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Real Estate Prices & Overview

University Hill / Five Points median real estate price is $276,294, which is more expensive than 48.9% of the neighborhoods in South Carolina and 33.2% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.

The average rental price in University Hill / Five Points is currently $1,296, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 76.6% of South Carolina neighborhoods.

University Hill / Five Points is an urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Columbia, South Carolina.

University Hill / Five Points 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 University Hill / Five Points neighborhood are older, well-established, built between 1940 and 1969. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.

Vacant apartments or homes are a major fact of life in University Hill / Five Points. The current real estate vacancy rate here is 15.4%. This is higher than the rate of vacancies in 80.9% 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

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 Columbia, the University Hill / Five Points neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.

People

The University Hill / Five Points neighborhood stands out for having an average per capita income lower than 97.9% of the neighborhoods in the United States. Also of note is NeighborhoodScout's research finding that the University Hill / Five Points 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 University Hill / Five Points community truly stands out from the rest in this regard.

In addition, an extraordinary 47.7% of the residents of the University Hill / Five Points 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 University Hill / Five Points 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 0.9% of college-friendly places to live in the state of South Carolina.

Modes of Transportation

More people in University Hill / Five Points choose to walk to work each day (40.4%) than almost any neighborhood in America. If you are attracted to the idea of being able to walk to work, this neighborhood could be a good choice.

Real Estate

The University Hill / Five Points 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 90.3% 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.

In addition, 87.9% of the real estate in the University Hill / Five Points neighborhood is occupied by renters, which is nearly the highest rate of renter occupancy of any neighborhood in America.

Furthermore, one of the really unique and interesting things about the look and setting of the University Hill / Five Points neighborhood is that it is almost entirely dominated by large apartment buildings, such as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments. 76.1% of the residential real estate here is classified as such. This puts this neighborhood on the map as having a higher proportion of large apartment buildings than 96.1% of all neighborhoods in America.

Length of Commute

Regardless of the means by which residents commute, this neighborhood has a length of commute that is notable. Residents of the University Hill / Five Points neighborhood have the pleasure of having one of the shortest commutes to work of any neighborhood in America. 63.0% of the residents have a commute time from home to work (one way) of less than fifteen minutes. This is a higher proportion of residents enjoying a short trip to work than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.0% of U.S. neighborhoods. Less time commuting means more time for other things in life.

Occupations

There are more people living in the University Hill / Five Points neighborhood employed as sales and service workers (62.6%) 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.

Migration / Stability

The freedom of moving to new places versus the comfort of home. How much and how often people move not only can create diverse and worldly neighborhoods, but simultaneously it can produce a loss of intimacy with one's surroundings and a lack of connectedness to one's neighbors. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research has identified this neighborhood as unique with regard to the transience of its populace. In the University Hill / Five Points neighborhood, a greater proportion of the residents living here today did not live here five years ago than is found in 99.4% of U.S. Neighborhoods. This neighborhood, more than almost any other in America, has new residents from other areas.

Diversity

Significantly, 1.9% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak German/Yiddish at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 96.1% of the neighborhoods in America.

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 University Hill / Five Points neighborhood in Columbia are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 97.9% 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.

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 University Hill / Five Points neighborhood, 41.6% 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 37.4% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (16.4%), and 4.7% 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 University Hill / Five Points neighborhood is English, spoken by 84.7% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.

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 University Hill / Five Points neighborhood in Columbia, SC, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (12.8%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (11.2%), and residents who report Asian roots (8.8%), and some of the residents are also of English ancestry (6.4%), along with some Italian ancestry residents (5.8%), among others. In addition, 12.3% 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 University Hill / Five Points neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (63.0% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.

Here most residents (40.4%) 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 (33.0%) and 14.2% of residents also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors 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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