What do we mean by a neighborhood?
NeighborhoodScout® 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. NeighborhoodScout 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.
Watts South median real estate price is $532,541, which is less expensive than 80.5% of California neighborhoods and 31.9% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
The average rental price in Watts South is currently $1,946, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 90.8% of California neighborhoods.
Watts South is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Los Angeles, California.
Watts South 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 renter occupied. Many of the residences in the Watts South neighborhood are older, well-established, built between 1940 and 1969. A number of residences were also built before 1940.
Real estate vacancies in Watts South are 3.0%, which is lower than one will find in 78.9% of American neighborhoods. Demand for real estate in Watts South is above average for the U.S., and may signal some demand for either price increases or new construction of residential product for this neighborhood.
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 Los Angeles, the Watts South neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
Modes of Transportation
In the Watts South neighborhood, carpooling is still a popular way to get to and from work. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that 29.8% of commuters carpool here, which is more than in 98.7% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
People
Single parenting is hard. But you don't have to tell the Watts South neighborhood about it; they already know. 20.6% of this neighborhood's households are run by single mothers, which is a higher concentration than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.4% of American neighborhoods. Further NeighborhoodScout research showed strong statistical correlations among high rates of children living in single parent households, and neighborhood crime, particularly violent crime, neighborhood poverty, and, importantly, the percentage of low weight births and rates of infant mortality.
In addition, the Watts South neighborhood is unique for having just 5.0% of adults here having earned a bachelor's degree. This is a lower rate of college graduates than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.4% of America's neighborhoods.
Also, one of the unique characteristics of the Watts South neighborhood revealed by analysis is that the per capita income of residents here is lower than that found in 96.6% of the neighborhoods in America.
Occupations
More people work in manufacturing and as laborers here in the Watts South neighborhood than in 97.0% of the neighborhoods in America. Despite the loss of manufacturing jobs across the nation, this neighborhood remains a place where, compared to other parts of the country, you will find many laborers and manufacturers.
Real Estate
If you like crowded places, then you will probably enjoy the the Watts South neighborhood. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive data analysis, this neighborhood is more densely populated than 96.1% of neighborhoods in the U.S., with 25,156 people per square mile living here.
Diversity
Did you know that the Watts South neighborhood has more African ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 5.2% of this neighborhood's residents have African ancestry.
Watts South is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 66.5% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Spanish at home. This is a higher percentage than 96.9% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
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 Watts South neighborhood in Los Angeles are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 96.6% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 52.3% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 95.0% 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 Watts South neighborhood, 44.3% 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 33.7% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (19.0%), and 3.4% in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the Watts South neighborhood is Spanish, spoken by 66.5% of households. Some people also speak English (30.0%).
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 Watts South neighborhood in Los Angeles, CA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Mexican (51.0%). There are also a number of people of Sub-Saharan African ancestry (5.2%), and residents who report African roots (5.2%), and some of the residents are also of Puerto Rican ancestry (1.2%). In addition, 30.9% 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 Watts South neighborhood spend between 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (33.0% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.
Here most residents (61.0%) 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 (29.8%) . 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.
