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Real Estate Prices & Overview

Columbia Heights West median real estate price is $680,231, which is more expensive than 37.6% of the neighborhoods in the District Of Columbia and 73.9% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.

The average rental price in Columbia Heights West is currently $1,979, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 68.0% of District Of Columbia neighborhoods.

Columbia Heights West is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Washington, District Of Columbia.

Columbia Heights West 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 townhomes. Most of the residential real estate is renter occupied. Many of the residences in the Columbia Heights West 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 2000 and the present.

In Columbia Heights West, the current vacancy rate is 1.3%, which is a lower rate of vacancies than 90.1% of all neighborhoods in the U.S. This means that the housing supply in Columbia Heights West 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 Washington, the Columbia Heights West neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.

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 Columbia Heights West neighborhood has a highly unusual pattern of car ownership. 48.9% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 98.7% of U.S. neighborhoods.

People

One of the most interesting things about the Columbia Heights West neighborhood is that it has a greater concentration of residents who live alone than most all neighborhoods in America. With 59.1% 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 98.7% of the neighborhoods in America.

In addition, the Columbia Heights West neighborhood has a greater percentage of children living in poverty (69.2%) than found in 98.4% of all U.S. neighborhoods. Children living in poverty is one of the challenges facing America, and the world, and in this neighborhood in particular, the problem can be considered acute.

Also, if knowledge is power, then imagine the cumulative power of one neighborhood where many of the adults have earned an advanced degree, such as a Masters, law degree, medical degree, or even a Ph.D. This is certainly the case in the Columbia Heights West neighborhood, where 35.7% have earned an advanced degree. Compare that to the average neighborhood in America, where just 13.4% of adults have completed a post-graduate degree, and you can see why this neighborhood is a stand out. In fact, this neighborhood has a higher rate of adults with an advanced degree than 95.3% of the neighborhoods in America.

Real Estate

The Columbia Heights West neighborhood is very densely populated compared to most U.S. neighborhoods. In fact, with 52,827 persons per square mile in the neighborhood, it is more packed with people than 98.6% of the nation's neighborhoods. Being a walkable neighborhood can help increase property values for the simple reason that people enjoy it and value it. To put it plainly, despite our love affair with the automobile, American's enjoy taking to the streets, sidewalks, paths, and courtyards of a place to get a coffee, relax, and take in the sights and sounds. And, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive and first quantitative walkable score index, the Columbia Heights West neighborhood is one of the most walkable neighborhoods in America.

In addition, the Columbia Heights West 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 91.5% 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, one of the really unique and interesting things about the look and setting of the Columbia Heights West neighborhood is that it is almost entirely dominated by large apartment buildings, such as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments. 87.3% of the residential real estate here is classified as such. This puts this neighborhood on the map as having a higher proportion of large apartment buildings than 97.8% of all neighborhoods in America.

Modes of Transportation

Our research revealed that more commuters here take the bus to work (18.3% ride the bus) than 98.3% 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, would you like to be able to ride your bike to work? If you are attracted to the idea of getting a little exercise of the two-wheeled type while reducing your carbon footprint, bicycling to work might be the answer. But which neighborhood you live in can make this either impossible, or alternatively, a great and realistic option. NeighborhoodScout's analysis revealed that the Columbia Heights West neighborhood is a fantastic option for bicycle commuters, as 3.9% of commuters here do ride their bikes to and from work on a daily basis. This is a higher amount than we found in 97.2% of the neighborhoods in America.

Finally, in the Columbia Heights West neighborhood, many people's commute means walking from the bedroom to the home office. NeighborhoodScout's analysis found that 29.6% 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 96.7% 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.

Diversity

Significantly, 4.3% 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 97.1% 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 Columbia Heights West neighborhood in Washington are middle-income, making it a moderate income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 56.8% of the neighborhoods in America. With 69.2% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 98.4% 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 Columbia Heights West neighborhood, 66.4% 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 16.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions (11.6%), and 11.1% in clerical, assistant, and tech support 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 Columbia Heights West neighborhood is English, spoken by 44.7% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French.

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 Columbia Heights West neighborhood in Washington, DC, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Mexican (15.7%). There are also a number of people of Asian ancestry (7.9%), and residents who report Irish roots (7.4%), and some of the residents are also of German ancestry (6.4%), along with some Sub-Saharan African ancestry residents (5.1%), among others. In addition, 36.3% 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 Columbia Heights West neighborhood spend between 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (37.7% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.

Here most residents (20.8%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also ride the bus to get to work (18.3%) and 11.3% 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.


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