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.
Saint Edwards University / South Congress median real estate price is $646,931, which is more expensive than 90.5% of the neighborhoods in Texas and 77.3% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Saint Edwards University / South Congress is currently $1,881, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 43.2% of Texas neighborhoods.
Saint Edwards University / South Congress is an urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Austin, Texas.
Saint Edwards University / South Congress 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 small apartment buildings. Most of the residential real estate is renter occupied. Many of the residences in the Saint Edwards University / South Congress neighborhood are older, well-established, built between 1940 and 1969. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.
In Saint Edwards University / South Congress, the current vacancy rate is 2.7%, which is a lower rate of vacancies than 82.0% of all neighborhoods in the U.S. This means that the housing supply in Saint Edwards University / South Congress 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 Austin, the Saint Edwards University / South Congress neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
People
Of note, 73.9% 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, an extraordinary 30.4% of the residents of the Saint Edwards University / South Congress 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.
Also, there is an especially high percentage of incarcerated people (1.1%) living in the Saint Edwards University / South Congress neighborhood.
Modes of Transportation
In the Saint Edwards University / South Congress neighborhood, many people's commute means walking from the bedroom to the home office. NeighborhoodScout's analysis found that 29.1% of residents worked from home. This may not seem like a large number, but Scout's research shows that this is a higher percentage of people working from home than 96.3% of the neighborhoods in America. Often people who work from home are engaged in the creative or technological economy, such as is found in areas around Boston, and in Silicon Valley. Other times, people may be engaged in other businesses like trading stocks from home, or running a small beauty salon.
Real Estate
85.1% of the real estate in the Saint Edwards University / South Congress neighborhood is occupied by renters, which is nearly the highest rate of renter occupancy of any neighborhood in America.
Diversity
Did you know that the Saint Edwards University / South Congress neighborhood has more Arab ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 6.1% of this neighborhood's residents have Arab ancestry.
Saint Edwards University / South Congress is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 4.7% 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 98.3% of the neighborhoods in America.
The Neighbors
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 Saint Edwards University / South Congress neighborhood in Austin are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 78.5% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 73.9% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 98.9% of U.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 Saint Edwards University / South Congress neighborhood, 59.7% 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 18.6% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (17.0%), and 4.5% 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 Saint Edwards University / South Congress neighborhood is English, spoken by 69.0% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish 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 Saint Edwards University / South Congress neighborhood in Austin, TX, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Mexican (31.8%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (10.2%), and residents who report German roots (7.4%), and some of the residents are also of English ancestry (6.3%), along with some Arab ancestry residents (6.1%), among others. In addition, 21.2% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
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 Saint Edwards University / South Congress neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (38.4% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (50.9%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also ride the bus to get to work (7.0%) and 6.9% 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.
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.
