West Somerville median real estate price is $1,330,982, which is more expensive than 89.1% of the neighborhoods in Massachusetts and 94.6% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
The average rental price in West Somerville is currently $4,691, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. The average rental cost in this neighborhood is higher than 88.3% of the neighborhoods in Massachusetts.
West Somerville is a densely urban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
West Somerville real estate is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to medium sized (three or four bedroom) small apartment buildings and apartment complexes/high-rise apartments. Most of the residential real estate is occupied by a mixture of owners and renters. Many of the residences in the West Somerville 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 8.4% in West Somerville. NeighborhoodScout analysis shows that this rate is lower than 45.8% of the neighborhoods in the nation, approximately near the middle range for vacancies.
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.
Modes of Transportation
If your dream is to be able to ride your bike to work each day, look no further than this unique neighborhood. With 7.1% of residents in the West Somerville neighborhood commuting on a bicycle to and from work daily, this neighborhood has more bicycle commuters than 99.1% of all neighborhoods in the U.S., according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis.
Also, in the West Somerville neighborhood, many people's commute means walking from the bedroom to the home office. NeighborhoodScout's analysis found that 30.1% 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 96.9% 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.
Finally, in the West Somerville neighborhood, 17.2% of people ride the train to work each day. This is a very high percentage compared to most places. In fact, NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that this is a higher level of train ridership than in 96.8% of the neighborhoods in America.
People
Some neighborhoods have residents that are more educated than others. But in this neighborhood there is a dramatic difference. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that 46.0% of the adults here have earned a Masters degree, medical degree, Ph.D. or law degree. This is a higher rate of people with a graduate degree than is found in 98.6% of U.S. neighborhoods, where the average American neighborhood has 13.4% of its adults with a graduate degree. If you are highly educated, you may have much in common with many of your neighbors here.
In addition, 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 West Somerville neighborhood: a neighborhood in which more "urban sophisticates" live than 97.9% 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 highly educated executives.
Also, 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 West Somerville neighborhood is wealthier than 96.2% 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.
Occupations
Executives, managers and professionals make up 75.8% of the workforce in the West Somerville neighborhood which, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis, is a higher proportion of such high-level people than is found in 98.0% of the neighborhoods in America. For this reason, this neighborhood really stands out as unique.
Real Estate
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 West Somerville 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, 41.2% of the real estate here are small 2, 3, or 4 unit apartment buildings, which is a higher proportion than found in 97.3% of America's neighborhoods.
In addition, 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 West Somerville neighborhood is one of the most walkable neighborhoods in America.
Diversity
Did you know that the West Somerville neighborhood has more Eastern European and Haitian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 3.5% of this neighborhood's residents have Eastern European ancestry and 8.4% have Haitian ancestry.
West Somerville is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 7.5% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak French at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 98.6% 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 West Somerville neighborhood in Cambridge 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 96.2% of the neighborhoods in America. With 11.1% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 51.8% 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 West Somerville neighborhood, 75.8% 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 9.0% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (8.6%), and 6.6% 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 West Somerville neighborhood is English, spoken by 75.0% of households. Other important languages spoken here include French, Spanish and African languages.
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 West Somerville neighborhood in Cambridge, MA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (19.8%). There are also a number of people of German ancestry (14.0%), and residents who report English roots (12.4%), and some of the residents are also of Haitian ancestry (8.4%), along with some Asian ancestry residents (8.2%), among others. In addition, 21.2% 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 West Somerville neighborhood spend between 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (36.8% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.
Here most residents (35.0%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also take the train to get to work (17.2%) and 7.1% of residents also bicycle 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.
