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Real Estate Prices & Overview

Chinatown South median real estate price is $2,457,432, which is more expensive than 95.2% of the neighborhoods in California and 99.1% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.

The average rental price in Chinatown South is currently $1,593, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 94.8% of California neighborhoods.

Chinatown South is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in San Francisco, California.

Chinatown South real estate is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to large (four, five or more 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 Chinatown South 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 1940 and 1969.

Chinatown South has a 10.9% vacancy rate, which is well above average compared to other U.S. neighborhoods (higher than 65.2% of American neighborhoods). Most vacant housing here is vacant year round. This could either signal that there is a weak demand for real estate in the neighborhood or that large amount of new housing has been built and not yet occupied. Either way, if you live here, you may find many of the homes or apartments are empty.

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 San Francisco, the Chinatown South neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.

Car Ownership

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 Chinatown South neighborhood has a highly unusual pattern of car ownership. 73.4% of the households in this neighborhood don't own a car at all. This is more carless households than NeighborhoodScout found in 99.7% of U.S. neighborhoods.

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 72,758 people per square mile, it is more densely populated than 99.2% of America'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 Chinatown South neighborhood is one of the most walkable neighborhoods in America.

In addition, 98.5% of the real estate in the Chinatown South neighborhood is occupied by renters, which is nearly the highest rate of renter occupancy of any neighborhood in America.

Furthermore, the Chinatown South 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 92.6% 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.

Also of note, one of the really unique and interesting things about the look and setting of the Chinatown South neighborhood is that it is almost entirely dominated by large apartment buildings, such as apartment complexes or high-rise apartments. 82.4% of the residential real estate here is classified as such. This puts this neighborhood on the map as having a higher proportion of large apartment buildings than 97.1% of all neighborhoods in America.

Finally, 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 Chinatown South neighborhood stands out on a national scale for the sheer concentration of historic residences it contains: 65.3% of the residential real estate here was built from 1939 or earlier, some much earlier. This is a greater concentration of historic homes than 97.7% of the neighborhoods in the United States.

Modes of Transportation

Our research revealed that more commuters here take the bus to work (31.0% ride the bus) than 99.7% 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.

Also, more people in Chinatown South choose to walk to work each day (38.6%) 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.

Diversity

Did you know that the Chinatown South neighborhood has more Asian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 81.2% of this neighborhood's residents have Asian ancestry.

Chinatown South is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 73.0% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Chinese at home. This is a higher percentage than 100.0% of all U.S. neighborhoods.

Migration / Stability

The freedom of moving to new places versus the comfort of home. How much and how often people move not only can create diverse and worldly neighborhoods, but simultaneously it can produce a loss of intimacy with one's surroundings and a lack of connectedness to one's neighbors. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research has identified this neighborhood as unique with regard to the transience of its populace. What is interesting to note, is that the Chinatown South neighborhood has a greater percentage of residents born in another country (72.6%) than are found in 99.8% 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 Chinatown South neighborhood in San Francisco are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 89.1% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 41.5% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 89.9% 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 Chinatown South neighborhood, 36.3% 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 29.5% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (18.3%), and 15.9% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.

Languages

The most common language spoken in the Chinatown South neighborhood is Chinese, spoken by 73.0% of households. Some people also speak English (20.6%).

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 Chinatown South neighborhood in San Francisco, CA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Asian (81.2%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (3.4%), and residents who report South American roots (1.6%), and some of the residents are also of German ancestry (1.1%), along with some Irish ancestry residents (1.1%), among others. In addition, 72.6% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.

Getting to Work

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 Chinatown South neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (36.2% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.

Here most residents (38.6%) hop out the door and walk to work to get to work. In addition, quite a number also ride the bus to get to work (31.0%) and 5.8% of residents also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors 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.


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