What do we mean by a neighborhood?
Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ® 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. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ 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.
Blue Island Park median real estate price is $298,351, which is more expensive than 48.6% of the neighborhoods in Illinois and 37.0% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Blue Island Park is currently $1,651, based on Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 63.3% of Illinois neighborhoods.
Blue Island Park is a suburban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Blue Island, Illinois.
Blue Island Park 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 occupied by a mixture of owners and renters. Many of the residences in the Blue Island Park neighborhood are older, well-established, built between 1940 and 1969. A number of residences were also built before 1940.
Blue Island Park has a 9.8% vacancy rate, which is well above average compared to other U.S. neighborhoods (higher than 62.0% 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.
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 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's exclusive exploration and analysis.
People
The types of households in a neighborhood can tell a lot about the character and lifestyle of those living here. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood, above nearly every neighborhood in America, has a greater percentage of its residents living alone: 52.6%. This is a higher percent living alone than we found in 96.7% of all U.S. neighborhoods. Often residents who live alone are new arrivals to an area who are single, and often senior citizens who have lost a spouse.
In addition, according to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's research, Blue Island Park is better suited for first-time home buyers than 86.9% of neighborhoods in the state. Most homes here are priced below the state's median house value, yet maintain comparably good appreciation rates over the last decade relative to other neighborhoods in Illinois. Along with an exclusive multi-metric measure of neighborhood quality developed by Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ that scores high here in this neighborhood, this means that buying into the neighborhood is not only an accessible option but considered a decent first time home buyer choice for building equity in your first home, while being in a quality neighborhood
Modes of Transportation
In the Blue Island Park neighborhood, 10.6% of people ride the train to work each day. This is a very high percentage compared to most places. In fact, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's analysis reveals that this is a higher level of train ridership than in 95.6% of the neighborhoods in America.
Diversity
Did you know that the Blue Island Park neighborhood has more Belgian and Czechoslovakian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 2.5% of this neighborhood's residents have Belgian ancestry and 0.5% have Czechoslovakian ancestry.
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. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.
The neighbors in the Blue Island Park neighborhood in Blue Island are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 93.3% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 28.3% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 80.0% 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 Blue Island Park neighborhood, 32.5% 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 29.3% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (21.5%), and 16.7% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the Blue Island Park neighborhood is English, spoken by 71.0% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (27.3%).
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 Blue Island Park neighborhood in Blue Island, IL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Mexican (28.7%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (5.2%), and residents who report German roots (3.1%), and some of the residents are also of English ancestry (2.8%), along with some Polish ancestry residents (2.5%), among others. In addition, 13.5% 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 Blue Island Park neighborhood spend between 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (38.9% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.
Here most residents (63.5%) 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 (12.3%) and 10.6% of residents also take the train 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.
