Downtown median real estate price is $232,190, which is less expensive than 98.4% of Massachusetts neighborhoods and 72.8% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
The average rental price in Downtown is currently $4,550, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 83.2% of the neighborhoods in Massachusetts.
Downtown is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Boston, Massachusetts.
Downtown 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 townhomes. Most of the residential real estate is renter occupied. Many of the residences in the Downtown neighborhood are established but not old, having been built between 1970 and 1999. A number of residences were also built between 1940 and 1969.
Home and apartment vacancy rates are 9.2% in Downtown. NeighborhoodScout analysis shows that this rate is lower than 41.9% of the neighborhoods in the nation, approximately near the middle range for vacancies.
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 Downtown neighborhood stands out for having an average per capita income lower than 98.5% of the neighborhoods in the United States. Also of note, 95.7% of the children in this area live in poverty; an extraordinarily high percentage compared to other neighborhoods in the nation. In a nation where approximately one in four children grows up in poverty, this neighborhood stands out for the depth of the problem manifested here.
In addition, one of the most interesting things about the Downtown neighborhood is that it has a greater concentration of residents who live alone than most all neighborhoods in America. With 59.3% 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 98.7% of the neighborhoods in America.
Also, some neighborhoods have residents that are more educated than others. But in this neighborhood there is a dramatic difference. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that 35.5% of the adults here have earned a Masters degree, medical degree, Ph.D. or law degree. This is a higher rate of people with a graduate degree than is found in 95.2% of U.S. neighborhoods, where the average American neighborhood has 13.4% of its adults with a graduate degree. If you are highly educated, you may have much in common with many of your neighbors here.
Modes of Transportation
Our research shows that more people carpool to work here in the Downtown (29.3%) than in 98.7% of the neighborhoods in America.
Also, if you like to ride the train to work, this neighborhood may be for you. NeighborhoodScout's research revealed that 29.4% of the Downtown neighborhood's commuters ride the train to and from work each day, which is more than we found in 98.1% of America's neighborhoods.
Car Ownership
American households most often have a car, and regularly they have two or three. But households in the Downtown neighborhood buck this trend. 42.2% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 98.3% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Real Estate
95.5% of the real estate in the Downtown neighborhood is occupied by renters, which is nearly the highest rate of renter occupancy of any neighborhood in America.
In addition, the Downtown 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 90.7% 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.
Furthermore, one of the really unique and interesting things about the look and setting of the Downtown neighborhood is that it is almost entirely dominated by large apartment buildings, such as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments. 82.3% 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 97.0% of all neighborhoods in America.
Diversity
Did you know that the Downtown neighborhood has more West Indian and Puerto Rican ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 2.1% of this neighborhood's residents have West Indian ancestry and 15.4% have Puerto Rican ancestry.
Downtown is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 23.5% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Chinese at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 99.4% of the neighborhoods in America.
Migration / Stability
Do you like to be surrounded by people from all over the country or world, with different perspectives and life experiences? Or do you instead prefer to be in a neighborhood where most residents have lived there for a long time, creating a sense of cohesiveness? NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that this neighborhood stands out among American neighborhoods for the uniqueness of the mobility of its residents. What is interesting to note, is that the Downtown neighborhood has a greater percentage of residents born in another country (48.7%) than are found in 97.3% 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 Downtown neighborhood in Boston are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 98.5% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 95.7% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 99.8% of U.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 Downtown neighborhood, 53.0% 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 22.6% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (21.5%), and 3.0% 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 Downtown neighborhood is English, spoken by 45.8% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese, Spanish, French and Vietnamese.
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 Downtown neighborhood in Boston, MA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Asian (37.9%). There are also a number of people of Puerto Rican ancestry (15.4%), and residents who report French roots (4.7%), and some of the residents are also of Irish ancestry (4.2%), along with some Dominican ancestry residents (3.5%), among others. In addition, 48.7% 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 Downtown neighborhood spend between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (37.7% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.
Here most residents (29.4%) take the train to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (29.3%) and 10.6% of residents also drive alone in a private automobile for their daily commute. This neighborhood is distinguished by the high number of residents who take the train to work each day, which can be a very good way to get to work at a lower cost and with less pollution.
