What do we mean by a neighborhood?
NeighborhoodScout® uses the official government designation for neighborhoods - the census tract.
Census tracts are small, relatively permanent subdivisions of a county that are defined by the U.S. Census Bureau in conjunction with local authorities all across the country to define real neighborhoods that are bounded to contain areas with homogeneous population characteristics (including economic status, lifestyle, and living conditions). Census tracts usually have 4,000 persons, but can range between 1,500 and 8,000 persons. This is the most fine-grained area for which detailed information is made available from the government, to protect the individual privacy of each of us. Because census tracts are based on population, they vary in size depending on the density of settlement. In urban areas, they are small, and in rural areas they can cover an entire small town or even a few small towns in very rural areas.
Since census tracts are subdivisions of a county, we did a spatial overlay of the census tracts onto city and town boundaries using a geographic information system to properly assign each census tract to its appropriate city or town. Then we named each census tract to the local colloquially recognized neighborhood name for that spot (e.g., Boston, MA (Dorchester). If there was not a name available, we named the census tract by the largest street intersection in the census tract (e.g., Worcester, MA (Lincoln St/Plantation St)
Why we don't use Zip Codes as neighborhoods
Zip codes were developed by the Postal Service for the purpose of delivering mail, but were never intended to define coherent neighborhoods. In addition, Zip Codes can have as many as 10 distinctly different census tracts contained within them. When distinct census tracts are blended together in a single Zip Code, the data reflects their average conditions and often gives a false sense of the area. The result is that potentially great matching neighborhoods can be missed, and erroneous matches can also be produced and delivered to you.
Using census tracts makes great matches possible, and helps people find the areas that are best for them and their families. Because we are committed to providing the highest possible quality and finding the neighborhoods that best meet your criteria, we use census tracts. And, as always, we show you the actual street map of the neighborhood so you know exactly where your best matching neighborhood is located.
What is a Condition Alert?
A condition alert is a condition in the neighborhood that triggers an alert. NeighborhoodScout contains condition alerts to highlight conditions that are extreme, whether good or bad. This helps answer crucial questions about the state of the neighborhood being evaluated, such as:
What are the risks of violent crime here?
Is the risk of home break-ins or other property crimes increasing?
Does real estate here hold its value?
Are the trends in local vacancies or unemployment concerning?
...and dozens more.
Information at a glance that you need to know to invest, appraise or finance a property.
Mt Carmel Estates / The Villages of Steeplechase median real estate price is $524,559, which is more expensive than 59.9% of the neighborhoods in Maryland and 66.9% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Mt Carmel Estates / The Villages of Steeplechase is currently $1,905, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 84.5% of Maryland neighborhoods.
Mt Carmel Estates / The Villages of Steeplechase is a rural neighborhood (based on population density) located in La Plata, Maryland.
Mt Carmel Estates / The Villages of Steeplechase real estate is primarily made up of medium sized (three or four bedroom) to large (four, five or more bedroom) single-family homes and townhomes. Most of the residential real estate is owner occupied. Many of the residences in the Mt Carmel Estates / The Villages of Steeplechase neighborhood are established but not old, having been built between 1970 and 1999. A number of residences were also built between 2000 and the present.
Home and apartment vacancy rates are 7.3% in Mt Carmel Estates / The Villages of Steeplechase. NeighborhoodScout analysis shows that this rate is lower than 52.0% of the neighborhoods in the nation, approximately near the middle range for vacancies.
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
Of note is NeighborhoodScout's research finding that the Mt Carmel Estates / The Villages of Steeplechase 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 Mt Carmel Estates / The Villages of Steeplechase community truly stands out from the rest in this regard.
In addition, of particular note, 3.8% of the people in the Mt Carmel Estates / The Villages of Steeplechase neighborhood currently reside in a correction facility, held due to punishment for a crime.
Occupations
With 3.2% of employed workers living in the Mt Carmel Estates / The Villages of Steeplechase neighborhood active in the military, this neighborhood has the distinction of having a higher proportion of people in the military than 97.8% of American neighborhoods. This is a major shaper of the neighborhood's culture and character.
Furthermore, the government often provides some of the more stable jobs in the economy. From local, to state, to federal government workers, the government can also be a major employer. What NeighborhoodScout's analysis revealed, is that the Mt Carmel Estates / The Villages of Steeplechase neighborhood in particular stands out when compared nationally for the proportion of its working residents who are employed by the government. At 12.9% of its workforce, this neighborhood has a greater concentration of government workers than 95.3% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Real Estate
If you love row houses and attached homes, you will probably really like the Mt Carmel Estates / The Villages of Steeplechase neighborhood. The ambiance, the charm, of row houses is something special. And in sheer abundance of row houses, this neighborhood truly stands out. The real estate here has a higher proportion of row houses and attached homes than nearly any neighborhood in America. In fact, 26.4% of the residential real estate here is classified as row houses and attached homes.
Diversity
Did you know that the Mt Carmel Estates / The Villages of Steeplechase neighborhood has more Haitian and Brazilian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 4.5% of this neighborhood's residents have Haitian ancestry and 0.7% have Brazilian ancestry.
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 Mt Carmel Estates / The Villages of Steeplechase neighborhood in La Plata are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 84.7% of the neighborhoods in America. 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.
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 Mt Carmel Estates / The Villages of Steeplechase neighborhood, 48.4% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 24.0% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (18.2%), and 12.9% in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the Mt Carmel Estates / The Villages of Steeplechase neighborhood is English, spoken by 90.7% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (5.0%).
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 Mt Carmel Estates / The Villages of Steeplechase neighborhood in La Plata, MD, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (18.0%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (17.4%), and residents who report English roots (8.6%), and some of the residents are also of Sub-Saharan African ancestry (6.6%), along with some Haitian ancestry residents (4.5%), among others.
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 Mt Carmel Estates / The Villages of Steeplechase neighborhood spend between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (35.6% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.
Here most residents (79.8%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (7.7%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.
SCOUT’s patented match algorithm identifies the most similar neighborhoods to a subject location, and quantifies the similarity to the subject location. This allows analysts to identify the most similar neighborhoods in a local market area for appraisals, investments, and research.
The algorithm uses 273 neighborhood conditions, identifies the dominant dimensions underlying the conditions and calculates the similarity. This captures the true culture and character of locations, economic conditions, and trends.
The closer to 100% means the locations are nearly identical. 80% is a very good, but not excellent match, and so forth.
