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.
Alston median real estate price is $98,644, which is less expensive than 91.2% of South Carolina neighborhoods and 94.6% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
The average rental price in Alston is currently $2,564, based on Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 85.8% of the neighborhoods in South Carolina.
Alston is a remote neighborhood (based on population density) located in Winnsboro, South Carolina.
Alston real estate is primarily made up of medium sized (three or four bedroom) to large (four, five or more bedroom) single-family homes and mobile homes. Most of the residential real estate is owner occupied. Many of the residences in the Alston neighborhood are established but not old, having been built between 1970 and 1999. A number of residences were also built between 1940 and 1969.
Home and apartment vacancy rates are 9.0% in Alston. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ analysis shows that this rate is lower than 41.7% of the neighborhoods in the nation, approximately near the middle range for vacancies.
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 Winnsboro, the Alston neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
Car Ownership
American households most often have a car, and regularly they have two or three. But households in the Alston neighborhood buck this trend. Residents of this neighborhood must really love automobiles. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's Analysis reveals that 40.2% of the households here have four, five, or more cars. That is more cars per household than in 98.2% of the neighborhoods in the nation.
Occupations
Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's exclusive research identifies the Alston neighborhood as having one of the highest concentrations of people employed in manufacturing or as laborers of any neighborhood in America. In fact, despite the loss of manufacturing jobs nationally, this neighborhood has 47.2% of its working residents employed in such fields, which is a higher proportion than 98.2% of American neighborhoods.
Modes of Transportation
Our research reveals that 89.8% of commuters who live in the Alston neighborhood get to work each day by driving alone in their automobiles, which is a higher proportion than 97.0% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Real Estate
The real estate in this neighborhood consists of more mobile homes than 95.2% of all neighborhoods in America, with 30.2% of the occupied housing here being classified as mobile homes. So if you are looking for a mobile home, or you like the look and feel of mobile home parks, this neighborhood might have the setting you desire.
In addition, this neighborhood has wide open spaces, few people, and lots of space to stretch out. If you like locations that fit that description, you may like this neighborhood. Based on Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's exclusive analysis, with only 27 people per square mile living here, this neighborhood is less crowded than 93.4% of America.
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 Alston neighborhood in Winnsboro 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 88.9% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 30.5% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 82.3% 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 Alston neighborhood, 47.2% of the working population is employed in manufacturing and laborer 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 20.8% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in executive, management, and professional occupations (20.6%), and 11.4% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the Alston neighborhood is English, spoken by 97.9% of households.
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 Alston neighborhood in Winnsboro, SC, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as English (8.3%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (6.1%), and residents who report Sub-Saharan African roots (4.5%), and some of the residents are also of African ancestry (4.5%), along with some German ancestry residents (1.8%), 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 Alston neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (38.9% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (89.8%) 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 (6.0%) . 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.
