Near East Side median real estate price is $880,213, which is more expensive than 92.4% of the neighborhoods in Illinois and 82.4% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Near East Side is currently $4,225, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 98.0% of the neighborhoods in Illinois.
Near East Side is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Chicago, Illinois.
Near East Side 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 single-family homes. Most of the residential real estate is occupied by a mixture of owners and renters. Many of the residences in the Near East Side neighborhood are newer, built in 2000 or more recently. A number of residences were also built between 1970 and 1999.
Vacant apartments or homes are a major fact of life in Near East Side. The current real estate vacancy rate here is 19.8%. This is higher than the rate of vacancies in 86.5% of all U.S. neighborhoods. In addition, most vacant housing here is vacant year round. This can sometimes be the case in neighborhoods dominated by new construction that is not yet occupied. But often neighborhoods with vacancy rates this high are places that can be plagued by a protracted vacancy problem. If you live here, you may find that a number of buildings in your neighborhood are actually empty.
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 Chicago, the Near East Side neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
People
Of note is NeighborhoodScout's research finding that the Near East Side 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 Near East Side community truly stands out from the rest in this regard.
In addition, some neighborhoods have residents that are more educated than others. But in this neighborhood there is a dramatic difference. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that 51.7% of the adults here have earned a Masters degree, medical degree, Ph.D. or law degree. This is a higher rate of people with a graduate degree than is found in 99.3% of U.S. neighborhoods, where the average American neighborhood has 13.4% of its adults with a graduate degree. If you are highly educated, you may have much in common with many of your neighbors here.
Also, think about the people you know personally. How many of them would purchase box seats to opening night at the symphony? How many of them regularly attend gallery openings, or are the first to reserve tickets to opening night at the ballet? If they're like most of us, they don't do any of these things. But if you're among an exclusive crowd of wealthy and refined patrons of the arts, then you'll feel right at home in the Near East Side neighborhood: a neighborhood in which more "urban sophisticates" live than 95.7% of neighborhoods across the U.S. Here, your neighbors are defined as having urbane tastes in literature, music, live theatre and the arts. They are wealthy, educated, travel in style, and live a big city lifestyle whether or not they live in or near a big city. In addition to being an excellent choice for urban sophisticates, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for active retirees.
Real Estate
One of the really unique and interesting things about the look and setting of the Near East Side neighborhood is that it is almost entirely dominated by large apartment buildings, such as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments. 97.2% 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 99.4% of all neighborhoods in America.
In addition, the Near East Side neighborhood is very densely populated compared to most U.S. neighborhoods. In fact, with 53,009 persons per square mile in the neighborhood, it is more packed with people than 98.6% of the nation's neighborhoods.
Furthermore, the Near East Side 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 82.4% 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.
Modes of Transportation
In the Near East Side neighborhood, many people's commute means walking from the bedroom to the home office. NeighborhoodScout's analysis found that 36.4% 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 99.1% 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.
Also, in the Near East Side neighborhood, walking to work is a real option for many. In fact, NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research reveals walking to and from work is the chosen way to commute for 18.0% of residents here. This is a higher proportion of walking commuters than we found in 97.8% of American neighborhoods. Get ready to put on your walking shoes if you move here!
Occupations
The Near East Side neighborhood has a higher proportion of its residents employed as executives, managers and professionals than 98.8% of the neighborhoods in America. In fact, 78.5% of the employed people here make a living as an executive, a manager, or other professional. With such a high concentration, this truly shapes the character of this neighborhood, and to a large degree defines what this neighborhood is about.
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 Near East Side neighborhood has a highly unusual pattern of car ownership. 27.9% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 96.9% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Diversity
Did you know that the Near East Side neighborhood has more Ukrainian and Brazilian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 5.5% of this neighborhood's residents have Ukrainian ancestry and 2.6% have Brazilian ancestry.
Near East Side is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 13.3% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Chinese at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 98.5% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 Near East Side neighborhood in Chicago are wealthy, making it among the 15% highest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 86.0% 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 Near East Side neighborhood, 78.5% 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 15.9% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (4.5%).
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 Near East Side neighborhood is English, spoken by 49.1% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese, Spanish, Langs. of India 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 Near East Side neighborhood in Chicago, IL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Asian (22.6%). There are also a number of people of Polish ancestry (13.5%), and residents who report German roots (8.7%), and some of the residents are also of Irish ancestry (7.6%), along with some Italian ancestry residents (5.9%), among others. In addition, 39.4% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
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 Near East Side neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (46.1% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (30.9%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also hop out the door and walk to work to get to work (18.0%) and 8.0% of residents also ride the bus 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.
