West Oakland median real estate price is $220,166, which is more expensive than 31.7% of the neighborhoods in Pennsylvania and 23.3% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in West Oakland is currently $2,255, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 75.2% of the neighborhoods in Pennsylvania.
West Oakland is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
West Oakland real estate is primarily made up of medium sized (three or four bedroom) to small (studio to two bedroom) townhomes and apartment complexes/high-rise apartments. Most of the residential real estate is renter occupied. Many of the residences in the West Oakland 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 1970 and 1999.
Vacant apartments or homes are a major fact of life in West Oakland. The current real estate vacancy rate here is 37.7%. This is higher than the rate of vacancies in 97.3% 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.
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 NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
NeighborhoodScout's analysis shows that the West Oakland neighborhood has a greater concentration of residents currently enrolled in college than 99.4% of the neighborhoods in the U.S. With 60.5% of the population here attending college, this is very much a college-focused neighborhood.
In addition, one of the unique characteristics of the West Oakland neighborhood revealed by analysis is that the per capita income of residents here is lower than that found in 96.9% of the neighborhoods in America. The West Oakland neighborhood also has a greater percentage of children living in poverty (71.7%) than found in 98.8% 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, with a nice mix of college students, safety from crime, and decent walkability, the West Oakland neighborhood rates highly as a college student friendly place to live, and one that college students and their parents may want to consider. NeighborhoodScout's analysis shows that it rates more highly for a good place for college students to live than 88.2% of the neighborhoods in PA. This often also means that the area has certain amenities and services geared towards college students, from undergraduates to graduate students.
In the West Oakland 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 29.9% of residents here. This is a higher proportion of walking commuters than we found in 99.1% of American neighborhoods. Get ready to put on your walking shoes if you move here!
Also, our research revealed that more commuters here take the bus to work (15.4% ride the bus) than 97.6% 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.
Renter-occupied real estate is dominant in the West Oakland neighborhood. The percentage of rental real estate here, according to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, is 84.2%, which is higher than 95.1% of the neighborhoods in America. If you were to buy and live in the property you bought here, you would be almost alone in doing so. Vacant homes and apartments are a significant characteristic of this neighborhood. In fact, with 37.7% of the residential real estate vacant, the West Oakland neighborhood claims the distinction of having a higher vacancy rate than 97.3% of the neighborhoods in America. This can either be because much of the property is seasonally occupied, like in many vacation areas, or that much of the real estate is more permanently abandoned.
In addition, if you love row houses and attached homes, you will probably really like the West Oakland neighborhood. The ambiance, the charm, of row houses is something special. And in sheer abundance of row houses, this neighborhood truly stands out. The real estate here has a higher proportion of row houses and attached homes than nearly any neighborhood in America. In fact, 32.3% of the residential real estate here is classified as row houses and attached homes.
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 West Oakland neighborhood has a highly unusual pattern of car ownership. 21.6% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 95.6% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Some neighborhoods have more internal cohesiveness than others. While other neighborhoods feel like a collection of strangers who just happen to live near each other. Sometimes this comes down to not only the personalities of the people in a place, but how long people have been together in that neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research has revealed some interesting things about the rootedness of people in the West Oakland neighborhood. In the West Oakland neighborhood, a greater proportion of the residents living here today did not live here five years ago than is found in 98.9% of U.S. Neighborhoods. This neighborhood, more than almost any other in America, has new residents from other areas.
Significantly, 6.9% 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 96.6% of the neighborhoods in America.
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 West Oakland neighborhood in Pittsburgh are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 96.9% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 71.7% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 98.8% 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 West Oakland neighborhood, 46.0% 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 24.8% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (22.5%), and 6.6% 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 West Oakland neighborhood is English, spoken by 81.9% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese and Polish.
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 West Oakland neighborhood in Pittsburgh, PA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Asian (16.8%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (11.8%), and residents who report Irish roots (6.3%), and some of the residents are also of Sub-Saharan African ancestry (6.0%), along with some Italian ancestry residents (5.2%), among others. In addition, 11.6% 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 West Oakland neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (43.0% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (29.9%) hop out the door and walk to work to get to work. In addition, quite a number also drive alone in a private automobile to get to work (21.2%) and 15.4% of residents also ride the bus for their daily commute. This is a special neighborhood for the number of people who walk to work. Combining exercise, low cost, and reduced pollution, plus the chance to see your neighbors, walking to work is fairly uncommon in America but likely to increase as people try to reduce their dependence on automobiles, and this neighborhood offers that opportunity today.
