, which is less expensive than 79.4% of Pennsylvania neighborhoods and 84.6% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
The average rental price in Wilkinsburg Borough Center is currently $1,371, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 79.1% of Pennsylvania neighborhoods.
Wilkinsburg Borough Center is an urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania.
Real estate in the Borough Center of Wilkinsburg, PA is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to medium sized (three or four bedroom) small apartment buildings and single-family homes. Most of the residential real estate is renter occupied. Many of the residences in the Borough Center 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.
Vacant apartments or homes are a major fact of life in Wilkinsburg Borough Center. The current real estate vacancy rate here is 31.5%. This is higher than the rate of vacancies in 95.7% 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.
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.
More people ride the bus in this neighborhood each day to get to work than 99.7% of U.S. neighborhoods.
There are more people living in the Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood employed as sales and service workers (54.5%) than almost any neighborhood in the country. From fast-food service workers to major sales accounts, sales and service workers make up the largest proportion of our national employment picture. But despite that size and importance nationally, this neighborhood still stands out as unique due to the dominance of people living here who work in such occupations.
Regardless of the means by which residents commute, this neighborhood has a length of commute that is notable. Long commutes can be brutal. They take time, money, and energy, leaving less of you for yourself and your family. The residents of the Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood unfortunately have the distinction of having, on average, a longer commute than most any neighborhood in America. 13.9% of commuters here travel more than one hour just one-way to work. That is more than two hours per day. This percentage with two-hour + round-trip commutes is higher than NeighborhoodScout found in 98.3% of all neighborhoods in America.
Three-deckers, duplexes, old Victorian homes cut up into apartments. Independent stores on the corner selling pizza. These are some of the hallmarks of neighborhoods with lots of small 2, 3, and 4 unit apartment buildings. The Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood really stands out in this regard, however, as it is dominated by such small apartment buildings more than nearly any other neighborhood in America. This is a stunning visual and lifestyle example of this type of neighborhood. In fact, 41.2% of the real estate here are small 2, 3, or 4 unit apartment buildings, which is a higher proportion than found in 97.3% of America's neighborhoods.
In addition, vacant homes and apartments are a significant characteristic of this neighborhood. In fact, with 31.5% of the residential real estate vacant, the Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood claims the distinction of having a higher vacancy rate than 95.7% of the neighborhoods in America. This can either be because much of the property is seasonally occupied, like in many vacation areas, or that much of the real estate is more permanently abandoned.
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 Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood stands out on a national scale for the sheer concentration of historic residences it contains: 60.6% of the residential real estate here was built from 1939 or earlier, some much earlier. This is a greater concentration of historic homes than 96.8% of the neighborhoods in the United States.
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 Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood has a highly unusual pattern of car ownership. 27.7% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 96.8% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Single parenting is hard. But you don't have to tell the Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood about it; they already know. 18.8% of this neighborhood's households are run by single mothers, which is a higher concentration than NeighborhoodScout found in 96.3% of American neighborhoods. Further NeighborhoodScout research showed strong statistical correlations among high rates of children living in single parent households, and neighborhood crime, particularly violent crime, neighborhood poverty, and, importantly, the percentage of low weight births and rates of infant mortality.
Did you know that the Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood has more Sub-Saharan African and African ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 16.1% of this neighborhood's residents have Sub-Saharan African ancestry and 6.8% have African ancestry.
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 Borough Center neighborhood in Wilkinsburg are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 91.4% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 32.2% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 83.9% of U.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 Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood, 45.5% of the working population is employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is executive, management, and professional occupations, with 32.1% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (13.6%), and 8.7% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood is English, spoken by 99.4% of households.
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 Borough Center neighborhood in Wilkinsburg, PA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Sub-Saharan African (16.1%). There are also a number of people of African ancestry (6.8%), and residents who report German roots (6.0%), and some of the residents are also of English ancestry (4.4%), along with some Puerto Rican ancestry residents (4.2%), among others.
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 Wilkinsburg Borough Center neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (37.7% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans. However, there is also a significant group of residents (13.9%) who commute over an hour in each direction.
Here most residents (37.3%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also ride the bus to get to work (29.5%) and 20.6% of residents also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors 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.
