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.
Town Center / Maiden Creek median real estate price is $332,561, which is more expensive than 60.0% of the neighborhoods in Pennsylvania and 43.7% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Town Center / Maiden Creek is currently $1,971, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 40.8% of Pennsylvania neighborhoods.
Town Center / Maiden Creek is a suburban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Blandon, Pennsylvania.
Town Center / Maiden Creek 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 Town Center / Maiden Creek 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.
In Town Center / Maiden Creek, the current vacancy rate is 0.0%, which is a lower rate of vacancies than 100.0% of all neighborhoods in the U.S. This means that the housing supply in Town Center / Maiden Creek is very tight compared to the demand for property here.
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 Blandon, the Town Center / Maiden Creek neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
Real Estate
Owner-occupied real estate dominates the Town Center / Maiden Creek neighborhood. In fact, according to NeighborhoodScout research, the percentage of residential real estate occupied by its owner is higher here than in 96.9% of neighborhoods in America. With a real estate vacancy rate of only 0.0%, the Town Center / Maiden Creek neighborhood has a lower vacancy rate than 100.0% of U.S. neighborhoods, a very elite group. Such a low vacancy rate may indicate very strong real estate demand in the neighborhood combined with some impediments to increasing supply, such as zoning or existing density of development, among other potential reasons.
Length of Commute
Whether walking, biking, riding, or driving, the length of one's commute is an important factor for one's quality of life. The Town Center / Maiden Creek 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 Town Center / Maiden Creek neighborhood unfortunately have the distinction of having, on average, a longer commute than most any neighborhood in America. 12.7% 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 97.7% of all neighborhoods in America.
People
One of the really interesting characteristics about the Town Center / Maiden Creek 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 2.5% of college-friendly places to live in the state of Pennsylvania. In addition to being an excellent choice for college students, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for families with school-aged children.
In addition, neighborhoodScout's analysis shows that the Town Center / Maiden Creek neighborhood has a greater concentration of residents currently enrolled in college than 96.1% of the neighborhoods in the U.S. With 12.1% of the population here attending college, this is very much a college-focused neighborhood.
Diversity
Did you know that the Town Center / Maiden Creek neighborhood has more Hungarian and Polish ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 6.2% of this neighborhood's residents have Hungarian ancestry and 18.0% have Polish ancestry.
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. More residents of the Town Center / Maiden Creek neighborhood live here today that also were living in this same neighborhood five years ago than is found in 98.7% of U.S. neighborhoods. This neighborhood is really made up of people who know each other, don't move often, and have lived here in this very neighborhood for quite a while.
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 Town Center / Maiden Creek neighborhood in Blandon are wealthy, making it among the 15% highest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 85.8% of the neighborhoods in America. With 16.6% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 63.9% 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 Town Center / Maiden Creek neighborhood, 38.2% of the working population is employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is executive, management, and professional occupations, with 30.3% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (17.7%), and 13.8% in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the Town Center / Maiden Creek neighborhood is English, spoken by 89.7% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (9.2%).
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 Town Center / Maiden Creek neighborhood in Blandon, PA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (31.7%). There are also a number of people of Italian ancestry (19.9%), and residents who report Polish roots (18.0%), and some of the residents are also of Puerto Rican ancestry (11.3%), along with some Hungarian ancestry residents (6.2%), among others.
Getting to Work
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 Town Center / Maiden Creek neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (37.7% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans. However, there is also a significant group of residents (12.7%) who commute over an hour in each direction.
Here most residents (70.5%) 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 (17.0%) . 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.
