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Real Estate Prices & Overview

Forest Hills / Western Carolina University median real estate price is $410,350, which is more expensive than 66.7% of the neighborhoods in North Carolina and 55.3% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.

The average rental price in Forest Hills / Western Carolina University is currently $1,355, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 81.4% of North Carolina neighborhoods.

Forest Hills / Western Carolina University is a rural neighborhood (based on population density) located in Cullowhee, North Carolina.

Forest Hills / Western Carolina University real estate is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to medium sized (three or four bedroom) single-family homes and apartment complexes/high-rise apartments. Most of the residential real estate is renter occupied. Many of the residences in the Forest Hills / Western Carolina University neighborhood are newer, built in 2000 or more recently. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.

Vacant apartments or homes are a major fact of life in Forest Hills / Western Carolina University. The current real estate vacancy rate here is 16.5%. This is higher than the rate of vacancies in 81.1% 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

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.

People

An extraordinary 49.6% of the residents of the Forest Hills / Western Carolina University 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.

In addition, one of the really interesting characteristics about the Forest Hills / Western Carolina University 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 3.3% of college-friendly places to live in the state of North Carolina.

Occupations

From major sales accounts to fast-food workers, sales and service employees are often the backbone of the local economy. In the Forest Hills / Western Carolina University neighborhood, they truly stand out. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis identifies this neighborhood as having a higher percentage of sales and service workers than 96.6% of all American neighborhoods.

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. In the Forest Hills / Western Carolina University neighborhood, a greater proportion of the residents living here today did not live here five years ago than is found in 97.7% of U.S. Neighborhoods. This neighborhood, more than almost any other in America, has new residents from other areas.

Diversity

Did you know that the Forest Hills / Western Carolina University neighborhood has more Scots-Irish ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 3.9% of this neighborhood's residents have Scots-Irish 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 Forest Hills / Western Carolina University neighborhood in Cullowhee are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 85.6% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 25.0% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 75.6% 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 Forest Hills / Western Carolina University neighborhood, 40.1% 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 28.5% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (16.8%), and 13.0% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.

Languages

The most common language spoken in the Forest Hills / Western Carolina University neighborhood is English, spoken by 92.7% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (6.5%).

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 Forest Hills / Western Carolina University neighborhood in Cullowhee, NC, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as English (11.8%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (8.7%), and residents who report German roots (7.7%), and some of the residents are also of Mexican ancestry (6.5%), along with some Scots-Irish ancestry residents (3.9%), 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 Forest Hills / Western Carolina University neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (43.9% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.

Here most residents (74.9%) 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 (13.4%) and 9.5% of residents also hop out the door and walk to work 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.


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Race & Ethnic Diversity
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Crime includes:
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Schools include:
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