Old Town Southwest median real estate price is $703,502, which is more expensive than 93.0% of the neighborhoods in Illinois and 80.6% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Old Town Southwest is currently $5,094, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 99.2% of the neighborhoods in Illinois.
Old Town Southwest is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Chicago, Illinois.
Old Town Southwest 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 occupied by a mixture of owners and renters. Many of the residences in the Old Town Southwest 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 Old Town Southwest. The current real estate vacancy rate here is 38.6%. 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.
The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.
People
Wealth makes most things in life easier, and a few things harder. If you are wealthy and enjoy keeping up with the Jones', this neighborhood will interest you. In fact, according to NeighborhoodScout's research, the Old Town Southwest neighborhood is wealthier than 98.1% of the neighborhoods in the United States. Residents here are truly in a unique situation even when compared to other Americans, based on the sheer amount of wealth concentrated here. Even in times of economic downturn, residents of this neighborhood, as a group, suffered less and recovered more quickly. This is indeed a stand-out characteristic of this neighborhood.
In addition, do you like to read, write, and learn? Are you curious about the world? If so, this neighborhood may be a good fit for you. NeighborhoodScout's research revealed that a full 80.2% of the adults living in the Old Town Southwest neighborhood have earned at least a bachelor's degree. This is a higher rate than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.8% of U.S. neighborhoods. In this way, this neighborhood truly stands out.
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 Old Town Southwest neighborhood: a neighborhood in which more "urban sophisticates" live than 97.1% 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 young, single professionals.
Modes of Transportation
More people ride the bus in this neighborhood each day to get to work than 97.6% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Also, more people in Old Town Southwest choose to walk to work each day (15.1%) than almost any neighborhood in America. If you are attracted to the idea of being able to walk to work, this neighborhood could be a good choice.
Real Estate
Despite all of the residential real estate here in the Old Town Southwest neighborhood, NeighborhoodScout has discovered that much of it is vacant. In resort or second-home vacation areas, this naturally occurs because homes and apartments are seasonally occupied, and empty for a portion of the year. In non-vacation or resort areas, however, this can be an indicator of property abandonment or a weak real estate market. The vacancy rate here is 38.6%, which is higher than 97.3% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
In addition, the real estate in the Old Town Southwest neighborhood really stands out in the way it looks for a unique reason: this neighborhood has a higher proportion of apartment complexes or high-rise apartments than nearly every neighborhood in the country. Most neighborhoods are a mixture of real estate and housing types, but here it is almost entirely dominated by big apartment buildings and complexes. In fact, 77.1% of the real estate here is classified as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments, which is more than is found in 96.2% of American neighborhoods.
Furthermore, if you like crowded places, then you will probably enjoy the the Old Town Southwest neighborhood. According to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive data analysis, this neighborhood is more densely populated than 96.1% of neighborhoods in the U.S., with 24,995 people per square mile living here.
Also of note, the Old Town Southwest 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 81.6% 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.
Occupations
The Old Town Southwest neighborhood has a higher proportion of its residents employed as executives, managers and professionals than 96.3% of the neighborhoods in America. In fact, 71.5% 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
American households most often have a car, and regularly they have two or three. But households in the Old Town Southwest neighborhood buck this trend. 23.2% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 96.0% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Diversity
Did you know that the Old Town Southwest neighborhood has more Lebanese and Canadian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 1.8% of this neighborhood's residents have Lebanese ancestry and 1.1% have Canadian ancestry.
Old Town Southwest is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 0.7% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Native American languages at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 95.7% 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 Old Town Southwest 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 98.1% of the neighborhoods in America. With 35.5% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 86.0% 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 Old Town Southwest neighborhood, 71.5% 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 22.7% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (4.5%), and 4.0% in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the Old Town Southwest neighborhood is English, spoken by 88.0% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (6.0%).
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 Old Town Southwest neighborhood in Chicago, IL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (13.4%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (12.7%), and residents who report Italian roots (7.2%), and some of the residents are also of Asian ancestry (6.8%), along with some English ancestry residents (6.2%), among others.
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 Old Town Southwest neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (50.9% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (35.1%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also ride the bus to get to work (15.8%) and 15.1% of residents also hop out the door and walk to work 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.
