Downtown West median real estate price is $704,418, which is more expensive than 76.1% of the neighborhoods in New Jersey and 82.7% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in Downtown West is currently $4,258, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 87.5% of the neighborhoods in New Jersey.
Downtown West is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Downtown 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 small apartment buildings. Most of the residential real estate is renter occupied. Many of the residences in the Downtown 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 1970 and 1999.
Home and apartment vacancy rates are 8.8% in Downtown West. NeighborhoodScout analysis shows that this rate is lower than 43.9% of the neighborhoods in the nation, approximately near the middle range for vacancies.
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.
Real Estate
What you'll find when you visit or move to this neighborhood is one of the most crowded neighborhoods in all of America. With an incredible 65,408 people per square mile, it is more densely populated than 99.0% of America's neighborhoods. Even if you drive or take transit to your place of employment, many people enjoy being able to walk in their neighborhood. What many people don't realize is that most of America's premier vacation locations are also very walkable. The Downtown West neighborhood is among the top 5% of American neighborhoods in terms of walkability.
In addition, the Downtown 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 85.8% 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, three-deckers, duplexes, old Victorian homes cut up into apartments. Independent stores on the corner selling pizza. These are some of the hallmarks of neighborhoods with lots of small 2, 3, and 4 unit apartment buildings. The Downtown West neighborhood really stands out in this regard, however, as it is dominated by such small apartment buildings more than nearly any other neighborhood in America. This is a stunning visual and lifestyle example of this type of neighborhood. In fact, 31.7% of the real estate here are small 2, 3, or 4 unit apartment buildings, which is a higher proportion than found in 95.2% of America's neighborhoods.
Also of note, do you watch 'This Old House' on Public Television? Do you love the idea of fixing up a Colonial or Victorian era home, complete with the charm of yesteryear? Do you like to stroll or drive streets lined with gracious older residences? If you found yourself nodding yes to any of these questions, you are going to be interested in this unique neighborhood. The Downtown West neighborhood stands out on a national scale for the sheer concentration of historic residences it contains: 80.3% of the residential real estate here was built from 1939 or earlier, some much earlier. This is a greater concentration of historic homes than 99.6% of the neighborhoods in the United States.
Modes of Transportation
If you like to ride the train to work, this neighborhood may be for you. NeighborhoodScout's research revealed that 36.0% of the Downtown West neighborhood's commuters ride the train to and from work each day, which is more than we found in 98.6% of America's neighborhoods.
Also, in the Downtown West neighborhood, many people's commute means walking from the bedroom to the home office. NeighborhoodScout's analysis found that 33.6% 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 98.4% 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.
People
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 Downtown West 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.
Car Ownership
American households most often have a car, and regularly they have two or three. But households in the Downtown West neighborhood buck this trend. 25.3% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 96.4% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Diversity
Did you know that the Downtown West neighborhood has more Greek and Puerto Rican ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 3.2% of this neighborhood's residents have Greek ancestry and 14.5% have Puerto Rican ancestry.
Downtown West is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 1.1% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Urdu, which is the national language of Pakistan, at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 97.6% 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 Downtown West neighborhood in Jersey City 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 91.1% of the neighborhoods in America. With 25.2% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 75.8% of U.S. neighborhoods.
What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.
In the Downtown West neighborhood, 68.7% 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 20.4% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (5.6%), and 5.3% 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 Downtown West neighborhood is English, spoken by 60.2% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish, 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 Downtown West neighborhood in Jersey City, NJ, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Puerto Rican (14.5%). There are also a number of people of Italian ancestry (10.4%), and residents who report Asian roots (9.9%), and some of the residents are also of South American ancestry (9.5%), along with some German ancestry residents (8.9%), among others. In addition, 21.9% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in Downtown West neighborhood spend between 45 minutes and one hour commuting one-way to work (37.8% of working residents), longer and tougher than most commutes in America.
Here most residents (36.0%) take the train to get to work. In addition, quite a number also drive alone in a private automobile to get to work (15.9%) and 9.1% of residents also hop out the door and walk to work for their daily commute. This neighborhood is distinguished by the high number of residents who take the train to work each day, which can be a very good way to get to work at a lower cost and with less pollution.
