Median real estate price in the City Center of Springfield is $251,026, which is less expensive than 97.8% of Massachusetts neighborhoods and 69.1% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
The average rental price in Springfield City Center is currently $1,204, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 99.1% of Massachusetts neighborhoods.
Springfield City Center is an urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Real estate in the City Center of Springfield, MA is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to medium sized (three or four bedroom) apartment complexes/high-rise apartments and small apartment buildings. Most of the residential real estate is renter occupied. Many of the residences in the City Center 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.
Springfield City Center has a 10.5% vacancy rate, which is well above average compared to other U.S. neighborhoods (higher than 63.8% 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 Springfield, the City Center neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
Real Estate
The real estate in the Springfield City Center 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, 99.4% of the real estate here is classified as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments, which is more than is found in 99.9% of American neighborhoods.
In addition, the Springfield City Center 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 95.1% 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, renter-occupied real estate is dominant in the Springfield City Center neighborhood. The percentage of rental real estate here, according to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, is 97.4%, which is higher than 98.6% of the neighborhoods in America. If you were to buy and live in the property you bought here, you would be almost alone in doing so.
Also of note, 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 Springfield City Center neighborhood stands out on a national scale for the sheer concentration of historic residences it contains: 54.6% of the residential real estate here was built from 1939 or earlier, some much earlier. This is a greater concentration of historic homes than 95.1% of the neighborhoods in the United States.
People
The Springfield City Center neighborhood stands out for having an average per capita income lower than 99.7% of the neighborhoods in the United States.
In addition, one of the most interesting things about the Springfield City Center neighborhood is that it has a greater concentration of residents who live alone than most all neighborhoods in America. With 67.5% 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 99.6% of the neighborhoods in America.
Modes of Transportation
Our research revealed that more commuters here take the bus to work (14.1% ride the bus) than 97.0% of all American neighborhoods. If you like the idea of leaving your car and home and hopping the bus to work, this might be a good neighborhood for you to consider.
Also, in the Springfield City Center 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 13.6% of residents here. This is a higher proportion of walking commuters than we found in 96.6% of American neighborhoods. Get ready to put on your walking shoes if you move here!
Car Ownership
We Americans love our cars. Not only are they a necessity for most Americans due to the shape of our neighborhoods and the distances between where we live, work, shop, and go to school, but we also fancy them. As a result, most households in America have one, two, or three cars. But NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis shows that the Springfield City Center neighborhood has a highly unusual pattern of car ownership. 21.5% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 95.6% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Diversity
Did you know that the Springfield City Center neighborhood has more Puerto Rican and Dominican ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 54.1% of this neighborhood's residents have Puerto Rican ancestry and 4.2% have Dominican ancestry.
Springfield City Center is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 3.3% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Arabic at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 97.0% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 City Center neighborhood in Springfield are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 99.7% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 45.8% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 92.2% 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 Springfield City Center neighborhood, 36.1% 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 32.7% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (23.5%), and 7.6% 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 Springfield City Center neighborhood is Spanish, spoken by 49.6% of households. Other important languages spoken here include English and Arabic.
Ethnicity / Ancestry
Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.
In the City Center neighborhood in Springfield, MA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Puerto Rican (54.1%). There are also a number of people of Sub-Saharan African ancestry (8.7%), and residents who report Irish roots (4.3%), and some of the residents are also of Dominican ancestry (4.2%), along with some German ancestry residents (3.5%), among others. In addition, 11.4% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
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 Springfield City Center neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (47.7% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (63.2%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also ride the bus to get to work (14.1%) and 13.6% 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.
