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 Brooklyn, the Bay Ridge Southwest neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
Real Estate
The Bay Ridge Southwest neighborhood is very densely populated compared to most U.S. neighborhoods. In fact, with 33,253 persons per square mile in the neighborhood, it is more packed with people than 97.3% of the nation's neighborhoods. Being a walkable neighborhood can help increase property values for the simple reason that people enjoy it and value it. To put it plainly, despite our love affair with the automobile, American's enjoy taking to the streets, sidewalks, paths, and courtyards of a place to get a coffee, relax, and take in the sights and sounds. And, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive and first quantitative walkable score index, the Bay Ridge Southwest neighborhood is one of the most walkable neighborhoods in America. Bay Ridge Southwest is a neighborhood that is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet. Many times, such places have amenities that bring locals and visitors to the waterfront for recreational activities or to check out the scenery. In some densely populated areas that are less financially well-off, the neighborhood waterfront can be relatively industrial and less open to recreation. In addition to being coastal, Bay Ridge Southwest is a very nautical neighborhood, meaning that it is somewhat historic, walkable, densely populated and on the water. This gives the neighborhood a very nautical feel, with some seaside and shipping feel, which some may really enjoy the sights and sounds of.
In addition, the Bay Ridge 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 93.8% 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, the real estate in the Bay Ridge 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, 84.4% of the real estate here is classified as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments, which is more than is found in 97.3% of American neighborhoods.
People
Of note is NeighborhoodScout's research finding that the Bay Ridge Southwest 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 Bay Ridge Southwest community truly stands out from the rest in this regard.
Modes of Transportation
If you like to ride the train to work, this neighborhood may be for you. NeighborhoodScout's research revealed that 29.4% of the Bay Ridge Southwest neighborhood's commuters ride the train to and from work each day, which is more than we found in 98.1% of America's neighborhoods.
Also, more people ride the bus in this neighborhood each day to get to work than 97.8% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Car Ownership
American households most often have a car, and regularly they have two or three. But households in the Bay Ridge Southwest neighborhood buck this trend. 33.2% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.5% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Diversity
Did you know that the Bay Ridge Southwest neighborhood has more Arab and Italian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 10.8% of this neighborhood's residents have Arab ancestry and 24.7% have Italian ancestry.
Bay Ridge Southwest is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 4.3% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Greek at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 99.9% of the neighborhoods in America.
