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.
The Trails / Lee's Park median real estate price is $667,527, which is more expensive than 75.1% of the neighborhoods in Virginia and 77.7% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in The Trails / Lee's Park is currently $2,762, based on Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 62.3% of the neighborhoods in Virginia.
The Trails / Lee's Park is a suburban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
The Trails / Lee's Park 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 The Trails / Lee's Park neighborhood are newer, built in 2000 or more recently. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.
In The Trails / Lee's Park, the current vacancy rate is 1.4%, which is a lower rate of vacancies than 89.4% of all neighborhoods in the U.S. This means that the housing supply in The Trails / Lee's Park 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 Fredericksburg, the The Trails / Lee's Park neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
People
Of note is Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's research finding that the The Trails / Lee's Park neighborhood has some of the lowest rates of children living in poverty of any neighborhood in the United States. In a nation where approximately 1 in 4 children are living in poverty, the The Trails / Lee's Park community truly stands out from the rest in this regard.
In addition, astoundingly, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's research reveals that this single neighborhood has a higher concentration of married couples living here than 97.3% of all U.S. neighborhoods. Whether they have school-aged children or not, married couples are the rule in the The Trails / Lee's Park neighborhood. If you are a married couple, you may find many people here with a similar lifestyle, and perhaps common interests. But if you are single, you might not find many other singles here.
Also, the Trails / Lee's Park is ranked among the top 9.5% of neighborhoods for first-time home buyers to consider in the state of Virginia according to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's exclusive analysis. Homes here are priced below median housing values in the state, yet maintain moderate appreciation rates compared to other communities. Buying into the The Trails / Lee's Park neighborhood is not only an accessible option but an investment opportunity for many first-time home buyers. In addition to being an excellent choice for first-time home buyers, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for families with school-aged children.
Occupations
The The Trails / Lee's Park neighborhood has a greater proportion of government workers living in it than 98.8% of the neighborhoods in America, according to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's exclusive analysis. This is a unique feature of this neighborhood, and one that shapes its character.
Real Estate
If you like the look and ambience of new homes and newly built neighborhoods, you will love the The Trails / Lee's Park neighborhood. A whopping 82.4% of the homes and other residential real estate here were built after 1999, which is a higher proportion of new homes then you will find in 97.6% of the neighborhoods in the U.S. Everything here just feels new. In fact, the concentration of newer homes here is so great that they completely dominate the landscape. In most neighborhoods, there is a mixture of ages of residential real estate, but here it is almost completely built during one time frame: 2000 through today.
In addition, real estate in the The Trails / Lee's Park neighborhood is almost exclusively owner-occupied. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher rate of owner-occupied housing than is found in 96.5% of U.S. neighborhoods. If you are seeking to rent, this neighborhood may not have many options, but high rates of ownership often indicate stability in a neighborhood.
Diversity
Did you know that the The Trails / Lee's Park neighborhood has more British and Slovak ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 2.8% of this neighborhood's residents have British ancestry and 2.0% have Slovak ancestry.
The Trails / Lee's Park is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 5.9% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak French at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 98.0% 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. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.
The neighbors in the The Trails / Lee's Park neighborhood in Fredericksburg are wealthy, making it among the 15% highest income neighborhoods in America. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 85.4% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 0.0% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 100.0% of America'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 The Trails / Lee's Park neighborhood, 53.7% 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 21.8% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions (19.3%), and 15.9% 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 The Trails / Lee's Park neighborhood is English, spoken by 80.3% of households. Other important languages spoken here include French and Spanish.
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 The Trails / Lee's Park neighborhood in Fredericksburg, VA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (12.6%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (11.5%), and residents who report Italian roots (9.7%), and some of the residents are also of German ancestry (8.5%), along with some Sub-Saharan African ancestry residents (6.1%), among others. In addition, 13.6% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
Getting to Work
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 The Trails / Lee's Park neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (35.6% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (74.3%) 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 (12.4%) . 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.
