Chinatown median real estate price is $2,354,774, which is more expensive than 93.9% of the neighborhoods in California and 98.9% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Chinatown is currently $1,189, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 99.5% of California neighborhoods.
Chinatown is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in San Francisco, California.
Chinatown 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 Chinatown 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.
Chinatown has a 13.5% vacancy rate, which is well above average compared to other U.S. neighborhoods (higher than 75.2% 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 San Francisco, the Chinatown neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
What you'll find when you visit or move to this neighborhood is one of the most crowded neighborhoods in all of America. With an incredible 149,293 people per square mile, it is more densely populated than 99.9% of America's neighborhoods. 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 Chinatown neighborhood is among the top 5% of American neighborhoods in terms of walkability.
In addition, the real estate in the Chinatown 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, 92.6% of the real estate here is classified as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments, which is more than is found in 98.6% of American neighborhoods.
Furthermore, the Chinatown 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 86.0% 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.
Also of note, 87.4% of the real estate in the Chinatown neighborhood is occupied by renters, which is nearly the highest rate of renter occupancy of any neighborhood in America.
Finally, 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 Chinatown neighborhood stands out on a national scale for the sheer concentration of historic residences it contains: 54.0% of the residential real estate here was built from 1939 or earlier, some much earlier. This is a greater concentration of historic homes than 95.0% of the neighborhoods in the United States.
In the Chinatown 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 49.5% of residents here. This is a higher proportion of walking commuters than we found in 99.8% of American neighborhoods. Get ready to put on your walking shoes if you move here!
Also, more people ride the bus in this neighborhood each day to get to work than 99.1% of U.S. neighborhoods.
American households most often have a car, and regularly they have two or three. But households in the Chinatown neighborhood buck this trend. 54.6% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 98.9% of U.S. neighborhoods.
From major sales accounts to fast-food workers, sales and service employees are often the backbone of the local economy. In the Chinatown neighborhood, they truly stand out. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis identifies this neighborhood as having a higher percentage of sales and service workers than 97.4% of all American neighborhoods.
Whether walking, biking, riding, or driving, the length of one's commute is an important factor for one's quality of life. The Chinatown neighborhood stands out for its commute length, according to NeighborhoodScout's analysis. Long commutes can be brutal. They take time, money, and energy, leaving less of you for yourself and your family. The residents of the Chinatown neighborhood unfortunately have the distinction of having, on average, a longer commute than most any neighborhood in America. 9.5% 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 95.0% of all neighborhoods in America.
Did you know that the Chinatown neighborhood has more Asian and Portuguese ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 86.4% of this neighborhood's residents have Asian ancestry and 2.0% have Portuguese ancestry.
Chinatown is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 71.8% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Chinese at home. This is a higher percentage than 100.0% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
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. What is interesting to note, is that the Chinatown neighborhood has a greater percentage of residents born in another country (79.6%) than are found in 100.0% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
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 Chinatown neighborhood in San Francisco are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 90.0% of U.S. neighborhoods. In addition, 9.0% 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 52.6% of America'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 Chinatown neighborhood, 41.0% 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 39.0% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (14.1%), and 4.8% in manufacturing and laborer 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 Chinatown neighborhood is Chinese, spoken by 71.8% of households. Other important languages spoken here include English, Spanish and French.
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 Chinatown neighborhood in San Francisco, CA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Asian (86.4%). There are also a number of people of Mexican ancestry (4.0%), and residents who report Sub-Saharan African roots (3.4%), and some of the residents are also of African ancestry (3.4%), along with some English ancestry residents (2.9%), among others. In addition, 79.6% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
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 Chinatown neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (39.7% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America. However, there is also a significant group of residents (9.5%) who commute over an hour in each direction.
Here most residents (49.5%) hop out the door and walk to work to get to work. In addition, quite a number also ride the bus to get to work (21.9%) and 13.7% 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.
